Why Religion Matters: Religious Literacy, Culture and Diversity – free course from the Open Universtity

Explore a new way of thinking about religion and worldviews by understanding religious literacy as method as much as content. Teaching about religions is a bit like teaching the skills of literacy. But instead of how to read texts, we’re teaching our students a competency in approaching worldviews very different than their own. This process also allows us to understand our own world and ethical framework in more nuanced ways.

I’d like to draw your attention to a free online course that comes out of the collective experience of the OU’s Religious Studies department. It draws on our experience looking at lived beliefs and practices, the internal diversity of Islam and Christianity, the study of indigenous traditions, and the study of small and controversial religious movements. However, content is secondary to a focus on principles. We want to emphasise the importance of developing skills to approach religious and non-religious worldviews that will create more constructive discussions and decisions. This course emphasises how religious literacy works on principles and methods which can then be applied to understand both religious and non-religious worldviews in a variety of real-life situations.

It might be a fun refresher with some ideas for how you can enliven discussion and teach new topics in your RE classrooms. We’d love to hear your thoughts on our approach and how we could work together better with RE teachers in schools.

Check out the next presentation which starts on 2 November here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/why-religion-matters/

Suzanne Newcombe

Lecturer in Religious Studies

The Open University

@religion_ou