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Key words and concepts

Lord’s prayer: A prayer Jesus taught to his disciples when they asked him how to pray. A central prayer in many Christian denominations.

Taizé: An ecumenical Christian community with a strong devotion to peace and justice through prayer and meditation.

Icon: Painting or mosaic of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, a saint, or a Church feast. Used as an aid to devotion, usually in the Orthodox tradition.

Ecumenical: Movement within the Church towards co-operation and eventual unity.

Prayer: A request for help or an expression of thanks usually addressed to God. For many people it is a way of communicating with God about anything at anytime and anywhere. Prayers can be said alone or with a faith community, at home or as part of a religious service.

Forgiveness: The act of letting go of anger and resentment against someone who has offended or hurt you in some way. In many religions, forgiveness is about showing mercy and compassion towards the person who has offended or hurt you regardless of whether they are truly sorry.

Giving thanks: In this context; saying thank you to God for the world, people and events that happen in life.

Learning activities

The lesson resource is a sung prayer; ‘Oh Lord Hear my Prayer’, originating from the Taizé community, a monastic, peace-building Christian community in France. Taizé particularly supports young people.

You will need the lyrics to the prayer. There are many videos on YouTube featuring both images and lyrics as the prayer is sung. If you find a video you like that has no lyrics, search the internet for lyrics separately and hand them out or read them to children.

Stage 1: O Lord Hear My Prayer:

Create a calm and quiet environment before listening to the song. Some ideas:

• Have the music playing before the children enter the room. Explain that they are going to listen to some very special music and they have to be quiet
• Sit the children in a circle and light a candle (adhering to the schools health and safety requirements). Ask children to close their eyes and listen to the music.

When the music has ended ask them to think of one question they want to ask. Children share their questions and they are written down (organise into Who, What, Where, Why). [It is important not to answer the questions at this point].

(10mins) Invite the children to select an activity to do while they think about the questions. Choose activities that allow children to reflect. Avoid ‘small world’ items for example, which children will be tempted to simply play with. [Have the instrumental version playing while the children are active]:

• Colouring patterns rather than pictures;
• Modelling clay, e.g., Play-Doh;
• Selection of books and cushions (reading area);
• Threading activities;
• Painting;
• Collage and making materials.

Bring the children back together and think about the questions as a group. [They may have made something relating to the music]

Stage 2: O Lord Hear My Prayer

Listen to ‘O Lord Hear My Prayer’ again and remind the children of the previous discussion.

Ask the children the following questions if they haven’t already been covered:

• Why do you think they are singing this?
• How does it make you feel?
• Why do you think they say the same words over and over again?
• Can you think about what the people are doing as they sing this? Are they standing, sitting? etc…
• Where do you think they are?
• Do you think anyone can sing this?

Show the children some Taizé photographs. There are many online, both on Taizé’s website and Google images. Explain that Taizé is an ecumenical Christian community in France (ecumenical means that people come from all sorts of Christian denominations, the aim is to be together rather than pursue one way of being Christian). The music is an example of prayers used during meetings. In the Taizé community, short songs repeated over and over create a meditative atmosphere and it is believed that this allows people to find and listen to God in prayer. It is also a way of joining everyone together in prayer. Meetings usually take place in a church or other welcoming space. Let the children know that some Christians like to pray or meditate in this way. There are often icons, candles, a cross, an open Bible, flowers in the church or prayer space. People can usually choose whether to sit on the floor, a bench or chair, stand or kneel during prayer.

Ask the children to suggest ways of making a quiet space in the classroom for them to go and think, reflect, pray:

• What would they put there?
• What would it look like?
• When could they use it?
• What would they use it for?

Stage 3: Prayer

Show images you have found online of Christians praying- in different places, different types of people, different types of prayer.

Explain that this lesson is about Christian prayer but many people who belong to many religions around the world also pray. Many Christians believe that you can pray anywhere and at any time. There are lots of different ways to pray too.

Show the words of the Lord’s Prayer- a very important prayer in Christianity.

Explain that when some people pray to God the prayers say: “I’m sorry” or “I love you” or “Thank you” or “Please help me”. Ask the children who they say these things to? [This may be related to family, friends and /or religion.]

Ask the children to imagine they could speak to that person now, what would they say? [Relate to the four areas above “I’m sorry” etc. Children can write/draw in a large speech bubble.]

Stage 4: Reflecting

Explain that people also pray for others around the world and show the children a selection of photos to illustrate different things people may pray for, e.g.:

• people who are ill;
• people who may not have enough to eat or drink;
• countries involved in war.

Ask the children to say why they think people pray for these people.

Set up an area where children can look at the photos, take a pebble and drop it into an imaginary river (blue material etc) with their thought, wish or prayer for these people.

Stage 5: Prayer and music

Introduce children to some more examples of music being used in prayer. Music is also used to prepare people for worship and can range from chants to rock Some examples:

• Happy Day by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• Traditional Christmas singing at Kings College Chapel, Cambridge
• The Muslim call to prayer, or adhan
• Christian rock or pop, for example from a Hillsong concert
• Sikh singing in the Temple these songs are called  ragaas and are part of worship

Stage 6: Exploring…introducing prayer in Judaism and Islam

Explain that when people pray they sometimes use things to help them. Show some images of icons in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, such as of saints, Mary and Jesus, and Jesus and his disciples. Some of these icons will be painted on the walls and ceiling of Orthodox churches.

Ask the children sit in a circle and pass a tambourine around: but to do it so that it doesn’t make a noise! Talk to them about taking care of important objects and that they are going to pass some special objects to each other that are used in prayer.

Show the children a Jewish Tallit (prayer shawl). This is used by Jewish people in prayer (usually only men). It cloaks the person like God’s love cloaks us in life.

Now pass the artefacts around carefully [This can be done in small groups], e.g., the tallit, Hajj robe, an Islamic prayer mat, cushion (hassock), prayer beads (selection), rosary, icons, cross, prayer hats from Muslim and Jewish traditions.

Ask children how they think these things are used in prayer. Can they say which things appear to be similar for different religious people?

What questions do they want to ask about these objects?

Use stories to put prayer in context, e.g., ‘Goodnight Sh’ma’ by Jacqueline Jules or ‘I am a Muslim’ by AGGARWAL and M.

Ask the children to say what helps / would help them to sit and think? (or pray if appropriate).

A PowerPoint presentation on Hajj. It has been written by Aliya Azam.

An investigation into differering Christian repsonses to environmental issues.

for 15-19 year olds. Originally written by Anna Davis, updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Anthropocentric: human-centered; focusing on human beings as of most value and importance, especially in relation to animals or the rest of the natural world.

Apocalyptic: in biblical studies, refers to a kind of literature that reveals God’s perspective on current and future events, often with vivid and coded imagery, stark opposition between good and evil, and a prediction of what is to come. The best-known biblical example is the Book of Revelation (the Greek title of which is equivalent to the word ‘apocalypse’) in the Bible

Conservative Evangelicalism: a Christian tradition, found across a range of established and independent churches, which places particular emphasis on the authority and infallibility of the Bible, among other doctrines.

Dominion: sovereignty or control. Especially used to refer to the idea that humanity has power over the rest of creation. See Genesis 26-28.

Ecology: the part of biology that looks at how different organisms relate to one another and to their physical surroundings. Some environmentalists are concerned that human activity is damaging the delicate balance of ecology and thus endangering the future of the planet.

Ecosystem: a particular group of organisms that understood in relation to their physical surroundings.

Environment: the natural world, particularly as it is affected by human activity.

Environmentalism: a movement that is concerned with protecting the natural world from the harmful actions of humanity.

Eschatology: used by theologians to refer to beliefs about the future, and particularly about the ultimate ‘end’ of the world. It comes from the Greek word ‘eschatos’ meaning last or final. Also used to talk about God’s plans for the future of creation, including humans, animals and the environment.

Evangelism: spreading the Christian gospel with the particular aim of converting people to Christianity.

Francis of Assisi: an Italian Catholic friar and preacher of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries who founded a number of monastic orders and has become known as the Patron Saint of animals and the environment.

Fundamentalism: in this context, a form of Christianity focused on what are believed to be its fundamentals, with a particular emphasis on the authority, infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible. This label overlaps with Conservative Evangelicalism (see above).

Gaia hypothesis: the view of scientist James Lovelock that the earth is a kind of superorganism – a complex system that automatically self-regulates in ways that maintain an environment in which life can flourish.

Genesis: The first book of the ‘Old Testament’ or ‘Hebrew Bible’. It begins with two accounts of God’s creation of the world and contains various commands by God about how humans should act in relation to other parts of creation. These commands have been the subject of differing interpretations, hence the existence of current debates about how Christianity should respond to environmental challenges.

Global warming: a gradual increase in the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Generally attributed to the ‘greenhouse effect’, which is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs and other pollutants as a result of human activity. There is concern that global warming could cause sea levels to rise, having catastrophic effects of human life.

Imminent expectation: in this context, refers to the belief of some Christians that Jesus will return soon – perhaps within their lifetimes – to bring about the final end of the world.

Parable: a story or image used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus and recorded in the Gospels.

Rapture: the transporting of believers to heaven during the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the world.

Stewardship: in Christianity, the idea that humans have been given responsibility for the rest of the natural world, and have a duty to care for it.

As well as enabling students to engage critically with different approaches to environmental stewardship, this material also develops knowledge about the Bible, and the different ways this can be approached and understood. Different methods used in Biblical Studies underpin this, as outlined below:

Historical criticism

Historical criticism is based on the presumption that the task of the biblical scholar is to discern what the text originally meant, and what events actually happened, from an objective and unbiased perspective. It has value not least in ‘distancing’ the Bible from its contemporary readers: the Bible is a collection of ancient texts, rooted in the cultural assumptions of ancient societies, that cannot cogently be regarded as simply a textbook of eternal religious or moral truths. Using this method, students can be encouraged to approach biblical texts critically, as historical sources. They may, for example, seek to identify different sources and traditions, to question which sayings of Jesus are likely to be authentic, or to consider aspects of biblical teaching that reflect ancient cultural or cosmological presuppositions. Historical criticism is no longer an uncontested or dominant method in biblical studies since it has been recognised that detached, objective historiography is impossible, and may in fact serve to conceal the interests and commitments that underlie particular construals of the past and particular readings of the texts. Nonetheless, it remains significant to a critical engagement with biblical texts as part of the study of topics such as environmental ethics.

History of interpretation

A recent development of interest within biblical studies is in the history of interpretation and influence of biblical texts (their Wirkungsgeschichte). Rather than looking to the world behind the text – the social context in which it arose, as in historical criticism – this approach instead concentrates on the world in front of the text, that is, on the diverse ways in which the text has been understood and has shaped and influenced aspects of life and culture from art and music to ethics and politics. This method means that rather than assuming that the text has one clear, correct meaning, and attempting to decide upon this, attention is directed instead to the diversity of meanings that has, through history, been derived from this text. In relation to environmental issues, it enables consideration of how Christians at different times and places have interpreted texts like Genesis 1–2 in relation to their particular convictions and concerns. It also serves to connect biblical studies much more directly with the study of issues and approaches in Christian ethics, from the earliest times right up to the present.

Reading from modern perspectives: the located reader

More recent methods of biblical study reflect the conviction that different readings can be generated depending on the social identity and location of the reader, and have given rise to feminist, black, liberationist and many other readings of the Bible. Such approaches place much greater emphasis on the role of the reader in the construction of meaning and on the influence of the reader’s context – a development which is also to be found in the study of other kinds of literature, as well as in disciplines such as history and politics, given a widespread acknowledgment that objective and detached analysis is impossible, and that the researcher’s own convictions and approach shape their presentation. Students might therefore be encouraged to ask how modern convictions and contexts shape readings of the Bible, or how different groups might read and respond to different texts.

Christian perspectives on the environment

The Evangelical Churches and Organisations

There are a number of evangelical Christian organisations that strongly support the idea that Christians must care for the environment. Stewardship is a prominent theme.

The Evangelical Environmental Network has stated that:

Because we have sinned, we have failed in our stewardship of creation. Therefore we repent of the way we have polluted, distorted, or destroyed so much of the Creator’s work.

 

They argue that we need to take better care of creation – to become better stewards – in order to live as God desires. (On the Care of Creation)

Other motivations for environmental care include an appeal to love of neighbour, encouraging people to act justly and out of consideration for those who are less fortunate. For example, the Evangelical Environmental Network includes ‘human and cultural degradation’ as among the ways in which we harm creation when we fail to act as stewards.

Tearfund, the Evangelical Alliance’s relief fund, campaigns on a variety of global humanitarian concerns including matters affecting the environment and climate change to encourage people to consider how their actions harm those who live in countries that are adversely affected by climate change. It cites a paraphrase of Romans 10.13 – ‘Love does no harm to its neighbour’ – as a call to responsible stewardship so that others do not suffer from the effects of climate change.

The Church of England

In 1991, the General Synod of the Church of England prepared a report on ‘Christian Stewardship’ with the aim of encouraging ‘a critical review of human responsibility to the living environment’. It states that:

Christians believe that this world belongs to God by creation, redemption and sustenance, and that he has entrusted it to humankind made in his image and responsible to him; we are in the position of stewards, tenants, curators, trustees or guardians, whether or not we acknowledge this responsibility.

The report cites Genesis 1.26-30 as giving humans authority over the natural world. However, at the same time it reads Genesis 2.15-17 as instructing humans to both ‘work’ it and ‘care’ for it. So humans have ‘dominion’ over the earth but this is a gift from God. This means that humans should care for the world ‘in the way God himself demands’.

Other motivations for environmental care include an appeal to love of neighbour, encouraging people to act justly and out of consideration for those who are less fortunate. For example, the Church of England writes of how ‘we are tenants of the world only in our own generation’, highlighting the importance of preserving the natural environment out of concern for the wellbeing of future generations. (Christians and the Environment: Report by the Board for Social Responsibility).

The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church understands stewardship as resulting from humans having been created in the image of God (the Catholic doctrine of the imago Dei).

Agneta Sutton from the Catholic Truth Society writes that:

From the very first, the biblical account of our role in creation declares that we have a special position and stand in a special relationship to God and so to the rest of creation. (Ecology and Stewardship: What Catholics Believe About the Environment. London: CTS. 2012. p. 8)

The International Theological Commission states that humans are:

…made in [God’s] image to participate in his work, in his project of love and salvation, indeed in his own lordship over the universe. Since man’s place as ruler is in fact a participation in the divine governance of creation, we speak of it here as a form of stewardship. (Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God, Section 57)

Pope John Paul II, a former leader of the Catholic Church, has spoken of the need for an ‘ecological conversion’. He remarks that:

Man’s lordship is not absolute, but ministerial…not the mission of an absolute and unquestionable master, but of a steward of God’s kingdom. (Communion and Stewardship, Section 73)

So for Catholics, ‘God appoints man as his steward in the manner of the master in the Gospel parables (cf. Luke 19:12)’. (Communion and Stewardship, Section 58).

The Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church understands Genesis 1 as a call to stewardship, requiring humans to be responsible for creation. This is also linked with the Orthodox emphasis on ‘deification’ – the idea that humans come to share fully in God’s being and nature through the process of salvation. The Report of the WCC Inter-Orthodox Consultation states that:

We are called to exercise dominion over all creatures on earth (cf. Gen. 1:28), i.e. to be stewards … of God’s material world, caring for it, maintaining it in its integrity and perfecting it by opening it up to God through our own deification.  (Orthodox Perspectives on Creation, Section 11).

Orthodox theology also places emphasis on the importance of priesthood, not only as an office within the Church, but as a role that can be played by humanity in relation to the rest of creation: humans can help to offer the creation to God and mediate and express its praise to God. This may be linked with the idea of ‘deification’: the goal for humanity and for creation is to be transformed, renewed, perfected, and taken up into God. Some have suggested that these ideas about the transformation of all creation – its incorporation into the divine – may be especially valuable ideas to inspire environmental care. They express different ideas and emphases from the kind of stewardship expressed in the Protestant Churches, which is more concerned with the role of humans in relation to the rest of creation.

Conservative Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian groups opposed to environmentalism

Not all Christians agree that we should be concerned about preserving the environment, or acting to reduce carbon emissions. Some conservative evangelical and fundamentalist groups see the environmental movement as a dangerous threat – a false, non-Christian religion.

It is important to note that such groups do not necessarily reject the idea of stewardship, but that they understand it in particular ways. Members of such groups are likely to put greater stress on the importance of evangelism (converting individuals to faith), the imminent return of Jesus, and ethical values related to sexual and family ethics than on conservation or care for the planet. Certain biblical texts to do with the end of the world are of particular importance here, for example, 1 Thessalonians 4.13-5.2 and Mark 13.7-31.

Sometimes these views are expressed in academic books, or on organisations’ websites, but more often they are to be found at a popular level on individuals’ blogs and websites.

For example, the American Evangelical organization Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation the environmentalist view of the world which it claims ‘elevates nature above the needs of people, of even the poorest and the most helpless’. The Cornwall Alliance argues that such environmentalism is a ‘green dragon’ that presents a major threat to the Christian religion.

Further, Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance, sees the domination of nature by humans as an essential task. He writes: ‘…continued population growth will result not in the depletion but in the increased abundance of resources, and not in increased pollution of the earth but in its increased cleansing and transformation from wilderness to garden, “from its bondage to decay…into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).’ (Where Garden Meets Wilderness: Evangelical Entry into the Environmental Debate. Grand Rapids, MI: Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty/Eerdmans. 1997. p. 107)

In more popular literature, Spencer Strickland, through a blog published by Jeremiah Daniel McCarver, ‘Saving Earth One Human at a Time’ draws attention to the impact of beliefs about the imminent end of the world on concern for the environment:

Christians should not be carried away into the frenzy that is being stirred up in popular culture. While it is true that we are all stewards of the earth and should thus take care of it, we should also be aware of the fact that the “heavens and earth which are now” are being prevented from being destroyed by the Word of God (2 Pet. 3:7). God will one day destroy the earth with the fire of judgment, and this is the warning that Christians must take to those who are lost, in order that they might be saved through the obedience of the Gospel.

Similarly, Todd Strandberg, writing on his website ‘Rapture Ready’ states that, in his view, ‘any preacher who decides to get involved in environmental issues is like a heart surgeon who suddenly leaves an operation to fix a clogged toilet.’

Learning activities

1 Is Christianity to blame?

As a class, read and discuss the ‘Beyond Stewardship?’ stimulus text ‘Lynn White: Is Christianity to blame for our ecological crisis?’ Available to download here.

2 Origins of stewardship

Divide the class into small groups. Give each group one of the following texts:

Genesis 1

Genesis 2

Genesis 3

Genesis 4

Within their groups, the students read the texts and then discuss whether:

• the text encourages care of the planet?
• the text suggests humans are ‘in charge’?
• the text suggests the land has intrinsic/instrumental value?
• humans being made in the image of God change their relationship with the Earth?

The students should be encouraged to give reasons for their answers, and should refer to the texts the back up their views.

The groups can present their findings and views about the text they have studied to the rest of the class.

3 Contemporary Christian views

Display images depicting modern environmental problems, such as the destruction of the rainforest to grow palm oil, collapse of insect populations, reduction in water tables for cotton production and plastic pollution. Discuss what the images suggest about contemporary attitudes towards how we should care for the environment. Can any implications be drawn about Christian attitudes?

Establish the critical question: Is Christianity to blame for the Ecological Crisis? This is based on Lynn white Jr’s argument.

Divide the class into small groups. Give each group:

• one of the viewpoints from the ‘Christian Perspective’ section of this resource;
• a large recording sheet with space for notes on their Christian viewpoint, and THREE additional viewpoints.

Using their recording sheet, each group works together to create succinct notes recording their viewpoint and three others in relation to the critical question.

After reading and discussing their viewpoint, groups send one or two envoys to other groups to discuss and learn about other viewpoints, before returning to their original group.

Allow plenty of time for reading, discussion, definition and note-taking. Students will end up with a multi-layered analysis of Christian views and a critical view.

If time, listen to a brief answer from each group to the critical question, or set as a written homework, drawing on the evidence gathered.

4 How do different Christian views shape the argument?

Ask groups to copy this graph:

In groups, place each Christian perspective on this graph: do they place human authority over nature above human responsibility to protect nature; do they value humans above the natural world, etc?

Share and discuss graphs. As a class, ascribe reasons to each positioning; what are they based on? Either give a theological argument or a biblical reference to support each position. Through the course of the conversation, ensure these two positions are defined:

Christian Environmentalism: humans must transform the way we treat the environment; the natural world must be protected and nurtured, in both Evangelical and denominational Christian thinking.

Conservative Evangelical or Fundamentalist non-Environmentalism: God will destroy the earth at the End Times, this is God’s plan for humanity and the natural world.

Debate

Divide the class into two groups: Christian Environmentalism and non-environmentalism. Each groups has 15 minutes to create 4 strong arguments in favour of their position, in response to the motion (below).

Groups should also predict counter-arguments and prepare to meet them.

Motion:  The earth is ours to use

An investigation into Sikh belief about God through a study of the Mool Mantar, the Enlightenment of Guru Nanak and the Ik Onkar symbol.

For KS2 pupils. Originally written by Gemma Kingston, updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Amrit: Literally ‘Nectar’. A drink made from sugar dissolved in water and stirred with a sword – drunk during special ceremonies. Considered to be divine.

Guru: ‘Teacher’. The name given to the ten great human teachers of Sikhism and also to the Sikh holy book.

Guru Granth Sahib: The Sikh scripture. The tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh declared that there would be no other living Gurus after him, so instead Sikhs could look to their holy scriptures for guidance, so the holy book became the ‘Guru.’ It is a collection of teachings and writings by Guru Nanak and other Gurus as well as Sikh, Hindu and Muslim saints. These scriptures are written in Punjabi and are greatly respected by all Sikhs as the living word of God. The book is given the same respect as a human Guru.

Guru Nanak: The Sikh faith was founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539) and shaped by his nine successors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in South Asia.

Gurdwara: a Sikh place of worship. Any building where the Guru Granth Sahib is kept is a Sikh place of worship. It is called the Gurdwara (‘Gateway to the Guru’). A focal point for the communitu.

Ik Onkar: pronounced ‘Ik O-an-kaar’. Design which represents the statement of faith ‘There is only one God’. The first phrase of the Mool Mantar. It is also used as a symbol to decorate Sikh objects. Punjabi – Found on turban badges.

Khalsa: The brotherhood of Sikhs, founded by the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh.

Monotheist: someone who believes in one God.

Mool Mantar: Basic teaching; essential teaching. The basic statement of belief at the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib. The first hymn composed by Guru Nanak.

Punjab: ‘Land of Five Rivers’. The northern region of India where Sikhism originates from.

Sikh: The word ‘Sikh’ in the Punjabi language means ‘disciple’, Sikhs are the disciples of God who follow the writings and teachings of the Ten Sikh Gurus.

Sikhism: Sikhism is founded upon the life and teaching of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and nine successive gurus who lived in the northern part of South Asia between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Sikhism is a worldwide religion with nearly 30 million adherents which is about 1% of the world’s population.

Waheguru: Wonderful Lord. A Sikh name for God.

Learning activities

You will need:

• the Ik Onkar symbol (shown below), images of Sikh artefacts bearing this symbol.

• A virtual tour of the Gurdwara, or images of a Gurdwara’s various areas.
• An audio file or video of the Mool Mantar, the Sikh prayer, as well as an image of the prayer in the Gurumurkhi script.
• Images and information about the Kara- one of the 5 K’s (a bangle).
• Information about Sarika Watkins-Singh, suspended for wearing her Kara to school.

ENQUIRE.Show the pupils a selection of images showing artefacts decorated with the Ik Onkar symbol, such as the below, and give them a chance to look carefully at the artefacts and notice anything each item has in common. Ask questions about the objects, their purpose and significance. Do they notice the symbol which appears in each?

Draw the pupils’ attention to the Ik Onkar Explain this is an important Sikh symbol which can be seen in many places such as badges, on the walls of a gurdwara and in the home.

Show pupils a selection of symbols from other religious traditions, such as the Jewish Star of David or the Christian cross. Ask pupils to suggest (a) what such symbols communicate to believers, and (b) how believers might use these symbols to show their beliefs. Encourage them to make a record of their answers.

Show pupils the Mool Mantar (sometimes written Mool Mantra) – see below – and ask if they can spot the symbol in the writing: can they work out from the translation what the symbol means? Explain that the first words of the Mool Mantar are ‘Ik Onkar’ meaning ‘there is one God’ and that the symbol acts as a visual reminder to Sikhs of what they believe about God and his oneness (monotheism).

Ask the pupils to design another object that includes the Ik Onkar symbol which would be for Sikhs a constant reminder of God’s oneness.

EXPLORE – A PLACE OF WORSHIP (GURDWARA). Explain the role of the Gurdwara in the Sikh community, perhaps by reading the relevant section of a text book on Sikhism. Point out that the Gurdwara is a focal point for the Sikh community and that it is open to all: it is a place of equality and sharing.

If it is not possible to take pupils to a gurdwara, take them through the virtual tour of a Gurdwara via an online video tour. Ask pupils to look carefully for any Ik Onkar symbols. Encourage pupils to reflect on their significance and ask them to suggest how attending the Gurdwara might inspire Sikhs to treat other people in a kind way. Encourage them to note down their reflections and to say what visits they have made that have inspired them.

EXPLORE – SIKH TEXT. Together with pupils, read the translation of the Mool Mantar – see below. Show the Mool Mantar in its original script (Gurmukhi – the script in which the Punjabi language is written).

Explain that the Mool Mantar means ‘basic teaching’ and is found at the beginning of every section of the Guru Granth Sahib. It is very much like a Sikh creed, the ‘essence’ of the teachings, repeated each day during early morning prayer.

The Mool Mantar – basic teaching

Encourage pupils to memorise the first few lines and ask them why Sikhs might memorise the whole Mool Mantar. Point out that most Sikhs will have heard the Mool Mantar said and sung very many times since they were young and that it contains many teachings that reveal what God is like in Sikh belief.

Ask pupils to work in pairs to come up with two questions to ask a Sikh about the Mool Mantar, especially focusing on what it might mean to that particular Sikh believer, and to the wider community. Ask them then to meet with another pair and to see if they can imagine what a Sikh might say in answer to each other’s questions.

Set pupils the challenge of defining the words ‘eternal,’ ‘immortal,’ and ‘enlightened.’ Ask them to use a dictionary to define them and then (a) to use them as a Sikh would to describe God and (b) to use modelling clay to create a new symbol to represent each of these terms, or any other from the Mool Mantar. Encourage them to take photos and then to write or audio-record their thoughts as to the meaning of their creations. The results could go into a class or online book about the Mool Mantar.

EXPLORE – Guru Nanak. Show an image of Guru Nanak that includes the Ik Onkar. and ask pupils to identify him. Point out the symbol if they have not noticed it. Explain briefly who Guru Nanak is and that the Mool Mantar is believed to be the first thing said by Guru Nanak upon his enlightenment at the age of about 30.

At a time in India when Muslims and Hindus were in conflict, Guru Nanak said ‘there is no Hindu, there is no Muslim’. Ask pupils to suggest what this reveals about what Sikhs believe to be the nature of God, and how Sikhs believe Waheguru is the same God worshipped by all other religions. Ask pupils for their reflections on the idea that there might be One God for all humanity which different people call different names. What other names do the pupils know? (Allah, God, Yahweh, etc.). Explain that not all people (a) believe in God and (b) believe that all religions worship the same God. Can they give examples and suggest reasons for such differences of opinion and belief?

EXPLORE – SIKH LIVING. Show the pupils a range of Sikh artefacts. Focus on the Sikh Kara. Ask pupils to suggest why a Sikh might wear the Kara: what might it mean and symbolise? What might it communicate about the nature of God? For those who need more support, ask what a circle could represent about God?

Explain that the kara is a bangle, usually made from iron or steel and worn on the right wrist. The steel is a symbol of strength, and the circular shape is a symbol of unity and eternity – a circle has no beginning and no end. This reflects the Sikh view of God who is eternal and infinite. The circular shape also stands for unity between Sikhs and between Sikhs and God. It is another representation of Sikh belief in one God, a symbol of God having no beginning or end. It keeps a Sikh focused and close to God.

Look at different styles of Kara available online for Sikhs to buy, with the choice of sacred text from the Guru Granth Sahib engraved on them. Ask them to report back to the class on the type of karas available to Sikhs and to work together to design their own style, based on what they have seen. [Remind pupils of the need to consider websites thoughtfully: what is this website trying to say or do? Who put the material up there and why?]

In role, encourage them to write a sales pitch to a Sikh customer. Their report should include how the bracelet will make a Sikh feel closer to God and what it will remind them about the nature of God. [Pupils could also produce packaging and a card to be sold with the bracelet.]

Explain that Sikhs believe that God doesn’t exist just in the sky or heaven but is present everywhere and lives within the human heart and within all living beings and life. That is one reason why they use the term ‘Waheguru’. Encourage pupils to reflect on the meaning of the word ‘God’ and ask them whether they think the concept of ‘God’ in Sikhism is very different from other beliefs about God. Do they think that God is ‘he’ or ‘she’ or beyond gender? Explain that most religions that believe in God often refer to God using the male pronoun, but that most of them believe that God is beyond gender. This is certainly the case in Sikh teaching.

Use the statements below to prompt deeper thinking. Show pupils the following statements, ask them to reflect upon each in turn and to offer suggestions as to the meaning:

• The Guru Granth Sahib says of God: ‘One Light fills all creation. That Light is You.’ I wonder… what does this mean?
• Sikhs believe that ‘the Creator is in the creation and the creation is in the Creator.’ I wonder… what does this mean?
• Sikhs believe that ‘God is neither male nor female but instead a spirit that spreads across the universe.’ He is like ‘the fragrance within a flower’ (Guru Granth Sahib). I wonder… what does this mean?

As pupils offer their thoughts, encourage reflection on the inspiration given to Sikhs by the statements, and comparison with other world views.

With pupils, read about Sarika Watkins-Singh, who at the age of 14 was suspended twice from school for wearing her Kara until a high court judgement allowed her to wear it.

What are arguments for and against Sarika’s actions? Ask pupils which arguments they find most persuasive and why. Ask them to consider that if school rules say no jewellery in school, would it be ok to wear jewellery if it is a religious symbol?

Hold a class debate.

An investigation into the relationship between the development of the universal declaration on human rights and some key texts from three religions.

KS4. Originally written by Adrian Skilbeck, updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Human Rights: those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings. Human rights and fundamental freedoms allow us to develop fully and use our human qualities, our intelligence, our talents and our conscience.

Universal: in relation to human rights they are conceptually possessed by all people in the world, by virtue of being human.

Inalienable: again in relation to human rights it is the idea that what we possess should not be taken away from or given away by the possessor.

Responsibilities: In relation to human rights it is the idea that those who are in possession of their human rights have a responsibility to help those who do not. In respect of religious teachings, it is common to all the main religions that followers are taught they have a responsibility for those in need.

Needs: as a variation on the concept of rights they are those things required by human beings because they are essential and not merely desirable. In Simone Weil’s work needs are both needs of the body and needs of the soul.

Obligations: acts or courses of action that a person is morally bound to carry out. In relation to human needs they are the things human beings are required to do for other human beings to ensure their needs are met.

Promised Land: The land that God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:7), a land said to flow with milk and honey.

Jerusalem: A holy city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. The name means ‘city of peace’. Israel claims it as its eternal, undivided capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Today Israel controls the whole city, and its ongoing status is disputed.

Homeland: a person or a people’s native land.

Palestine: Often called the Holy Land. Historic region on the east of the Mediterranean Sea, comprising parts of modern Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

Zionism: The belief that Jews should have their own nation. Zionism gained much support in the first half of the twentieth century, leading to the founding of the state of Israel in Palestine in 1948.

Diaspora: the dispersion of the Jews beyond the borders of their country. In general a diaspora refers to any more or less homogenous group of people with a shared heritage or homeland who have moved out to other parts of the world.

Shoah (The Holocaust): a biblical word meaning destruction which has come to stand for the mass murder of European Jewry by the Nazis and their associates during World War 2.

Angel of Death: The figure that appears in the animation is taken from the reference in the Old Testament Book of Exodus Chapter 11 and 12 to the angel who delivers the tenth plague upon Egypt – the death of the firstborn which the Jews are warned to protect themselves against by marking their doors with lamb’s blood. In Judaism the angel of death is known as Samael, Sariel or Azrael, in Islam as Malak Al-Mawt. The visitations of the plagues upon the Egyptians is also described in the Qur’an in Surah al- A’raf 133.

Pupils will need some background information that puts both the animation and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in context so that they can make sense of it and begin to articulate their responses which will then lead into the rest of this resource.

The song ‘This Land Is Mine’ is taken from the 1960 Hollywood film Exodus, which is about the founding of the state of Israel following World War 2 and in the aftermath of the Shoah (Holocaust). The film focusses on the life of Ari ben Canaan (‘ben’ means ‘son of’) and his attempt to create a peaceful Jewish homeland in Palestine. It is a tale of struggle which does not question the underlying assumptions expressed by the central character and places his actions in an heroic light. Nina Paley’s animation challenges the absolute nature of the statement that ‘This Land is Mine’. Nina Paley is an American Jew and so the animation should be seen as a critical American response to what the Palestinian scholar and writer Edward Said called ‘the main narrative model that dominates American thinking’ with regard to the foundation of Israel, that the Israelis have a God-given right to the land of Palestine. Paley’s film brings out the contrast between the absolute claim to land based on holy scripture and the historical reality of a land that has been fought over by many different peoples for thousands of years. It introduces us to human rights and the complex relationship between religion and politics in the modern world.

This is a stimulus resource that can be used for a range of different pedagogical outcomes. It is used here to facilitate discussion of human rights but it could also be used to explore issues of peace, conflict and reconciliation, the relationship between art and religion, the different ways in which individuals express their beliefs, values and commitments and the conflict between personal and religious/cultural values.

You will need to find ‘This Land is Mine’ by Nina Paley. It is available online.

You will also need to find the following texts online:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Draft For A Statement of Human Obligations by Simone Weil
• Luke 10: 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Learning activities

Activity 1: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

(adapted from Susanna Hookway’s ‘Conflict: Jerusalem’ in Questions of Truth)

Before introducing Nina Paley’s ‘This Land Is Mine’, split the class into four or five teams. Each team is presented with five statements about Israeli/Jewish claims to the land and five statements about Palestinian/Muslim claims to the land. Remind pupils that not all Israelis are Jewish and not all Palestinians are Muslims. The following statements are simplified for this activity – not all Jews or Muslims believe exactly this!

Israeli/Jewish

1. Our history is one of suffering and persecution, especially in the Holocaust. We have been and still are, badly treated and regarded with suspicion by other cultures. We need to establish our identity, freedom and national development and we need to secure the land to do that.
2. God made promises to Abraham which included that we would live in the land forever.
3. The Jews are now a political nation with Israel our historic homeland.
4. For centuries we have prayed that we would celebrate the Passover ‘next year’ in Now our prayers are being answered.
5. Our ancestors have lived here since the twentieth century BCE.

Palestinian/Muslim

1. Our ancestors have lived in the land for at least thirteen centuries.
2. Jews and Palestinians are blood brothers. We share the same father, Abraham, and the same God.
3. The 1922 mandate said the rights of non-Jews should be protected. American presidents promised to consult Arabs. These promises have been broken and continue to be ignored, creating suffering and misery.
4. We have a stake in Abraham’s heritage. Abraham himself never tried to take away anyone’s land. The only land he owned was the field he purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah.
5. We have suffered greatly and been cruelly treated. We need to establish our identity, guarantee our basic human rights including our right to respect, our freedom and our right to self determination as a Palestinian people.

Ask the teams to group their facts under three headings: Religious, Historical and Political. Explain that there will be overlaps but the teams should aim to recognise the close connections between the three.

Encourage the pupils to develop their reasons for their groupings. Do they find any of the statements more persuasive than the others?

Activity 2: ‘This Land Is Mine’: the song and the animation

Bring up the lyrics of the song on a whiteboard. [These can be found on several lyrics websites, but note that although Nina Paley freely shares her material, the lyrics of the song are copyright and should only be used for educational purposes within your Use the information provided in the Key words and concepts section above to provide the relevant context but take care not to reduce the impact of the animation by saying too much about it at this stage.]

Ask pupils for their initial impressions of the lyrics – the thoughts and sentiments expressed, images invoked, the tone of the lyrics.

In small groups, ask pupils to make a list of all the positive words, phrases and images in the lyrics. As a follow up ask them to consider whether there is anything negative in the lyrics.

Play the song (it can be found on You Tube and is the version sung by Andy Williams). Did the music bear out their thoughts? What words would they use to describe the mood or feeling of the song?

Tell the class they are now going to watch a short animation in which the song is Play the animation.

What are students thoughts about the animation? Were they shocked?

Suggested questions:

• What kind of images do the words of the song evoke?
• What kind of feelings/emotions/thoughts do they express?
• What were your reactions to hearing the song?
• What kind of impression did the song and the music make on you?
• How surprised or shocked were you by the video?
• What images were memorable?
• How has it changed your understanding of the song?
• Leaving aside the violent action of the animation, how is the land represented?
• What is the position of the film-maker in relation to conflict in general and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict in particular?
• Does she favour one side over the other?
• Is this a biased or unbiased video?
• What is the film maker saying about the conflict?
• How does the film help us understand the religious nature of the problem?
• The animation has been described as ‘facile’. This means it is too simple and avoids the complexities of the conflict. Do you agree?
• How is the artist using the figure of the angel of death in the animation?
• Which people did you recognise in the animation? [It might be worth identifying the section from the appearance of the British onwards as the important one for the discussion of human rights.]
• The animation uses stereotypes to make a point. Which stereotypes did you recognise?
• The animation is both shocking funny. Why do you think Nina Paley has used humour to make a serious point?

Activity 3a: What is human in ‘Human Rights’?

(adapted from the Human Rights Resource Centre)

Write the words ‘HUMAN’ and ‘RIGHTS’ at the top of chart on a Smartboard. Below the word ‘human’ draw a circle or the outline of a human being. Ask pupils to suggest what qualities define a human being and write the words inside the outline. For example, ‘intelligence,’ ‘sympathy.’

Next ask pupils what they think is needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop these qualities of a human being. List their answers outside the circle.

and ask participants to explain them. For example, ‘education,’ ‘friendship,’ ‘loving family.’ [Note: save this list for use in Activity 3b.]

Explain that everything inside the circle relates to human dignity, the wholeness of being Everything written around the outline represents what is necessary to human dignity. Human rights are based on these necessities.

Explain that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) sets the standard for how human beings should behave towards one another so that everyone’s human dignity is respected. Display these two sentences from the UDHR and ask pupils to read and reflect on them for a few minutes:

…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of the freedom, justice, and peace in the world…

Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Activity 3b: What do we mean by rights?

Ask pupils to suggest different meanings the word ‘right’ can have (e.g., ‘correct’, ‘opposite of left’, ‘just’.) Ask them to consider common expressions like ‘We’re within our rights’ or ‘You have no right to say that’. Record these different meanings on the board. What is the meaning of ‘right’ when we speak of a human right?

In small groups, ask pupils to suggest a definition for human rights: write these possibilities on the board. Negotiate a definition that gains class consensus and write it on a chart sheet by itself.

Write on the whiteboard this definition of human rights:

Human rights belong to all people regardless of their sex, race, colour, language, national origin, age, class, religion, or political beliefs. They are universal, inalienable, indivisible, and interdependent.

Ask the pupils what they think is meant by: ‘universal’, ‘inalienable’, ‘indivisible’, ‘interdependent’? and then to look up these terms in a dictionary and to write down their meaning.

Write ‘SURVIVAL/SUBSISTENCE,’ ‘HUMAN DIGNITY,’ and ‘CONVENIENCES AND LUXURIES’ on another part of the whiteboard. Discuss the meaning of these terms, then remind pupils of the list of things needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop the qualities of a human being that they created in Activity 3a. Ask them to place each item under one of the headings. For example, is education necessary to survival? To human dignity? Is education a convenience or a luxury?

Activity 4: Ranking rights

Provide pupils with a simplified version of nine of the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are:

• No one should be held in slavery.
• No one should be tortured.
• Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression of that opinion in any way they wish.
• All human beings are born free and equal and should treat all people as if they are brothers.
• Everyone has the right to a standard of living that allows for good health.
• Everyone has the right to be taken care of if they are unemployed, sick, disabled, widowed, old or unable to look after themselves.
• Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
• Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
• Everyone has the right to education.

Using the Think-Pair-Share strategy, encourage pupils to decide on what they think is the most important human right from the list provided. As a pair they then rank the others. A good approach to the second part of this would be to do it as a Diamond Nine activity. Where does freedom of thought, conscience and religion figure in their ranking?

Activity 5: What Is a Universal Right?

Show pupils the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:

Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.

Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Eleanor Roosevelt: The Great Question

Engage pupils in some reflection on Eleanor Roosevelt’s words.

Ask them then to suggest examples of how someone’ s human rights might be infringed on a local level and to identify which article in the UDHR is being infringed.

Encourage pupils to work in small groups to develop and role-play a scene in which they show the infringement of the right. Techniques such as marking the moment and thoughts aloud can be employed to explore the significance of the moment and the thoughts of those involved. Who does the person appeal to in order to redress the wrong? Are they taken seriously?

Activity 6: Religion and human rights

Explain that in order to gain a full picture of human rights they will now have the opportunity to investigate teachings from Judaism, Islam and Christianity about the importance of social justice, our responsibilities for others, particularly looking after the most vulnerable in society and to compare the teachings with the Declaration of Human They will be making decisions about which article best matches the religious teaching.

Provide pupils with the following quotations and give them time to read and reflect:

Islam

It is righteous to …spend of your substance out of love for [Allah], for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves (Surah 2:177).

And of his signs is this: he created you of dust and you are now human beings dispersed everywhere (ar-Rum 30:20).

You who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in your devotion to God, bearing witness to the truth in all equity; and never let hatred of any one lead you into the sin of deviating from justice. Be just: this is closest to being God-conscious. (Surah 5:8).

Judaism

[The Lord]… secures justice for those who are wronged and gives food to the hungry (Psalm 146:7).

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ (Genesis 1:26).

If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: (Leviticus 25:39).

Christianity

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matthew 25: 35-36).

Human life is precious (Luke 12: 6-7).

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Explain that the three religions here do have much more to say about rights and responsibilities, but that these verses are a focus for the current investigation.

Ask pupils to decide in pairs which articles of the UDHR may be linked to different quotations and to offer some analysis of how religious teachings such as these, which predate the UDHR by hundreds of years, may have been influential in the formation of the Declaration.

Encourage them to make some notes on the similarities and difference they have noticed in the statements.

Activity 7: Comparing Simone Weil’s idea of needs and obligations with human rights via the parable of the Good Samaritan

Explain to pupils that they will have the opportunity now to gain some real depth in their understanding of the possible relationship between religion and human rights through a ‘triangular activity’ in which they compare versions of two texts through the medium of a third:

The two texts are extracts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Draft For A Statement of Human Obligations by Simone Weil

Mediating text: Luke 10: 25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Introduce pupils to Simone Weil’s work in the context of human rights and the period in which she was writing and provide them with copies of (a) the UDHR.

Remind pupils of the Parable of the Good Samaritan by reading Luke 10:25-37 and encourage them in twos or threes to read through the UDHR and Simone Weil’s essay, picking out features that could be related to the Parable. Ask them to share their connections in a brief class feedback session.

Ask the pupils to then imagine that following a human catastrophe that has wiped out most of humanity, they have been tasked with providing guidance in the setting up of a new human community. Working in two groups or in larger groups that are then split into two, ask one group to draw up a set of ten fundamental rights, and the other to draw up a set of ten fundamental needs and corresponding obligations, with justifying wording in the appropriate language. Encourage each group to then decide on recommendations for ensuring the guidelines can and will be met, how they are to be kept under review and a mechanism for revising them.

Provide an opportunity for the groups to relate their proposals, e.g., as posters displayed on the walls, or as a digital presentation, and ask the class to work out how they will decide on which set of proposals would be the most effective.

Set pupils an evaluation questions, such as, ‘How far do you think some Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachings are consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?’

An investigation into Buddhist values through a study of the Buddha’s enlightenment and one of his previous lives.

KS1 and lower KS2. Originally written by Lorraine Haran, updated in April 2019.

Key Buddhist Teachings (background for teachers)

The Four Noble Truths

• Life involve suffering (dukkha).
• The origins of suffering lie in wanting, which is made more intense by greed, hatred and ignorance (Samudaya)
• The ending of suffering is possible (Nirhodha).

The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to end suffering and become enlightened (Magga).

• Right understanding (seeing the world as it is, in terms of the Four Noble Truths).
• Right Thought (commitment to follow the path).
• Right Speech (truthfulness, gentle and useful speech).
• Right Action (following the Five Precepts with love and compassion).
• Right Livelihood (avoiding work that causes harm or injustice, choosing one which is beneficial to others).
• Right Effort (avoiding bad thoughts, encouraging good).
• Right Mindfulness (attentiveness and awareness).
• Right Meditation (training the mind in meditation).

(When people follow the path, the wheel turns in a positive direction traditionally clockwise symbolising their development).

The Five Moral Precepts: Buddhists should refrain from:

• Harming and killing living beings,
• Sexual misconduct,
• Taking drugs or drinking that impair clarity of the mind,
• Taking what is not freely given,
• Wrong speech.

(There is a positive aspect of each precept, e.g. it is not enough not to harm – one should show compassion for all living things).

Enlightenment and Nirvana: Buddhist believe that there is a cycle of birth, life and death and rebirth. This goes on and on. They believe that unless someone gains Enlightenment, when they die they will be reborn. If a person can gain Enlightenment, they can break out of this Breaking out of the cycle is called Nirvana (sometimes called Nibbana) It is the end of everything that is not perfect. It is perfect peace, free of suffering.

Meditation: Buddhists try to reach Nirvana by following the Buddha’s teaching and by Meditation means training the mind to empty it all of thoughts. When this happens what is important comes clear.

Buddha: the ‘Awakened’ or ‘Enlightened’ One. The Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 2,500 years ago. Siddhartha was born into the royal family of a small kingdom on the Indian Nepalese border. He is believed by Buddhists to be a human being who became Enlightened (awakened).

Dharma: universal law; ultimate truth. The teaching of the Buddha.

The Jataka Tales or Birth Stories form one of the sacred books of the Buddhists and relate to the adventures of the Buddha in his former existences, in both human and animal form. The Buddha was a great storyteller and often told stories illustrate his thinking. Stories were also told about the Buddha by his followers both to explain and understand the Dharma. These stories have been passed down to the present day and the most popular ones are the Jataka tales, a collection of hundreds of tales about the Buddha’s past lives. They show the kind of life one should lead to become a Buddha one day. In many of these stories, the Buddha appears as an animal to teach the value of qualities such as kindness, compassion, and giving.

Karuna: compassion. The importance of being compassionate, generous, kind, truthful, helpful and patient: Actions have consequences.

Learning activities

Resources:

This lesson requires several images and a video clip of Siddhartha’s life. You will need to find these online before you start.

Images: lotus flower, Prince Siddhartha, Gautama Buddha

Video clip: the life of Siddhartha Gautama, or the life of the Buddha

Show the class an image of a lotus flower. This is a well-used symbol in both Hinduism and Buddhism and you will find may examples online.

Explain to the children that the flower is a lotus flower and that this is a symbol that is frequently used in Buddhism, because it shows how something beautiful and precious can grow out of the soil of the earth. Explain that they will be thinking about the most valuable things in the world in the next few sessions and that this will include an investigation into what followers of the Buddha – Buddhists – think is most valuable.

Ask the children for their ideas about what is most valuable (a) in their lives and (b) in the world.

Explain that in Buddhist philosophy many people can be seen as too distracted to see what is really valuable in life. The person whose teachings they follow became known as ‘The Buddha’ and they are going to find out about his life and what he taught.

Write the names ‘Prince Siddhartha’ and ‘The Buddha’ on the board. Play the video clip you have found. Explain that at the end you will talk about how the Prince became The Buddha. Play the video.

At the end of the film, show the children a picture or image of the Buddha and ask them to recall the story: what do they think were the most important parts? Record what pupils say on sticky notes and share with class, placing answers around the image.

Ask the children to share experiences and feelings about times when they have done something that was extremely difficult, for example, learning something new or embarking on something that will take a long time. What do they think were the difficult things that Prince Siddhartha did when he went on his search for the truth about life? Ask them to complete the sentence, “I think the hard challenges that Prince Siddhartha had to face were…” and to explain why they think these were hard challenges. Can they think about how he might have been feeling when he saw the old man, the sick man, the dead man and the ‘seeker’? [This activity could be done as a ‘hot seat’ activity for lower KS2].

Ask the children to share experiences of times when members of the class have experienced or done something that put the needs of others before their own. Ask them to respond to such questions as:

• Have you ever given away something you wanted for yourself?
• What did you give away?
• Was it easy to do?
• Why did you do it
• How did you feel?
• What effect did it have on you / the other person?
• Encourage them then to complete a couple of sentences such as:
• I put others first by ………………………………………………………………
• This made me feel ………………………………………………………………

Some children could go on to draw a picture of an experience of a time when they put others first, and write simple sentences about it.

Next, remind the children of the part in the film where the Buddha remembers all his ‘past lives’ and explain that Buddhists believe that when a person dies they will usually be ‘reborn’ in a different form depending on how they have lived their life. There are many stories in Buddhism that describe the Buddha’s previous ‘lives’, sometimes as an animal. These stories show how the Buddha did many helpful things in his previous lives and this helped his progress from one life to the next. One of these stories is about a monkey king who put others before himself.

Download the story: http://www.clear-vision.org/Fileshttps://clearvision.education/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/MonkeyKing.pdf/MonkeyKing.pdf

Read the story from the beginning and stop at the point where a mango falls into the water and drifts downstream. Ask the children to talk with each other about what might happen next.

Read the rest of the story. Stop reading from time to time to check understanding.

Engage the children in a sequencing activity to help them recollect the main aspects of the story. Provide them with a set of the following sentences on separate cards [You could also provide the pupils with a set of six picture cards depicting these scenes: you can find these in the Clear Vision pack if you have it]:

• A little monkey found a mango.
• “Pick those mangoes”, said the Monkey King.
• The King found the mango.
• The King saw the monkey’s tail.
• The Monkey King held on.
• The Monkey King died.

Ask the children to work in small groups to put the cards in sequence, making sure they can justify their choice of order. Most children can then go on to write their own sentence for each picture, using some key words that you can put up on the board: Moon, mountain, river, monkey, mango, tail, King, died, tree, bridge, monument. Some children may be able to independently write up the story, using illustrations and key words as support.

Next, engage the children in a drama re-enactment of the story. [This could also be adapted for a Music activity, with children choosing choose a variety of musical instruments which will they think will express the emotional tempo of key events in the story, e.g., finger cymbals – calmness, drums – the King’s men approaching, bells to build up to tension, or an Art activity with children using different media to make props representing, e.g., masks, river, tree branches, crowns.]

Ask them to imagine that they are one of the band of monkeys living harmoniously in the mango tree. Take them through the following actions:

• Climb the tree.
• Explore.
• Eat and enjoy the mangoes.
• Sleep, play and carefully pick all the fruit that hangs out over the water.
• Tell them that the human King and his soldiers arrive: hide in the bramches.
• You are very frightened. Try not to move or make a sound.
• You see the monkey King leap over the river and make himself into a bridge. [Use long piece of ribbon or string and lay it on the floor to represent the bridge.]
• One at a time, quietly and carefully, cross the bridge to safety.

Then ask the children to respond to such questions as:

• How did it feel living in the tree?
• How did you feel hiding from the King?
• Why did you cross?
• What advice would you give to those who have yet to cross?
• How did you feel when the monkey king made himself into a bridge for you to cross?
• How did you feel when you escaped?
• When did you feel safe?
• What would have been the consequences if you didn’t cross?
• How would the world change if everyone was selfish?
• Who would you look to in your life to guide you in times of fear?
• Why might Buddhists think this story is a good one?

Prepare the outline of a mind-map on what the Monkey King might be thinking and show it to the pupils. Ask them to complete their own version in small groups and to share their ideas with the rest of the class.

Encourage the children to then offer views about what Buddhists might believe this story tells them about what is of great value and to add their ideas on the edge of their mind- map diagrams.

Engage the pupils in a ‘Conscience corridor’ activity around the Monkey King’s sacrifice:

• Select one pupil to be the Monkey King and ask the rest of the class to create two lines approximately a meter apart facing each other.
• Ask pupils on one side of the ‘corridor’ to think or a reason for the Monkey King to act selfishly and just save himself. Ask pupils on the other side to take the opposite view and think of a reason for the Monkey King to sacrifice himself to save the other [Pupils could choose which viewpoint they wish to voice or be told which view point to take.]
• The Monkey King then walks slowly through the corridor and pupils on each side whisper their reasons. [Pupils who lack confidence can ‘pass’ by clapping or repeat a comment that has already been spoken.]
• Once the King has reached the end of the corridor, ask them to recall the main reasons on either side and to say what they would have done in the King’s What were the main reasons for their decision?
• Ask the other children to say what they think they would have done, with reasons that link the situation to their own lives and experiences.

The ‘Conscience corridor’ activity could then be repeated, but with a different pupil playing the part of the human King. This time the dilemma is whether to order his men to shoot the Monkey King:

Again, at the end of the corridor, ask the pupil playing the part of the human King to recall the main reasons given on either side and to say what they would have done in the King’s situation. What were the main reasons for their decision? What do they think a Buddhist would do, and why?

At the end of the activity, engage pupils in a class discussion and write up their ideas on sticky notes to put on a ‘Monkey King’ poster. Ask them for their responses to such questions as:

• What is the opposite of selflessness?
• What does the story tell us about greed?
• What is ‘compassion’?
• How did the Monkey King show compassion for others?
• What is ‘sacrifice’?
• What sacrifice did the Monkey King make?
• Who do you know that is selfless in your life?
• What does it mean ‘to set a good example’?
• In what ways did both kings in the story set a good example?
• Can you think of how people could set a good example, in the school, or locally or globally?
• What is ‘wisdom’?
• What does the story tell us about the qualities of a good leader?
• What do you think happened to the human king after the monkey king died? Did he change his life? Did he grow in wisdom?
• Finally, encourage pupils to add their own sticky note to the poster, completing this sentence:

I think that Buddhists value ………… the most.

An investigation into questions about life, suffering and death, using Buddhist sand mandala, shrines and through contact with a local hospice.

For Upper KS2. Originally written by Sabah Raza, updated in April 2019.

Key words

Mandala: The meaning of mandala comes from Sanskrit meaning ‘circle’. The circle represents a symbolic picture of the universe in Buddhism and Hinduism, often using geometric patterns.

Sand Mandalas: An ancient, sacred form of Tibetan Buddhist art_. According to Buddhist scripture, mandalas made from sand transmit positive energies to the environment and to the people who view them; they are believed to purify and heal. The Buddha himself introduced mandala sand painting; the many different sand designs each have a different lesson to teach.

Sacred Tibetan Mandala: The mandala’s purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and to assist with healing.

Chak-pur: Cone shaped metal funnels with ridges, used to disperse sand in a controlled way.

Buddha: The Buddha was born as Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 2,500 years Siddhartha was born into the royal family of a small kingdom on the Indian- Nepalese border. He is believed by Buddhists to be a human being who became Enlightened (awakened).

Buddhism: Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the world. The word comes from ‘budhi’, ‘to awaken’. It has its origins about 2,500 years ago. The basic concepts in Buddhism can be summed up by the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Dalai Lama: The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is believed by his followers to be the spiritual leader of Tibet and the Head Monk of Tibetan Buddhism.

Monk: A member of a religious community of men, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Nirvana: the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a person’s individual desires and suffering go away; the goal of the Buddhist path.

Life: The condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

Dying: Occurring at or connected with the time that someone dies.

Death: The action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism.

Hospice: a home providing care for people with a life limiting illness.

Note

If possible, this lesson involves some children visiting a local hospice to create a mandala with residents.

An alternative could be a visit to the classroom of staff form the hospice, or pupils interview family members.

Learning activities

You will need to find the following items online:

• Still image of Buddhists constructing a sand mandala
• Video of the construction and destruction of a sand mandala
• Information about a hospice- website or video

Begin by displaying any image of Buddhists constructing a sand mandala, there are many online, including of the Dalai Lama.

On each table, have an A3 copy of the image stuck on a large piece of sugar paper (groups of six work well for this activity)

Ask the pupils to write down one question each about what they would like to find out about the picture and stick it around the picture [small sticky notes work best].

Ask them, in their groups, to select one question, putting the rest of the questions to one side for now. [Help pupils to modify the question if necessary, so that the question is an ‘open’ one with no ‘easy answer’.]

Encourage one pupil from each group to read out their chosen question, then ask the class to select one main question, which will be investigated over the course of the topic.

The rest of the questions can go in to a ‘We Were Wondering…’ box, to be answered by pupils as extension work over the duration of the unit.

Now show the class the video clip of the construction and destruction of a sand mandala, asking them to look out for answers to some of the questions they might have heard earlier and to note down anything they think is important.

Ask the pupils:

• to feedback any key points they picked up and/or to answer any of the questions that were asked on their table
• What did you notice was being made in the video?
• What do you think the meaning of the image is?
• What sounds, sights and actions did you notice?
• What people did you notice?
• What happened to the image?
• What do you think happens to the sand?

Explain that Buddhists (who follow Buddhism) believe in a cycle of life, death and rebirth. Nirvana is believed to be the end of the cycle of death and rebirth and that Buddhism teaches that Nirvana is reached when all want and suffering is gone. Explain that Nirvana Day is an annual Buddhist festival that remembers the death of the Buddha (the founder of Buddhism) when he passed into Nirvana at the age of 80. On Nirvana Day, Buddhists think about their lives and how they can work towards gaining the perfect peace of Nirvana. They remember friends or relations who have recently died and reflect on the fact that death is a part of life for everyone.

Explain that the idea that nothing stays the same is central to Buddhism. Buddhists believe that loss and change are things to be accepted rather than causes of sadness. Mandalas are a key symbol for this idea, a circle that carries on and on. Sand mandalas that are constructed and deconstructed illustrate this especially well. Explain that this idea is key to their learning in this unit.

Ask the question, What happens to us after we die? What do you think? [Have it written on a large piece of sugar paper.] Encourage pupils to write a brief response on a sticky note and stick it around the question on sugar paper. Give them an opportunity to discuss their answer to this, first in pairs, then as a group and then as a class. Over the course of the next few lessons, read out a few ideas about what pupils think happens to us after we die. Some pupils may suggest viewpoints from their faith, which could lead to further discussions. Have a selection of books from all faiths available and if possible, a pupil laptop for further investigation.

Ask the pupils to think about something or someone they have lost. How did it make them feel? Give out thought bubbles. Ask them to write down their thoughts and feelings and give them an opportunity to share their feelings if they wish to do so.

As a whole class, create a Buddhist Shrine with the following artefacts: a statue of Buddha (Buddharupa), incense (symbolising the fragrance of the perfect life), flowers (the impermanence of life) and lights or candles (representing truth). [Over the coming weeks, the pupils should see the flowers withering and die, demonstrating and reinforcing the key message that loss and change are to be accepted and that all living things die. It is best not to use carnations or chrysanthemums because these remain fresh for a long time. Refer back to the shrine weekly, making observations of the flowers. Add the main class enquiry question to this display, referring back to it at the beginning of each lesson. Have the box of remaining class questions nearby on display, with books on Buddhism for reference.]

Encourage pupils to describe the different items in the shrine and how they reflect Buddhist beliefs.

Introduce pupils to the word ‘Hospice’ and ask Does anyone know what a hospice is or who might go visit one? Think about the beginning part of the word ‘hosp’, does it remind you of anything? What kind of a building do you think it is? What would you expect to find inside? Ask the pupils to write their ideas on a large sheet of paper, to compare to attitudes later in the lesson.

Explain what a hospice is and who would use it. [A home/place that provides care for people with a life limiting illness.] Show information you have researched about a hospice.

Ask for pupils’ responses to such questions as: What do you think about hospices now? Has your opinion changed? What kind of place do we now know a hospice is? How helpful is it to the people that visit it/stay there? Tell me about the sort of people that work/volunteer there. What kind of things can people do there? Ask pupils to compare responses to answers written down earlier.

Ask pupils to suggest similarities and differences they can identity between what they notice about the hospice and Buddhist beliefs, attitudes and symbols. [Bring out points about life, suffering and death and the feelings associated, e.g., with items in the Buddhist shrine, like candles, or in the making of sand mandalas, such as peacefulness, emotional needs, acceptance of change and death.] Ask them to suggest reasons for similarities and differences and whether they think having religious beliefs might make a difference to a person’s attitudes to hospices.

If you are making a hospice visit

Explain that some of the class will be visiting a hospice and will be working with a patient (in pairs), to create a beautiful mandala with oil paints.

Use cardboard or canvas to paint on.

Explain that when they visit, they will be able to talk to their patient and ask prepared questions, so they can start to depict that patient’s life story on a mandala. Remind pupils that the patients they will be meeting will have a life limiting illness and that this is their opportunity to leave a legacy at the hospice/school of their life journey in the visual art form of a Buddhist Mandala. To help pupils make the explicit link, remind them at this point of the Buddhist belief that loss and change are things to be accepted rather than causes of sadness and that Mandalas are a key symbol for this idea.

Alternatively, staff from the hospice can be invited in to lead this session to meet the pupils and answer questions.

Or

Children can interview family members.

Most hospices will only be able to accommodate a fixed number of pupils, depending on space and the number of patients using their services at that time. One suggestion is to select pupils on your gifted and talented register for RE and Art. The rest of the pupils complete the same activities, however they prepare a mandala to tell the story of a parent/grandparent/carer and complete this in school.

Note: Pupils interviewing family members will need to be reminded that they should not ask questions about an illness, e.g. What have you been diagnosed with? Their focus should be the life journey of that person, e.g. key events/journeys/moments in their lives. When selected pupils are visiting the hospice over the next three weeks (for one morning or an afternoon, to be agreed with the Hospice), the rest of the class/classes remain in school to prepare their mandalas.

After a tour of the hospice to view their facilities, pupils ask their questions to their patients. It is key that this is in a relaxed environment and is informal, if possible over a glass of squash and biscuits! Pupils in school will have taken their questions home as homework and should have had their discussions already. All pupils should begin to think about symbols, words or pictures to represent key events and the general layout of the mandalas in this session.

Ask all the pupils, over the next two or three sessions, to draw, then paint their mandalas, either in class, or jointly with their patient at the hospice. Encourage them to use different forms of expression, e.g., words as well as symbols, and to describe the meaning(s) of their designs. [As the project progresses, pupils will have begun to develop confidence and important conversations may be taking place between the patient and the pupils. This spiritual, moral and social element of the project is absolutely key here.]

It may be appropriate to also hold a small ‘tea party’ at the hospice, to include any patients that may be too unwell to travel to school for the assembly. The parents of the pupils involved could also be invited to this. One of the aims is to raise awareness of the great work of hospices and to encourage parents to donate and/or support the school in fundraising for your local hospice.

Encourage pupils to think of five questions to ask a partner in class. Encourage them to think carefully about the wording of their questions and explain that they should try to find out as much as possible about that person, including their beliefs about what they think happens after death, whilst being tactful. Give pupils an opportunity to feedback what they have found out about their friend. Highlight good examples of open questions and suggest ways of rewording closed questions.

Ask them then to compile a similar list of questions to ask their patient or family member; all pupils could use this question as a starting point: Buddhists believe that loss and change are things to be accepted rather than causes of sadness. We will be painting mandalas, as they are a symbol of this idea, a circle that carries on and on. What do you believe happens after we die? Encourage them to suggest answers that might be given by the patients. Ask them to say what answers they think might be given by a patient who was a Buddhist.

Refer pupils back to the Buddhist Shrine and the main class question on life, death and dying and ask them what they have learnt. Invite answers to the main question. Observe the flowers (they should be at least wilting by now, if not dead), demonstrating and reinforcing the key message in Buddhism, that loss and change are to be accepted and that all living things die.

In the final week, hold a whole school assembly, to which all of the year group’s parents are invited, along with the patients and staff of the hospice. This should be a celebration of the completed mandalas. Where possible, pupils and patients briefly present their life journeys and talk through the words and symbols on their mandala, highlighting reasons for similarities and differences in the forms of expressing meaning, and the questions and answers about life, suffering and death that they explored. Pupils who represented the lives of family members on their mandalas, should also showcase their work in this assembly with their family member if possible.

Here are some examples of complete mandalas:

We recommend extending the unit with the activities below:

Divide pupils in to groups of six. Each group chooses a religion or philosophy of life represented in the UK and prepares a project to show adherents’ beliefs about life and death. Pupils plan their own enquiry and resources they will need, asking ‘What do they believe about life and death?’

Note: ensure you are using a pupil-friendly search engine, as there are many inappropriate websites and video clips on death. We recommend setting up several ‘fixed’ searches in a folder of safe websites, that pupils can select from.

Use Mackley, J. (2006) Exploring the Journey of Life and Death, Birmingham: RE Today Services. This publication has several challenging activities, encouraging children to think about the journey of life and death. For example, pupils could explore their own ‘journey of life’ by thinking about the high points and low points in their life so far. Pupils could also explore ‘The Journey of Life’ illustration and pick a route they would like to take, thinking about what they would avoid and what they would include and pupils could write the first page of a ‘Guidebook’ for life.

An investigation into the purposes and practice of prayer for Muslims.

For 5-8 year olds. Originally written by Fiona Moss. Updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Five pillars: The basic precepts of Sunni Islam including belief in One God and his prophet Muhammad, prayer, giving of charity, fasting and pilgrimage to Mecca. Shi’a Muslims observe the 5 Pillars plus additional obligatory acts.

Salah: Communication with, and worship of, Allah, performed under specific conditions, in the manner taught by the Prophet Muhammad and recited in Arabic. The five daily times of salah are fixed by Allah.

Shahadah: Declaration of faith, which consists of the statement, ‘There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’.

Minaret: high tower on the Mosque which is traditionally the place that the call to prayer is shouted from.

Adhan: the words that call Muslims to pray 5 times a day.

Allahu Akbar (four times) – God is most great

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa- Allah (once) – I witness that there is no god except God

Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasula- Allah (once) – I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God

Hayya ala-s-salah (twice) – Come to prayer

Hayya ala-l-falah (twice) – Come to salvation

Allalhu Akbar(twice) – God is most great

La ilaha-illa-Allah (once) – There is no god except God

• Muezzin or Mu’adhin: person who recites the call to prayer, the Adhan.

Belief: a confidence that something is true that is not easily proved and is something that others will have different views and opinions about. The term often refers to people’s faith or religious convictions.

Prayer: a way of communicating with the divine. It can take the form of worshipping the divine, asking the divine to intercede on earth or for support or guidance.

Commitment: showing dedication to something that is important to you perhaps a particular belief, activity or cause, even if that commitment means forgoing other things.

Learning activities

Ask the children what their favourite sound is. Is it the theme tune for a TV programme, the sound of the key in the door when Mum comes in from work, the chimes of the ice cream van or their best friend’s voice? What it is that they like about that sound? Does it suggest a particular thing is going to happen or is to do with the people associated with the sound?

Use a Persona doll to introduce the religious material for this question. Create a doll with an Islamic persona. He could be called Ahmed. for clothing he should wear a Topi but the rest of his clothes might match your school uniform or clothes that the children in your community might wear. Construct the doll’s persona, the following is an example. you will need some appropriate connections to your children and perhaps some local place names:

Ahmed is 7 and lives near the park, on his way home from school with Mum he always goes down the slide. He has one younger sister and a younger brother. He lives in a big house because one of his grandmothers lives there too. He likes that because there is always someone to talk to. His favourite food is cheese and tomato pizza and ice cream.

He helps look after the wildlife garden at school. He particularly likes looking for frogs in the pond. He is also a new member of the school chess club. In the summer he brings his cricket bat and at lunchtime he and his friends play cricket on the school field.

Every school night at 4:40 p.m. he goes with his younger brother to the Madrassa or Mosque school. They both carry a copy of the Qur’an in a bag under their arm. At Madrassa he learns how to read the Qur’an and be a good Muslim. Recently he did really well in his exams at the Madrassa.

Once the children have been introduced to Ahmed and know a bit about his life you should ask what the children think Ahmed’s favourite sound is. Take suggestions from the children.

Ahmed should then share from his bag a picture of a mosque with a minaret and show the teacher how to play the children his favourite sound. This is the call to prayer, or adhan. Find a clip of it being played on YouTube. There are many. Find one you would like to explore with the class.

Explain that this is a really important sound for Ahmed. After the children have heard the sound ask Ahmed to explain its importance to him. He should explain that this sound, called the Adhan, is called out five times a day from his local Mosque.

Ask the children to predict why the Adhan might be shouted from the Mosque five times a day.

Ahmed should explain that in some Mosques it is shouted from the top of a tall tower – a minaret, in others it is said into a microphone.

Ask the children to imagine why a tall tower or a microphone is used; Why do the children think Ahmed has chosen this sound? Is this sound like a sound that is used in any other religious building in their town?

Explain that the words that they heard are calling Muslims to pray either at the mosque, at home, at school or whether they are. Muslim people try to pray 5 times every People who belong to the Sunni family of Muslims will try to pray 5 separate times, and people who belong to the Shi’a family contract 5 separate prayers into 3 times of the day. However it is not always possible and Muslims can make up their prayers when they get home if they have missed some.

Ask the children to build somewhere that would be suitable for a Muslim to shout out the call to prayer. Construction equipment in the classroom can be used for this.

Ask the children to write or record into a talking button what a Muslim might shout if they want people to stop and come to pray.

Ask the children to draw a series of picture of themselves stopping what they are doing and going to do something important because something or someone has called them.

Ask the children to write or record into a talking button what they would like to shout from the highest part of the school to the rest of the people in the school. What is it important for everyone in school to know or believe or do? Show a photo of the highest point in your community ask children to write or record what they would shout out to the community. Is it a belief or an instruction or a piece of advice? How are the things that you would shout in your school and your community similar or different to what a Muslim shouts as the call to prayer?

Introduce the children to the enquiry question, in this example we have suggested the question, ‘Why do Muslims stop and pray?’ Or ‘Why is the call to prayer important to Muslims?’

Share the words of the Adhan with the children. Explain that they are written in Arabic as this is the language that the Prophet Muhammad spoke.

Allahu Akbar (four times) – God is most great

Ashhadu an la ilaha illa- Allah (once) – I witness that there is no god except God

Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasula- Allah (once) – I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God

Hayya ala-s-salah (twice) – Come to prayer

Hayya ala-l-falah (twice) – Come to salvation

Allalhu Akbar(twice) – God is most great

La ilaha-illa-Allah (once) – There is no god except God

Share the story of Bilal with the children in an imaginative way. Ahmed could have a version of the story in his bag. There are various story books that you can use to share this story with the children or there are versions of the story online. Bilal was the first person Muhammad asked to shout the call to prayer.

Take care to tell the story in a way that involves the children in the story telling and helps them to understand why the story is still significant to Muslims today. Ask the children such questions as:

• What sort of person do you think Bilal is?
• Do you think it is fair that Ummayah is making Bilal pray in the same way as him?
• Should you ever disobey someone?
• Do you think you should be allowed to believe in God?
• Why do you think that Bilal was chosen to be the first Muezzin (person who does the call to prayer in the Mosque)?
• Does everyone pray?
• What do people pray about?
• How do people pray in different religions? Who do different people pray to? Do they pray for the same things do you think?

As a further way of engaging the children in the story you could have a series of items used in the story and ask children to go around the classroom finding them before you tell the story. This will help the children to engage in the story as they listen out for their props. You could use a rock, a broom, some money, some sand, a picture of a mosque with a minaret. Emphasise to the children that Muslims don’t draw pictures of people that are important in their religion or of God which is why you haven’t drawn a picture of Bilal.

Ask the children to do the following activities in turn (carousel arrangement):

1. Work in a group to find a way of retelling the story to older or younger children to make it memorable. They could make a jigsaw like the one shown in the film. They could make a story map of the plot of the story – how can they do this without drawing people?
2. Work in a group to create mood pictures of the different feelings of Bilal in the story. Write a description of his moods at different times and as a group use these to retell the story of Bilal.
3. Draw a picture showing a time when you stood up for something that was important. Why did you stick up for what you think? Why was your belief or idea so important?

Go back to the enquiry question and ask children to share why they think the call to prayer, the Adhan, is important to Ahmed. Ask all the children to then prepare a series of questions which Ahmed can answer about the call to prayer and its significance in his life and the life of his family such as what happens when it is prayer time in your house? How do you know it is prayer time? Can you hear the call to prayer from your house? Why do Muslim people pray? Why do Muslim people try and pray five times a day?

Ask the children to draw a picture of Ahmed either at home or near the Mosque with a speech bubble expressing why the call to prayer is important. Ask them to make a speech bubble for themselves too. Pre-print the speech bubbles with a sentence starters such as:

• The call to prayer is important to me ..
• The call to prayer is important to my family ..
• I like to stop what I’m doing and pray ..
• I like to stop what I am doing ..
• Prayer is not important to me ..

An examination of the life and work of Daisaku Ikeda, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

For 10-14 year olds. Originally written by Mary Myatt. Updated in April 2019.

Key words and concepts

Justice: the moral principle of fairness for all.

Freedom: the rights of individual to be able to take part in civil and political life without discrimination or repression.

Non-violence: the power of refusing to use violence; the restraint required not to descend to the violence used by oppressors. Gandhi and King used non-violent tactics, inspired by Jesus and other political activities for justice.

Learning activities

Ask your learners to think about ‘the price of justice’. To stimulate discussion show the Muppet Christmas Carol – Marley and Marley (find it on You Tube). Ask them why the characters are in chains. What is holding them captive? What could set them free?

Ask what sort of things people are usually sent to prison for. Write them up on a picture with some prison bars. Show pictures of Gandhi and King in prison and ask your students if they know or can guess what they were supposed to have done that is ‘wrong’. Add these comments to the bars.

Find two or three more examples of contemporary political prisoners or prisoners of conscious. Amnesty International’s website is a good place to look, especially their current letter-writing campaigns. Draw out as a class why these people have been imprisoned. Add the reasons and any quotes that sum up the issue to the bars.

King wrote a famous letter while he was in Birmingham jail, which was written on scraps of newspaper and smuggled out. One of the things he said was that ‘we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.’ Ask your students to work in pairs to work out what their message from prison would be and what the possible consequences of different messages might be. Encourage them to write it out for display on newspaper inside prison bars.

Ask students to investigate what Paul said about being in chains for the sake of the gospel. Read the whole passage in Philippians 1: 12-26, or cut up key passages and give to groups to explore. Discuss what the chains represent; what freedom has Paul found? What does he feel about the chains? Add these notes to the prison bars.

Search a quote website for Gandhi’s sayings on ‘freedom’, ‘courage’ and ‘strength’. Display 10- 20 or copy and paste onto sheets. Give groups one or two quotes, either of their own choice or randomly distributed, to discuss and explore. Share with the class. Add these thoughts to the prison bars.

Use the Buddhist Wheel of Life below (For an A4 version please see Appendix 1 of the download available at the end of this resource). Around the outer circle are the ’12 chains of causation’; the elements of human life that keep us trapped, such as craving, desire, sensation, and so on. Discuss whether this represents a different type of being ‘trapped’ to Gandhi’s, and Paul’s. What freedoms are being referred to? How do they differ?

Encourage students to make connections between the quotations. They might add some of their own comments about ‘the chains that bind us’ from these sources to the prison display.

“I stood by when           ” Tell your students how, in 1961, seven black and six white young people known as the ‘Freedom Riders’, decided to travel by bus from Washington to New Orleans, crossing six southern states of America, to challenge local practices of racial segregation. In Birmingham, Alabama, police stood by when members of the Ku Klux Klan beat the Freedom Riders with lead pipes, baseball bats and bicycle chains. Ask students if they can think of other examples of people ‘standing by’ when wrong- doing was taking place. Explain that in 1945 Daisaku Ikeda was a teenager in Japan when the US dropped two nuclear bombs and that he decided then that he could not ‘stand by’ while the existence and threat of these weapons has remained. Ikeda is well-known today as a Buddhist philosopher and writer, and founder of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), the world’s largest community of non-ordained Buddhists, or Buddhists who are not monks or nuns. Show students some ideas from the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) website campaigning against nuclear weapons and ask students if they know the reasons people give for keeping nuclear weapons.

Remind your group of the story Jesus told of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Luke 10.25-37). Explain that Martin Luther King, as a Christian, was influenced by this story, and Gandhi and Ikeda also held Jesus in high regard and followed the teaching of this parable. Ask students to rewrite the story as a poem from the point of view of the priest, the Levite (I stood by when….) and the Samaritan (I didn’t stand by when …..).

Your students could write a similar poem thinking about instances when they might be tempted to just stand by, and instances when they have the courage to not stand by. Alternatively they could write a poem in the style of ‘First they came…’ by Martin Niemoller (find this poem online).

The poems could be written on paper chains. At the end of the poem they could make a record of two or three questions about such dilemmas and suggest how people might go about answering them.

Ask students to consider in pairs whether there are differences in the basic beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and Daisaku Ikeda. Ask them to say what experiences each man had that helped form their views. Issue the pairs or small groups of students with pictures of Gandhi, King and Ikeda. They can stick these in the middle of large sheets of poster paper. Around each picture they should write a number of statements about the beliefs and the experiences of each man so far as they have been able to discover so far. Ask them to link up similar statements and encourage them to explain how some people use religious sources such as the parable of the Good Samaritan to help them understand how to act in difficult circumstances.

Find a clip online of blacksmiths making chains. Accompany this with some music such as Alexander Mosolov’s Zavod (The Iron Foundry) 19. Ask students about their reactions to the short film and the music and the idea of people being in chains. Ask them to reflect, on their own, on what they are making of their lives so far. What might they do in their future life to help ‘set people free’? Gather some views and then offer them Ikeda’s saying that, ‘true and lasting peace will be realised only by forging bonds of trust between people at the deepest level in the depths of their lives’. Ask students to talk to a partner about the difference between chains of despair and chains of strength that bind people together. Can they give examples of each? Gather views from the class.

Show images of Martin Luther King’s marches in 1960s America and Gandhi’s march for equal rights for Indians in South Africa. Ask students how different they think these marches were from the riots and protests that sometimes take place in Britain today (e.g., in London in 2011, or more recent example if appropriate). Ask if students can identify current stories in Britain or America that reflect concerns about exclusion, racism and freedom.

Ask students to work in pairs to consider problems in the world today and to draft some ideas on what (a) Martin Luther King; (b) Gandhi and (c) Ikeda might write on a protest placard. What would students write on a placard about injustices in today’s world? Ask them to create placards with a written explanation to display.

Remind students of the posters they produced around the pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr and Daisaku Ikeda and offer them some further quotes, e.g., Gandhi’s, ‘You must be the change you want to see’; King’s ‘Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love’; and Ikeda’s ‘A great revolution of character in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and further will cause a change in the destiny of humankind’. Find and display more quotes along these lines, or ask groups to choose quotes online.

Some students might like to go further and make quotes into poems, raps, and songs. Search online for a rap based on Gandhi’s quote, ‘Be the change that you want to see’ and Martin Luther King’s ‘Free at last’ speech set to rhythm / percussion.

To challenge students to demonstrate their level of progress through this investigation, encourage them to refocus on the key question, ‘What price justice?’ Ask them to work in small groups to research and put together a presentation that could be written or filmed that has the following features:

• a description of the ‘price paid’ by Gandhi, King and Ikeda in their fights for justice;
• an outline of responses to Gandhi, King and Ikeda from different Hindus, Christians and Buddhists;
• use of different sources and arguments to explain the reasons for different responses by Hindus, Christians and Buddhists;
• students’ own views on how the life and teaching of Gandhi, King and Ikeda inspires people to fight for justice in the world today;
• what students find to be the most important features of the life and teaching of Gandhi, King and Ikeda for themselves