RE
Does belief in Akhirah (life after death) help Muslims lead better lives?
Theme – Beliefs and Meaning
Religion – Islam
We are learning that the concept of Jihad can be interpreted differently leading to different actions and consequences.
We talked through different scenarios and whether they were good or bad actions. Mrs Crowther gave us a statement and we had to stand on the continuum to show how strongly we agreed/disagreed with the person’s actions in the scenario. She then gave us more information to see if we changed our minds and our positions on the continuum.
An example was:
A stranger grabs a child….the child was about to be run over
After each scenario we discussed reasons and possible motivations. It was really interesting to hear other views that differed from our own.
As part of our next few lessons we learnt about and researched the 5 pillars of Islam and compared them and what it means to be a muslim to what we believe makes a good life. We had lots of discussions about what we agreed with and disagreed with as individuals.
Fantastic lesson with Imran sharing his personal experiences and thoughts about Akhirah.
To conclude our topic we did a diamond 9 looking at what we think is most important for Muslims to lead a good life and then a personal one reflecting on our individual beliefs.
Is Christianity still a strong religion 2000 years after Jesus was on earth?
Theme – Easter
Concept – Salvation
Religion – Christianity
We are learning to examine the influences Christianity still has in the world and to evaluate whether it is still a strong religion.
We discussed the meaning of symbols and the importance of them specifically in relation to Easter.
Our questions for discussion in our third lesson 'If Christianity was motivating people to do good in the world, would this show it is still a strong religion? We spent time researching different Christian charities and what they do and then debated the question.
We also looked at the question "If some countries persecute, torture and imprion people for being Christians, does this show that they are fearful of Christianity and therefore that it is seen as a strong religion?" Again we had differing opinions after looking at how the Japanese treated Christians overtime.
To discuss the relevance of Christianity in Britain we looked at its influence in British society. We decided it still is quite important,it is used in court, our national anthem and our legal system and that Churches are still part of British buildings.
We wrote a newspaper article answering the overarching question Is Christianity still a strong religion 2000 years after Jesus was on earth?' giving arguments for and against.
Using all that we have learnt this unit, we imagined what our ten commandments would be for a better world if we created a religion today.
