Religion : Believe it or not

After this lesson you can:

- Give a definition of reincarnation. - Give a definition of atheism. - Explain why less people are going to church. - Explain why adherents choose for one of these beliefs. - Express your own opinion about this subjects (in English).

Materiel:

BBC - http://documentaryheaven.com/supernatural-science-previous-lives/

BBC - http://documentaryheaven.com/the-trouble-with-atheism/ http://www.zelfkrantmaken.be/h6ryf71/ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-35885163

Leerplan

3e graad Secundair onderwijs

Godsdienst: http://www.kuleuven.be/thomas/page/leerplan/labels/2827/

Paragraaf 3 pagina 161

rechten van de mens; het opgroeien in een opvoedingsmodel, een geloofsovertuiging, een mensvisie; culturele en maatschappelijke invloeden;

- levensvragen ontdekken en opnemen - openstaan voor en omgaan met andersheid, verschillen en conflict - durven zoeken naar de eigen – gelovige- identiteit en ervoor opkomen

Part 1 - reincarnation Pupils will brainstorm about reincarnation.

- In which religion can we find ‘reincarnation’? - Why adherents of this religion believe in a life before and a life after their existence? - What do you think about this subject?

Part of the film (BBC learning) BBC - http://documentaryheaven.com/supernatural-science-previous-lives/

Analysis after the documentary - How scientists try to prove the existence of reincarnation?

Part 2 - atheism Pupils will brainstorm about atheism - Why atheism is more and more popular? - Which type of people become atheist? And why? - …

Part of the film (BBC learning) BBC: http://documentaryheaven.com/the-trouble-with-atheism/

What do you think about atheism after seeing the film?

Part 3 – Going to church http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-35885163 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/09/many-non-religious-people-believe-in- god

Many non-religious people still believe in God – what is that all about? Adam Lee

Americans are becoming less religious, but what are we to make of the fact that so many still believe in God? A recent Pew report found that the share of those who think there is a divine power has declined only slightly, from 92% to 89%, since 2007. But we shouldn’t be viewing this as a counterweight to the rising tide of secular millennials. The bare percentage of people who profess belief in a god has never been a good way of defining religious commitment.

To make the flattening statement that 89% of Americans profess “belief in God” does a disservice to the country’s bewildering tangle of theological complexity. Some people believe in a personal, intervening god as defined by a religious creed. Others believe in a deist god, a cosmic watchmaker who wound up the universe and then stepped back. Still others think of God as an impersonal cosmic force, as nature personified or as the even vaguer “ground of all being” posited by philosophers.

Even if all these people use the word “God”, they use it to mean entirely different things, so it’s misleading to group them together as if they shared something in common.

Among those who believe in a personal god, there’s a vast spectrum of opinions about what this being wants and desires, from liberal to ultra-conservative and everything between. Some religious denominations unapologetically support marriage equality; others haven’t even gotten as far as permitting women to be clergy.

The same divide exists on abortion, stem-cell research, environmental protection, war versus pacifism, economic inequality and any other issue you’d care to name. Given that religious views aren’t based on evidence but on conflicting claims of unprovable revelation, this is just what we should expect.

If you look beneath the surface, it’s easy to see that every major faith - even the dogmatic, creedal ones that present themselves as orderly ranks of orthodoxy - is a riotous diversity of clashing beliefs. What’s taught from the pulpit often has little connection with what members actually believe.

The debate and dissension within conventional religions, as well as the ongoing rise in the numbers of the unaffiliated, show that traditional models of faith are crumbling before our eyes. The time where a religious authority could issue a decree and expect it to be obeyed without question is passing. It may have worked when churches had a stranglehold on their members’ access to information, but they’ve lost that power, much to their frustration.

Instead, more people are making up their own minds apart from tradition and authority. They’re increasingly unafraid to think for themselves, ask questions and come to their own conclusions, even when those conclusions conflict with received dogma. This applies to both the outright atheists and agnostics as well as the people who consider themselves theists but no longer identify as affiliated with organized religion. (Perhaps the most interesting data point is that, while younger and more secular generations are driving the trend, older generations are also showing a slight but noticeable dip in religiosity. It’s likely that a more open atmosphere is helping people finally give voice to doubts that they’ve always had but never felt free to express.)

Even if America never becomes a majority-atheist country, the growth of religious diversity and disaffiliation is a good thing. A wider diversity of faiths will help everyone appreciate the importance of secularism and church- state separation.

It will also temper the theocratic ambitions of politicians: the more different factions we have, the more likely it is that they’ll cancel each other out so that no one has the power to impose its doctrine on others. For skeptics, it means that debunking popular superstition will be aiming at a moving target, but I’ll take that over religious hegemony any day.