7Th Grade History (GCP)

28 - Extremism Project I

Monday, October 24, 2005 7th Grade History (GCP) Mr. Lindy

Objectives: 1. SWBAT define religious extremism and give examples from recent history. 2. SWBAT analyze the ways in which religious extremists use holy texts to support their positions.

Materials: CREATE SAMPLE PROJECT

Opening: (10 minutes) - Do Now (5 minutes) - Collect homework during the DN - Go over answers (5 minutes) - Hook: Religion = POWERFUL, when misused results in death - fight those who hate by knowing more than they do - how: research how each religion can move toward Rel. Extr. - work in groups! Create “interactive poster” - Behavioral expectations

Distribute tonight’s HW: (3 minutes)

Definition of Religious Extremism (5 minutes): - read together definition on back of Do Now - read scriptural references - Quick questions

Independent Research: (15 minutes) - Instructions: read, answer q’s, be able to explain to teammates - work time

Group work on the back side: (10 minutes) - Walk through first example for one religion (me) - Walk through second example for same religion (together) - Explain what is meant by the word “Distort” at bottom of page - finish on own w/ team

Closing: (5 minutes) - “What I learned in class today” from a teammate - Word wall words: Religious extremism

Total Time: 48 minutes Name: ______Do Now October 24, 2005 History - ____ Do Now #36

Objectives: 1. I will be able to define religious extremism and identify examples in each of the three religions we have studied. 2. I will be able to analyze the way in which religious extremists use holy texts to support their positions.

Essential Question: In what ways can religion be twisted?

Directions: Describe anything you recognize in each of the pictures below.

1.______2. ______3. ______

4. The holy text of the Christians is the ______.

5. The holy text of the Jews is the ______.

6. The holy text of the Muslims is the ______.

7. A Muslim is someone who practices the religion of I______.

8. Place a number next to each monotheistic religion so that they are in chronological order.

____ Islam ____ Judaism ____ Christianity

Above and Beyond: What might a Muslim and a Christian have in common? Religious Extremism: Any time a religion uses a religious text to teach hate.

Examples:

Christianity and Judaism: “You must completely destroy all the places where the nations you conquer have served their gods, on high mountains, on hills, under any spreading tree, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, burn their sacred poles, hack to bits the statues of their gods and remove their name from that place.” (Deuteronomy, Old Testament)

Islam: “Fight those among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) who do not believe in God or the Hereafter .. and who do not acknowledge the religion of truth.” (Koran) Name: ______Classwork October 24, 2005 History - Religious Extremism in Judaism

Creation of Israel: In 1947 the United Nations created the country of Israel. The United Nations is an international organization with members from most countries around the world. They make decisions to promote peace and avoid conflict. The creation of Israel was thrilling news to many people: after thousands of years, the Jews finally had their own country again. However, the decision angered many other people. There were already many thousands of Muslims (called Palestinians) living in Israel, and many felt like they now had to leave their homes.

The Palestinian Reaction: Following the creation of Israel, some Palestinians lived peacefully in Israel. Others, however, responded with violence. Terrorist groups began killing Israelis in the hopes of restoring their old country and kicking the Jews out. All of the countries surrounding Israel (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq) are Muslim countries, and most helped the Palestinians attack Israel. For years, Israel fought bloody wars with its neighbors. Israel won each of these wars even though it was a much smaller country. In each war, Israel gained a little bit more land. The country continued to grow.

The “Land for Peace Movement”: In the 1990s, the prime minister (like our president) of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, attempted to make peace with the Palestinians and other Muslim neighbors who disliked Israel. He offered to trade “land for peace.” He would give a small amount of the land Israel had taken in the earlier wars in exchange for peace treaties. Most famously, Rabin tried this idea with the Palestinians. Their leader, Yasar Arafat signed a historic peace treaty with Rabin and with President Clinton in 1994.

Murdered by a Jewish Extremist: On November 4, 1995, Rabin was shot by a twenty-five year-old Jewish law student named Yigal Amir. Amir was an Israeli, and he killed Rabin because he thought he was giving away his country to the Muslims. Amir argued that God permitted his action. He said, “According to Jewish law, you can kill the enemy … My whole life I have studied Jewish law.”

Directions: Complete the following questions once you have completed your reading.

1. Who was happy when Israel was created? ______

2. Who was unhappy when Israel was created? ______

3. How did the Palestinians and many other Muslim countries respond to the creation of Israel? ______

4. What crime did Yigal Amir commit in 1995 and why? ______

Above and Beyond: Explain in the space below how Amir tried to justify his actions. Directions: Below are several quotations from your group’s holy text. Read each quotation. When you are finished, but a ____ on the line if it could be read to teach religious extremism (hate). Put an _____ on the line if it could not be used to teach religious extremism. Then circle the words in the selection that led you to make your choice.

1. “And when the Lord they God shall put another people before you, you should smite them and

utterly destroy them. You should make no agreements with them and show no mercy to them.”

(Deuteronomy, Torah) ____

2. “Do not bear false witness (lie) against your neighbor.” (Exodus, Torah) _____

3. “Be careful not to be tricked into following them. Then be sure to destroy them and do not try to

learn about the Gods they worship.” (Deuteronomy, Torah) _____

Begin Drafting your project: For your interactive poster, you will need to create two illustrations. On the outside cover, you will need to create a picture that includes a distortion of a symbol for your assigned religion. Follow the steps below.

a.) assigned religion: ______b.) symbol (s) chosen: ______c.) details or colors that will distort your symbol: ______

Draft of your cover: Draft of the inside illustration which shows what happened:

Name: ______Classwork October 24, 2005 History - Religious Extremism in Islam September 11, 2001 On September 11, 2001, terrorists from Afghanistan flew U.S. planes into the World Trade center in New York City and into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. These terrorists were Muslims who believed that they were following the will of God. More than 3000 innocent Americans died that morning, and it was the first major attack on American soil in over fifty years. Why did it happen?

The Complaints of the Terrorists: These terrorists were part of a group called Al Qaeda. Their leader is a man named Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden hates the United Statevs for three specific reasons. We will discuss these reasons in depth later in the year, but for right now it is enough to know one of them. In the early 1990s, when President Bush’s father was president, the U.S. was at war with Iraq for a first time. During this war, the U.S. put troops in the holy city of Mecca. Bin Laden believes that only Muslims should be allowed in this holy city.

The Plan and its Justification: Al Qaeda is an organization full of religious extremists. They believe that the Koran instructs them to seek out and kill enemies of Islam and people who practice other religions. It was for this reason that members of Al Qaeda hijacked the planes and killed over 300 innocent Americans.

Directions: Once you are finished reading, answer the questions below. Be ready to teach your teammates about what happened on September 11, 2001.

1. Which group of people is responsible for the terrorists attacks on 9/11/2001? ______

2. Who is the head of that organization? ______

3. From what country did the terrorists come? ______

4. Draw a picture of why this organization and its leader were angry with the United States?

Above and Beyond: Why do you think the hijackers were willing to die in the attack? (They went down with the planes.) Remember what we have already learned about Islam and what it has in common with Judaism. Directions: Below are several quotations from your group’s holy text. Read each quotation. When you are finished, but a ____ on the line if it could be read to teach religious extremism (hate). Put an _____ on the line if it could not be used to teach religious extremism. Then circle the words in the selection that led you to make your choice.

1. “Fight those among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) wo do not believe in God or the Hereafter … and who do not acknowledge the religion of truth.” (Koran) ______

2. Fight unbelievers “until there is no more disagreement or oppression, and until faith and all judgment belongs to God.” (Koran) ______

3. “O humankind, God has created you from male and female and made you into diverse nations and tribes so that you may come to know each other.” (Koran) ______

Draft of your cover: Draft of the inside illustration which shows what happened: Name: ______Classwork October 24, 2005 History - Religious Extremism in Christianity Following the Civil War: At the end of the civil war, slavery became illegal in the United States. Some people in the South were afraid of African Americans becoming powerful. They formed a group to scare and attack African Americans. They called this group the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The man who created the group was named Nathan Bedford Forest. He used to be a commander in the southern army.

What the KKK Did: Since then the KKK has murdered innocent African Americans. The KKK has sometimes lynched African Americans. (To “lynch” someone means to accuse them of a crime and kill them without a trial.) The KKK has also burned down people’s homes and farms. The symbol of the KKK is a burning cross.

Why the KKK thinks it’s ok to do what it does: Members of the KKK are Christian. They believe that God wants them to kill and threaten African Americans. They believe that white people are God’s chosen people.

Directions: When you are finished reading, answer the questions below. 1. What does “KKK” stand for? ______

2. When did the KKK first appear? ______

3. What religion does the KKK practice? ______

4. What does the KKK believe that God wants? ______

5. Create an illustration of the KKK lynching someone.

Above and Beyond: What messages of Christianity are the KKK clearly ignoring? (In other words, what part of Christianity are they getting wrong?) Directions: Below are several quotations from your group’s holy text. Read each quotation. When you are finished, but a ____ on the line if it could be read to teach religious extremism (hate). Put an _____ on the line if it could not be used to teach religious extremism. Then circle the words in the selection that led you to make your choice.

1. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew, New Testament) _____

2. “The heavens and the earth … shall turn to fire on the day of judgment against all ungodly men.” (Peter, New Testament) ______

3. “Anyone who broke the law of Moses died without mercy … how much worse will the punishment be should he break the law of Jesus?” (Hebrews, New Testament) ______

Draft of your cover: Draft of the inside illustration which shows what happened: Name: ______Homework October 24, 2005 History - ____ Homework #36

Directions: For homework tonight, identify the parts of speech of the underlined words in the sentences below. Write each part of speech below the underlined word.

1. The Ku Klux Klan is a group of religious extremists who believe that they are Christians. They have brutally murdered thousands of African Americans.

2. The leader of Al Qaeda is Osama Bin Laden. His group of terrorists operated out of Afghanistan, and on September 11, 2001, they killed over 3000 Americans.

3. Yigal Amir was an Israeli citizen who assassinated the prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. Like Al Qaeda and the KKK, Amir was a religious extremist. He believed that God gave him permission to take the lives of people who were in fact working for peace.

4. Religions are powerful forces. They can be used to liberate people or enslave them.

5. It is possible to read the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran and find hateful passages. It is equally possible to read those same books and take away messages that teach us to respect one another and care for one another.

6. It is our responsibility to fight religious hatred by knowing more about religions than those who practice hate.

Above and Beyond: Which type of extremism that we studied today seems like the biggest threat to you? Explain your answer on the back of this page.