Worldview and Religions

Religious worldviews and how faiths impact people are highly important topics to know about in many parts of life. These ideas are part of what my classmates and I were assigned as the next unit in our humanities classes. The driving question was “How is religious worldview represented in the real world?”.

Starting This Unit

The very first thing was for everyone to be put into groups of four, and we would be collaborating the entire unit. My group was Izzy, Nik and Jason. Starting this unit, some key vocabulary needed to be burned into our brains. The word worldview in itself essentially means the way a person or group of people view the things around them. Worldview can be divided into seven main sections; geography, knowledge, society, time, beliefs, values, and economy. In order to encourage our understanding of different religion’s worldview, my teacher assigned a video (made by myself) that explained my own worldview and what events shaped it. I chose three topics from the sections of  worldview and then connected them to something in my life. A couple of revisions later it was done, and the events I spoke about showed me that everyone is different, and it matters what happens to each of us in our lives, whether we’re religious or not. Though I absolutely despise the sound of my own voice (as most of us do), the video made on the app Explain Everything is here.

Research and Assignments Phase

For the next two-three weeks after the introduction were spent learning about all the major religions in the world. We covered Aboriginal Spirituality first, followed by Judaism (the start of the two other Abrahamic faiths), Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and finished with Sikhism. Before much else happened, the World Religion chart appeared, and it had plenty of room to write everything from a religion’s food to their founder’s history. Each religion would be filled in by the end of this unit.
In the Aboriginal Spirituality section, I learned that people in this faith are very closely connected with nature. For an assignment, there was a sheet about perceptions and impressions that we had about Aboriginal Spirituality.

Judaism followed because it is the religion that started the other two Abrahamic faiths (Islam and Christianity). Many events and people make up the history of Judaism, and they are written down in the Torah, the holy book. My class was assigned some reading and worksheets on Genesis for a deeper understanding.

Christianity was the next religion. It is the largest religion in the world with over 2 billion people worldwide. Jesus is the most prominent figure and many of the parts of history in this religion are about him. I added to the chart and did a more readings, same as my classmates.

The final Abrahamic faith we covered in class was Islam. I learned some statistics and completed a crossword, questions, and a sheet on the life of a prophet (Jesus is an example of a prophet in Islam).

We then moved onto Sikhism. Sikhs have several core values and beliefs. There were worksheets completed on the life of the founder, Guru Nanak, a sheet on the five Ks, and I then added information to my chart.

Buddhism was next, and I gathered that the people in his religion focus on a spiritual path. I filled out some information on the Eightfold Path and the life of the Buddha.

The final religion we covered was Hinduism, the largest religion in India and Nepal. Hindus believe in a Supreme God and that we all have had many lives.

Field Studies in Religion

Ms. Willemse, our teacher, mentioned at the beginning we would be going on three Field Studies to different places of worship to hear from a person from each religion. Once there, each group who had that previously assigned religion presented what we had learned and asked questions.

The very first place was an Islamic mosque. We all got a good look at where many people say their prayers, rooms where they wash themselves, and some key features like the Qur’an. Many of the things we’d already covered were talked about but in more detail.

We then visited a Jewish synagogue. It was quite large, and the Rabbi (leader of the synagogue) showed us around a prayer room. Behind doors, there were elegant hand-written scrolls containing teachings. On the outside there was also a large menorah for Hanukkah. This was also the place where my group presented and it did go quite well.

Four days later, the first stop was a Hindu temple. We walked up the stairs and went into a room full of splendour. There were many statues/figures of the deities they worship. The lady who talked to us explained how the people in the community visited and gave offerings in the room. She also talked about how Hindu people believe in reincarnation and that god is within you.

The second stop on that day was a Buddhist temple. It was very large, with many buildings and amazing gardens. I thought it was a really beautiful place, and there were so many details, from the room of a thousand Buddhas to a large prayer room with massive figures of people.

We then drove to a Sikh temple, which also had a very detailed exterior, and a large room with gold and bright coloured images and walls. Before we had our talk, I had a delicious lunch a few women there had cooked for us and the other visitors. In the talk, I learned how Sikhs are constantly giving to others, volunteering and spending time with the community.

The last place we visited was a Christian church. The Father there was kind enough to allow us to look in many of the recreation rooms, and even his own quarters where he kept all his delicate garments. What he talked about included some statistics and the items around the room, including sculptures of Jesus and Mary.

A Jewish Infographic

The final part of this unit was to make an infographic about the worldview of each group’s religion. An infographic is a more visual representation of data and information. My group started choosing what we thought was most important about the Jewish worldview and started to choose icons and design features. The process was very focused around critique and revision. Many classes where spent talking about what we liked about other group’s infographics, and then going back to fix the issues. By the end I think everyone was extremely glad to have Ms. Willemse approve them.

Answering the Driving Question

When I thought about how religious worldview are represented in the real world, my brain jumped to memeories of reading the news. Many articles show up broadcasting different ideas on religion, politics, geography and more. People in all religions have varying beliefs, and therefore things can go up in flames when pitted against each other. Another, less controversial idea is how religious people change their daily routine to fit their beliefs. A Muslim must pray five times a day, while Jewish people stay indoors on Sunday. A non-religious person may not see it right away, but many types of people surround us all the time, and it’s the little things that make up a large part of religions.

In Conclusion….

I found this unit actually very interesting. I really enjoy learning about history, and when we got to have lessons on the religions, I was excited to see how what I knew already fit into the new things I was learning about people. The field studies were a great chance to see actual humans in the religion and see how buildings and places of worship are different across religions. From this unit on, I want to try thinking back to all the lessons and putting that in the context of today’s current events.