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B ro w n e l l - Ta l b o t S c h o o l
World Religions 2015-2016

Instructor: Mark Smith

Contact Info: Phone – (402) 556-3772, ext. 1139
Email – mark.smith@brownell.edu

D e s c r i p t i o n & R a t i o n a l e

Although the required social studies curriculum includes some content about the role of religion in shaping
history and influencing culture, very little attention is given to the direct study of the different world religions.
Therefore, the elective World Religions course provides the opportunity for the student to gain an in-depth
insight into the diversity of religions throughout the world. This two-semester course examines the Buddhist,
Christian, Confucian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, and Shinto traditions among others. The student will learn to
recognize and find meanings in a variety of religious expressions while discovering that misinterpretations of
these religious expressions can lead to inaccuracies, stereotypes and distortions. Attitudes of respect and
appreciation for religious diversity are encouraged throughout the course.

By studying primary sources such as the Bible, Quran, Vedas, Tripitaka, and Torah, the student will begin to
appreciate the complex history of each religion. Speakers of different religious sects will be called in from the
community so students will have a first-hand experience. This course, in itself, illustrates the practice of the
religious freedom clauses of the First Amendment. The comparison of different religions will help students
synthesize the basic elements of all religions and the needs a religion fulfills in human nature. By the end of the
course, students should have a better understanding and tolerance for the idiosyncrasies of the different religions
and appreciate the people and cultures through which these religions are manifest.

L e a r n i n g O b j e c t i v e s
What is religion?
What is its ultimate source?
How do these basic traditions impact the morality of one’s actions?
How do religious belief systems influence the way people view themselves, others, and the world?

Using the specific subject of religion, this course will seek to answer these questions by 1) encouraging
students to see religion as a mechanism for approaching so-called “eternal questions” 2) building an intellectual
framework for the analysis of how religion influences various aspects of one’s lifestyle and the development of
ideas about one’s own and other cultures 3) indicating how religious thoughts and practices have influenced
formative periods of civilization.

Te a c h i n g M e t h o d s

The course material will primarily be presented by lecture. These lectures will be done in a Question &
Answer type setting between the instructor and students.

Student-led readings and activities will also be used to enhance learning. The biggest of these activities
will be student presentations on Confucianism/Daoism/Shinto towards the end of Semester 1, and modern
syncretic religions and modern off-shoots (Sikhism, Bahai, modern Evangelical Christianity) towards the end of
Semester 2. Student-centric work will be done both in class and through the course’s online blog.
R e q u i r e d M a t e r i a l s

-A History of the World’s Religions by Noss & Grangaard, Pearson 13th Edition
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-Life of Pi by Yann Martel (we will read this near the end of the year)
-Three-ring binder for storing class handouts

O u t l i n e o f To p i c s / W e e k l y S c h e d u l e

Week 1-4: Intro to Religion & First Amendment in America

Week 5-8: Hinduism
Week 9-13: Buddhism
Week 14-17: Jainism/Confucianism/Taoism/Shinto – Group Project
Week 18-21: Judaism
Week 22-26: Christianity
Week 27-30: Islam
Week 31-34: Zoroastrianism/Sikhism/Modern Religions – Group Project
Week 35-37: Field Trip & Contemporary Issues

C l a s s P o l i c i e s & E x p e c t a t i o n s

I. Successfully complete evaluative exercises in class, both announced and unannounced, including
examinations that combine objective and essay elements, as well as checks for understanding (CFUs).

II. Working in groups, students will prepare presentations, PowerPoint presentations, lectures, and
practice questions covering one religious tradition – first at the end of Semester 1, then again towards the end
of Semester 2. Potential groups are listed above (Week 14-17, Week 31-34).

III. Actively participate in class discussions, role-plays, debates, and simulations in addition to
promoting discussions based on relevant issues.

IV. Assist fellow students in grasping material they have mastered and request help whenever needed.

A s s e s s m e n t & G r a d i n g

Grading Scale

100 - 93 = A
92 - 85 = B
84 - 77 = C
76 - 70 = D
69 - below = F

For Quarters #1 & #3 - Daily work makes up 25% of the course grade, in-class projects another 5%. The
remaining 70% of the grade is based on the faith-specific quizzes & unit assessments.

For Quarters #2 & #4 – Daily work makes up 20% of the course grade, group projects another 20%. The
remaining 60% of the grade is based on the faith-specific quizzes & unit assessments.

Unit Assessments - You will participate in both in-class and take-home assessments. When we begin a new unit
(the class contains seven total including the introductory unit), you will receive a list of ten to twenty questions
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and approximately 30 vocabulary terms. On the final day of each unit, during the unit assessment, you will have
the following options —

CHOICE A — Answer all objective questions (multiple choice, matching, true / false, fill in the
blank) and none of the essay questions: 100% objective, 0% essay — CHOICE B — Answer all
objective questions and one of the essay questions: 50% objective, 50% essay — CHOICE C —
Answer none of the objective questions and two of the essay questions: 100% essay

Semester 1 Final will count 10% of the overall semester grade.

Semester 2 Final will count in the test category of Quarter 4 (and will be taken by all students before senior
graduation).

RETAKES AND EXTRA CREDIT. Retakes are not available in World Religions, but alternative enrichment
assignments (bonus or extra credit points) will be made available, primarily during tests, over the course of the
semester.

L a t e W o r k

Major assignments (example: group projects/presentations) must be completed on time. If you will not
attend class on a particular due date, you may e-mail it to me at mark.smith@brownell.edu. Note that daily
work may be turned in when you return to school. Students should hand in their work regardless of when it is
finished, but late work cannot earn more than 70% of its total possible points.

A c a d e m i c H o n e s t y

Any form of academic dishonesty — be it the use of another’s words or ideas without attribution (plagiarism)
— or simply cheating — will not be tolerated. Evidence of cheating will result in a Honor Council referral.

WORLD RE LIGIONS DID YOU KNOW SOME COLLEGE

Miscellany PROFESSORS GO AN ENTIRE
SEMESTER WITHOUT SHOWING
YOU AN OVERHEAD OF WHAT YOU
NEED TO STUDY? It’s true! At times in
World Religions you will take extensive
notes — not just during lectures or films, but
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also during classroom discussions. Much of

the note taking will involve vocabulary.
Although the instructor will identify
important principles and concepts as such,
you will not see an overhead transparency of
terms and definitions after each reading
assignment listing “what you need to know
for the test.” You have arrived at a point in
your education where study habits should
not require constant modeling or scripting by
the teacher.

You will take frequent “pop” evaluative

exercises (in some circles known as
“quizzes”). Those who keep up on their
reading do well on them.

READING, READING, AND READING

You can anticipate a GREAT DEAL OF
READING. Organize your schedule,
especially if you work, so that there is at
least some part of the day when you can sit
down with a textbook or handout and not
drift off to sleep from fatigue. The reading,
and learning how to organize and manage it,
constitutes another college preparatory
aspect of the course. You will never
complete a worksheet for worksheet’s sake.

AND A FOURTH R — A RESEARCH

PRESENTATION
You will work in groups to research and
present lesson plans on a specific religious
tradition not covered by the instructor –
once at the end of Semester 1, and again
towards the end of Semester 2.

CONTROVERY: THIS IS A CLASS

ABOUT RELIGION. Virtually every topic
discussed in World Religions can be
interpreted as controversial. The instructor
will play “Devil’s Advocate” (the clichéd
character, not the bad film) for the sole
purpose of fostering discussion and thus
enabling the students to complete the course
objectives. If the student or the student’s
lawful guardians are uncomfortable with
candid discussions of potentially
controversial subjects, it is recommended
that the student not take this course.
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Each month of the school year, try Vaisakhi Day Sikhism

May
Inside a mosque (Islamic house of
worship) Dragon Boat Festival Taoism
in Damascus, Syria Vesak Buddhism
opening discussion on one or more
religious observances that might be new
to your students. The selection of faiths Summer
here is certainly not exhaustive; you Ramadan Islam
will want to encourage students to
identify and explore additional religious
traditions not on the list. September
Ganesh Chaturthi Hinduism
Below the table, you'll find (1) general tips
for discussing diverse religions in the Rosh HaShanah Judaism
classroom, (2) introductory information for
students, and (3) discussion points and
activities you can use to cover each religion. October
Yom Kippur Judaism
Diwali Hinduism
Religious Observances (left) and Associated
Faiths (right)
January November

Oshogatsu Shintoism Hajj Islam

February December

Rissun Shintoism Christmas Christianity

NOTE: The indicated timing is

approximate for many of the holidays.
March
Many observances are timed to lunar
Naw-Ruz Baha'i cycles that change from year to year. In
Tomb Sweeping Day Taoism addition, some observances begin in
the month indicated but carry over to a
Hola Mohalla Sikhism subsequent month. If you prefer to
Chunga Choepa Buddhism teach about a holiday on its actual
start date, you will need to research the
specific date on a year-to-year basis.
April
Rivdan Baha'i
Discussing Diverse Religions in the
Easter Christianity Classroom

Religion can be a complex and even
contentious issue and therefore needs to
be approached carefully in the
classroom. The good news is that clear
guidelines offer appropriate practices
for public-school educators.
The Teaching About Religion site offers
a helpful list of "do’s and don’ts" as
well as concrete examples of what
appropriate classroom instruction on
world religions looks like. In general,
educators will want to present a secular
discussion that neither endorses nor
denigrates any one religion. They will
also want to make sure that the
experience is comfortable for students
of any faith, as well as those who do not
have a religious affiliation.
As such, teachers will want to make
sure they avoid:
 Role-playing any sort of
practice that can be
considered a worship activity
(i.e., holidays should be
discussed rather than
"celebrated").
 Requiring or pressuring
students to disclose or discuss
their own religious beliefs
(this includes singling out
students who may represent a
particular faith).
 Allowing student discussion
to go in the direction of
proselytizing or judging
peers.
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 Stereotyping adherents of
various faiths or ignoring the
diversity present within every
faith.
Likewise, any outside speaker the
educator may engage should be
comfortable abiding by these
guidelines.
Introductory Information for
Students
What is a religion?
Begin by asking students to define the
term "religion." Record students'
responses on chart paper, or have them
share their ideas verbally with the class.
Alternately or additionally, you may
wish to have students record their
answers in a personal journal.
Compare their ideas to sociologist Emil
Durkheim's classical definition:
"[Religion is] a unified system of
beliefs and practices relative to
sacred things, that is to say, things
set apart and forbidden--beliefs
and practices which unite into one
single moral community."
The United Religions Initiative also
offers a thorough definition of religion
that's geared toward younger students.
Remember that students may tend to
provide definitions that reflect the
scope of their personal beliefs. Through
discussion, ensure that you arrive at a
definition that's inclusive enough to
cover monotheistic, polytheistic and no
ntheistic religions.

If students have written their initial
definition as a journal entry, after
teaching about world religions, have
them go back and determine whether
they want to revise or expand their
definitions.
What do we know about world
religions?
Introduce the names of nine world
religions: Christianity, Islam,
Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism,
Buddhism, Taoism,
Shintoism and Baha'i.
Ask students: Are any of these familiar?
Have students use a journal or KWL
chart to indicate what they know about
these religions.
Try administering a pre-quiz to assess
prior knowledge. One quiz might
involve putting the nine faiths in order
of their number of adherents
worldwide. The correct answer, as
indicated on adherents.com, is:
1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
2. Islam: 1.5 billion
3. Hinduism: 900 million
4. Chinese traditional religion
(includes Taoism): 394 million
5. Buddhism: 376 million
6. Sikhism: 23 million
7. Judaism: 14 million
8. Baha'i: 7 million
9. Shintoism: 4 million
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Another quiz might involve matching a
key concept or term with its
corresponding religion. Here's an
example (the term is followed by the
answer in parentheses):
 Torah (Judaism)
 Muhammad (Islam)
 Crucifixion (Christianity)
 Kami (Shintoism)
 Diwali (Hinduism)
 Karma (Buddhism)
 Amrit (Sikhism)
 Chi (Taoism)
 Naw-Ruz (Baha'i)
Define the
terms monotheism, polytheism and nont
heism. Students should remember these
terms, as they will be used later to
describe various faiths.
Have students identify particular faiths
that are least familiar to them. What do
they want to learn about them? Ask
them to record answers in their journals
or in the 'W" column of a KWL chart.
Discussion Points and Activities
Before you begin, remind students of
any "ground rules" that will apply to
discussions. Assure them that no one
will have to share personal information
or beliefs, and that discussion should
explore each faith without positive or
negative judgment.
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Start by giving an overview of the  Christianity

distribution of religions worldwide. The
site adherents.com rank-orders faiths in  Islam
terms of the number of worldwide
adherents for each. To put things in  Judaism
visual perspective, you may wish to
present this screenshot of the site's  Hinduism
world-religions pie chart:
 Sikhism

 Buddhism
How does the above global distribution
of religions compare to that within the  Taoism
United States? To answer that question,
 Shintoism
try sharing the following screenshot
from cia.gov:  Baha'i
For each religion, cover the following:

Ask students: Do these pie charts show
what you would have predicted? What
was surprising? What was something
new that you learned? How does the
U.S. differ from the rest of the world?
How is it similar?
Students may notice that Christianity is
the largest faith both in the United
States (79%) and worldwide (33%).
And while the U.S. is more diverse than
most countries in terms of the number
of faiths it represents, in America the
non-Christian faiths are present in
much smaller percentages than they are
elsewhere around the globe. For
example, less than 1% of Americans are
Muslims, compared to 21% worldwide.
For more in-depth information on
religions in America, see this Pew
Forum report.
Next, present the information on each
religion using the nine mini articles
(links to these articles also appear in the
"Religious Observances" table above):
 Origins of the faith (When
was it founded? Was there an
identifiable founder?) Find
detailed information about
the founding of various
religions here.
 Whether it
is monotheistic, polytheistic o
r nontheistic
 Where in the world most of
the faith's adherents are
located (the mini-articles have
limited information on this; in
addition, CIA.gov provides a
breakdown by country,
and Encyclopedia
Britannica provides a
breakdown by continent)
 Major beliefs or emphases

 Variations among followers of
each religion (information on
subgroups of each religion
can be found here). You'll
want to make the point that
we need to be careful not to
stereotype members of faith
groups; religion is a public as
well as a private affair.
 Scriptures or holy texts/books
 Key figures or individuals
 Major values or rules for
human behavior
 Key holidays/holy
days/religious observances
 What is unique about the
religion (relative to others in
the list of nine)
 What is similar about the
religion (relative to others in
the list of nine)
Ask students to take notes and use
graphic organizers such as Venn
diagrams or fact tables (see Example
1 and Example 2) to help them process
the information.
To extend the lesson, try one of the
following:
1. Invite a class speaker who is a
member of a faith that may be
less familiar to students. Have
students prepare questions for
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the speaker ahead of time. If an
in-person visit is not possible,
use online tools such
as Chatzy.com, Skype or Googl
e+ Hangouts to hold a virtual
meeting.
2. Individually or in groups,
have students conduct further
research and document their
learning with a Web tool such
as Diigo.com, a cloud-based
platform that allows for
collaborative research,
highlighting/annotation,
saving of images and more.
Wrap-Up/Assessment Options
 Ask students to go back to
their journals or class chart
paper to determine whether
their definition of religion
needs revision. Reflect upon
what changed in terms of
students' conceptions of
religion.
 Have kids fill in the 'L" (what
I learned) column of a KWL
chart or make a concluding
journal entry that reflects
knowledge gained about
world religions.
 Administer a post-quiz that
involves (1) rank-ordering
religions by number of
worldwide adherents or (2)

matching concepts with the
corresponding religion.
(See Introductory
Information for
Students section above for
quiz answers.)
 Ask students to create world-
religion trivia quizzes and
administer them to each
other, or facilitate a
"Jeopardy!"-style class
competition.
 Invite each student to share a
new word, new
practice/belief or new
holiday/religious observance
with which s/he was
previously unfamiliar. What
was the most interesting or
surprising thing learned?
 Have students plan to share
additional information about
one of the 18 covered
holidays (or additional ones
of their choice) at an
appropriate future time
during the school year.
Consult the BBC's interfaith
calendar for ideas. Students
should select holidays with
which they are not currently
familiar. Suggestions for
student sharing include: a
PowerPoint presentation,
poster, photo essay, paper
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scrapbook, set of online
bookmarks, or transcript of an
interview with a faith leader
or person of a particular faith
that is different from one's
own.
 Challenge students to practice
delivering two- to three-
minute "nutshell reports"
(brief explanations of each
religion for an audience that
knows nothing about the
faith).
Article by Celine Provini,
EducationWorld Editor
Education World®
Copyright © 2013 Education World
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AttitudeBehaviorCharacterCommu
nication SkillsGroup WorkInterests
and TalentsParticipationSocial
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Habits Attitude The student: is an
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cooperates consistently with the
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transitions easily between
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cooperation. Character The student:
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