Assignment – World Religions

Religious Studies 25: Pay it Forward Assignment

Directions: Answer the six part question below. The page titled, Movie Study Assignment Rubric, will be used to access this assignment. It can be found on the left side (sixth from bottom) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

Introduction: To be Christian means to be a follower of Jesus Christ; to be “Christ-like”; to act as Jesus Christ would act. Jesus is referred to as God’s “holy servant” (Acts 4:27). If we define holy as described in Colossians 3:12-14, then it is easy to see that Jesus was a holy person. He was compassionate (Luke 15:30; Matt 9:36). Jesus was kind, patient and forgiving (story of adulterous woman in John 8:3-11). He was humble (Matt 11:29) and meek (2 Cor 10:1). But mostly, Jesus always chose love (Eph 5:2; Mark 10:21). In fact, all the world’s religious traditions celebrate the supreme importance of six spiritual practices, which are, compassion, forgiveness, hope, kindness, love (as in agape), and conversion (transformation). All of these spiritual practices were illustrated in this movie.

Assignment: For each of the six spiritual practices listed above, describe one scene from the movie that demonstrates that practice. Be as specific as you can.

God’s Not Dead Assignment

Directions: Answer ALL of the questions below. The page titled, Movie Study Assignment Rubric, will be used to assess this reflection. It can be found on the left side under pages (5th from the bottom). When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

INTRODUCTION: There are no shortage of self proclaimed theists (e.g. Christians), atheists, or agnostics. For example, British actor Daniel Radcliffe, known for his role as Harry Potter, declared he was an atheist in a 2009 interview. “I’m an atheist, but I’m very relaxed about it” he was quoted as saying. Angus T. Jones, child actor who played Jake Harper on the American sitcom, Two and half Men, proclaimed, “Even though it’s my job to be an actor, I have given my life to God”. Jones is a self-proclaimed Christian theist. Antonio Banderas, a a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer, once said, “I have to recognize that I am agnostic”.

QUESTIONS: 1) Clearly explain the difference between an atheist, theist and an agnostic? 2) If you were challenged to defend your beliefs, like Josh was, what would you do? Would you have integrity? Would you be a follower? Would you be a coward? Explain what you think you would do. 3) Every person fits into one of the three categories (atheist, theist or agnostic). Which of the three categories would you be in? Decide where you belong and clearly DEFEND why you claim to be either atheist, theist or agnostic. When you declare yourself to be one of these then you MUST be able to fully explain why you believe what you believe. Otherwise you are NOT what you claim to be. This is what you are being asked to do so in this assignment.

NOTE: You are NOT being graded on your beliefs. Your beliefs are between you and God (whether you believe in God or not). What you are being graded on is how much thought you have given to the topic and to think about why you believe what you believe. See the rubric to understand how this assignment will be evaluated. Also understand that your beliefs will continue to evolve and change as you gain more life experience and learn more about the topic.

Inherit the Wind Assignment

One of the climax scenes is when Henry Drummond calls Matthew Harrison Brady to the witness stand. During this scene, Mr. Brady proclaims himself as an authority on the bible. The following dialogue occurs.

Drummond: “Do you believe that every word written in this book (holding a bible) should be.” taken literally?

Brady: “Everything in the bible should be accepted exactly as given there.”

Based on what you have learned in class about reading scripture, would you agree with Mr. Brady’s statement, “Everything in the bible should be accepted exactly as given there.” Explain your answer in two or three paragraphs.

The rubric that will be used to grade this assignment is located on the left side and is called Movie Study Assignment Rubric

RS 15: Awakenings Assignment

Directions: Answer the question below. The page titled, Movie Assignment Rubric, will be used to access this reflection. It can be found on the left side (fifth from bottom) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S. Remember, Assignments are worth much more than reflection questions.

Introduction: An American bioethicist argues that patients diagnosed to be in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) should NOT be kept alive. [To see the article, click on Bioethicist argument] Dr. Malcolm Sayer’s post-encephalic, catatonic patients seem to fit the definition of PVS, therefore some people (like the American bioethicist) might argue that euthanasia should be practiced on these patients because they are no longer human beings.

The Statement:

Christian Churches, especially the Catholic Church, would argue, Euthanasia should NOT be used on Dr. Malcolm Sayer’s post-encephalic, catatonic patients because these people are still human beings?

The Question: Do you agree with the statement above? Why or why not?

Write a response (at least one typewritten page) answering the above question. You MUST support your answer using examples from the movie, Awakenings. Be as specific as possible when describing the scene or person in the movie. You must use at least three of Catholic catechism’s seven traits of human beings in your response.

Humans are created in the image and likeness of God.
Humans are called to happiness and holiness.
Humans are rational and free.
Humans are moral beings.
Humans have passions or feelings.
Humans are blessed with a conscience.
Humans are able to sin.

You may draw upon other explanations of what a human being is discussed in class to support your argument.

Religious Studies: The Human Experience Assignment

Directions: Answer the questions below. The page titled, Movie Assignment Rubric, will be used to access this reflection. It can be found on the left side (fifth from bottom) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S. Remember, Assignments are worth much more than reflection questions.

Read the following quotes, then answer the question(s) that follow

Jeffrey Azize, the younger of the two brothers, when referring to the homeless people of New York City, asks, “What keeps them going? Why is it that they wake up every day? What is their reason for living? “

The New York homeless African American says, “I’m homeless and I’m happy”.

Dr. William B. Hurlbut M.D. stated, “No matter how bad off a person is…for every body their life was a treasure for them…life is worth living because it just is. It’s not the nature of life to be despairing. Its the nature of life is to be hopeful”

Mama Terri, Permanent volunteer Children’s Home said, “And the joy of living, this is what the kids have… because they want to live, so they don’t mind how painful it is”.

Mama Terri also stated, “Its not what we gave them [the abandoned children]. Its what they gave us. Because they gave us the reason to live”.

The lepers of Ghana experienced their families abandoning them , and thus consequently were forced to live away from others in a colony. Yet they were happy. They were happy that the “band” of brothers came. One of the lepers even exclaimed, “We are happy people!”

Questions: 1) How do you explain the happiness of these people? 2) Why are people (homeless of NYC, abandoned children of Peru and Lepers of Ghana) that you would expect to be depressed and wanting to give up on life, happy? Perhaps the article B eing Happy: Secrets of Happy People might be helpful in answering this question. 3) What did the band of brothers discover about the human experience? 4) What do you think is the central message of this movie?

RS World Religions Research Project

Religion 15: Western World Religions: Christianity, Islam & Judaism

Religion 25: Eastern World Religions: Hinduism or Buddhism

Religion 35: Eastern World Religions: Confucianism, Taoism & Sikhism

Objectives:

To explore the great world religions .
To produce a visual creation to relay information about a world religion.
To discover common elements between the world religions.

Part 1: RESEARCH Each pair will be assigned one of the world religions (RS 15: Christianity, Judaism, & Islam; RS 25: Buddhism & Hinduism, RS 35: Confucianism, Taoism & Sikhism) to research. Completing the Research Info Chart will do this. REMEMBER, the chart also includes a timeline. To download a digital version of this chart, use the following chart: research_info_chart

World Religions Information

Keep in mind that these sites contain general information about the world religions. For example, it discusses Christianity’s basics beliefs. There may be differences between the different traditions of Christians such as between the Catholic and Anglican Church.

Comparison Chart (Has a good comparision table. You need to input the names of the religions you wish to compare)

World Religions map

Major Religions of the World (Select the religion you are researching using the links on the left hand side of the web page)

For Grade 10s, here another site related to the Islam (Muslim) faithThe Muslim experience in Canada

There is also the textbook in the classroom.

Using “Google” will also locate many useful sites. Be sure to critique the site to determine if it contains credible information. There are also numerous resources in the library.

Be sure to keep a record of the sites (URLs) and books used for the research so it can be recorded in your bibliography. To site resources properly, go to How to site references.

Part II: VISUAL CREATION Create a poster or power point presentation, using no more than ten words or phrases, that shows others what is important within your assigned religion.

For looking up bible verse, this link might be helpful.

oremus Bible Browser (just put in your scripture request e.g. 1 John 3:6-8 and up pops the text)

The rubric used for this assignment:

World Religions Project Rubric