Religions: Checklists
- Learn some of the creation stories behind various religions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_creation_myths
http://www.trivia-library.com/religions-of-the-world-creation-story-myth/index.htm - Examine your own beliefs. What do you believe about prayer? Death? Suffering? Where did you learn those beliefs?
- Talk with your parents or other family members about their earliest memories of religion.
- Talk with someone who has a faith different than yours. Try to listen with an open heart to what they tell you and resist the possible temptation to judge them in any way.
- Find one sacred text or writing from your faith tradition. Find out as much as you possibly can about it: who wrote it, when it was written, why it was written, to whom it was written.
- Think of one religion that you hear about regularly in the news. Spend an hour researching on the internet or in a book something about that religion. What did you learn that you didn’t know before? Does that make you feel any differently about what you hear about on the news?
- Most religions talk about love. Shut your eyes and think of the last loving act you witnessed. Now go out and try it on someone!
- Have you ever thought about becoming a better listener? Practice better listening by asking someone, “How do you feel about (you pick an issue)?” Listen for 3 whole minutes without saying anything, then try and say back to that person what they said to you. Practicing will help you become a better listener.
- “If you have come to help me you can go home again. But if you see my struggle as part of your own survival then perhaps we can work together.” These words were said by an Australian aboriginal woman. What do you think she was saying? Write down what you think it means to be in solidarity with others.
- Make a list of things you can do to be in solidarity with less fortunate in your community.
- Christian Bishop J.S. Spong said, “Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers.” Do you agree? Do you think religion claims to have “all the answers?” If you feel it does, is that idolatry?
- A good way to learn more about a different faith is to read the sacred texts from that faith. You can find many sacred texts in their full form on the internet, including at http://www.sacred-texts.com/
- Give yourself 10 minutes of silence every day to quiet your thoughts. This is sometimes called meditation, or prayer.
- Think about your religious teachings and which aspects you feel are the most helpful to promoting peace with others. Scholar and author Karen Armstrong might inspire you: “We can either emphasize those aspects of our traditions, religious or secular, that speak of hatred, exclusion, and suspicion or work with those that stress the interdependence and equality of all human beings. The choice is yours.”
- Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh said, “In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.” What values do you have that you are not willing to change? Where are you willing to compromise?
- If you practice a certain religion, what practices within your tradition are also practiced in other religions? Make a list and prioritize them according to which ones are most important to you.
- Familiarize yourself various founding leaders of different religions: Jesus Christ (Christianity), Muhammed (Islam), Confucius (Confucianism), Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism), Joseph Smith, Jr. (Mormonism), Abraham or Moses (Judaism). How much do you think their culture influenced their teachings?
- Familiarize yourself with two modern religious leaders: Pope Benedict XVI (current pope of the Catholic Church), the Dalai Lama (Tibetan Buddhism) and compare their beliefs.
- Pick two religions you are interested in and learn about their creation stories—how the religion explains the beginning of the world or human existence. Compare what you learn with your own religion’s creation stories. Where are the similarities? Differences?
- Jesus Christ, the one whom Christians believe is the Son of God was Jewish. Did you know that? Paul, who was one of the apostles of Jesus, was originally a persecutor of Christians. As you study religion, keep a list of all the things that surprise you.
- Make a list of all the different religions practiced in your community. You may have to go to a phone book, the internet, or leaders in your community to find out which religious groups are in your community. Are you surprised by the number of different groups?
- What is the biggest question in your life right now? If you don’t know your religion’s teaching on that question, ask someone you trust to help you understand what your religion teaches on this issue.
- Do you feel self-conscious about the way you look, your appearance? All religions focus on one’s beliefs and one’s behavior. A certain outer appearance (one’s weight, one’s clothes, one’s hairstyle) is not a prerequisite to being accepted as a human being capable of loving and being loved.
- Think for a moment about the strengths you have as a person. What do you enjoy? Where do you feel you have been blessed? What special talents do you have? What kinds of things are really hard for you?
- Who in your family, your school or your community is suffering? Say a prayer for that person or do something kind for him and her. Kindness and compassion are core values of all religions.
Watch a video made by a student who asked his schoolmates, “What is your religion.”
Bar mitzvah at wailing wall. Credit: Koosg
Girl Praying—Haiti. Credit: earlb
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