Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

In This Episode

For Educators

Branding and Marketing Religion – Procedures For Teachers

In This Lesson

Prep — Preparing for the lesson
Steps — Conducting the lesson
Extension — Additional Activities


Prep

Media Components

Computer Resources:

  • Modem: 56.6 Kbps or faster
  • Browser: Netscape Navigator 4.0 or above or Internet Explorer 4.0 or above
  • Personal computer (Pentium II 350 MHz or Celeron 600 MHz) running Windows 95 or higher and at least 32 MB of RAM Macintosh computer: System 8.1 or above and at least 32 MB of RAM

Bookmarked sites and video resources:

Preview all of the sites and videos before presenting them to your class. Bookmark all of the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer in your classroom; create a word-processing document with all of the Web sites listed as hyperlinks and email to each student (or type out the URLs and print); or upload all links to an online book marking utility, such as www.portaportal.com, so that students can access the information on these sites. Make sure that your computer has necessary media players, like RealPlayer, to show streaming clips (if applicable).

Materials:

For teachers

  • Computer, projector and Power Point program or chart paper and markers

For students

Steps

Introductory Activity

  1. Invite students to describe what comes to mind when they think of religion.
    • What images does the term evoke?
    • What does the word mean?
    • What concepts, thoughts and/or word associations emerge?
    • What does culture mean? What is its relationship to religion?
  2. Work with students to categorize common themes, which may range from the traditional to discussion of the unaffiliated. (Select from one of the following organizers for theme categorization: Break Out Topics; Concept Wheel)
  3. Invite students to elaborate on any of the themes highlighted as they relate to their personal engagement with religion. Discussion prompts can include: What is their relationship to religion? What motivates them to become involved? What turns them away? Are there some who have spiritual beliefs but not religious beliefs? What is the difference? How do they find spirituality, if not through traditional religious venues?
  4. Based on their responses, have students discuss what they think the state of religion is today. They might want to discuss this from the perspective of youth and their view of/involvement in religion and traditional worship.

Activity 1

  1. Have students read the Thoughts on Religion excerpts from the R&E Weekly segments listed in the lesson plan. (Recreate them as Power Point slides; write them up on chart paper to post in the classroom; or, reproduce the quotations on a sheet of paper to distribute to each student.)
  2. Divide students into small groups to read and discuss the excerpts to determine challenges religion faces to engage and interest people in religious and spiritual practices.

Activity 2

  1. Divide students into small groups. Have them watch two/three of the R&E segments specific to this lesson. Or, have them read the transcripts. (Each group should have different stories.)
  2. Instruct students to identify:
    • Issues or topics highlighted with regard to religion/spirituality
    • The audience in question
    • The type of religious or spiritual venue negotiating a challenge or opportunity
    • Strategies used to address the issue or topic
    • Challenges or conflicts that arise as a result of a strategy
    • Likelihood of strategy’s long-term success and impact

    Students may use the CONCEPTS organizer to document their findings.

  3. Invite each group to share its topics, and to come to consensus as a class on the status of religion in modern society. Discussion prompts should include:
    • What role do cultural and spiritual changes play in traditional religion?
    • Should religion adapt to society’s fluctuating views of spirituality?
    • Is it “OK” to modernize religious practice for the sake of outreach?
    • Religion has always been more than ideas and institutions; it is a rich mixture of objects, behaviors and different ways people encounter the sacred – through art, commercial and mass-produced objects, daily artifacts, etc. However, some argue that this aspect of religion has morphed into materialism (material religion) and turned into a culture of consumerism. Is this true and if yes, is it acceptable?
    • Is the changing face of religion really new? Historically, how has religion served its constituents in order to promote spirituality, worship and connection to a higher order?
    • How do students personally connect to any of the methods discussed or the other venues for spirituality highlighted (such as angels, fantasy, literature, music)?

Activity 3

  1. Have each student interview a friend and an adult to determine their involvement with religious practice and level of spirituality. In particular, students should create questions that enable them to identify how individuals come to religion or spirituality, what they identify as their religious or spiritual connection, what keeps them away if they tend to be unaffiliated. (Students should interview people whose faiths are different from theirs and there should be religious/spiritual diversity among the respondents overall. Perhaps each student should be assigned a specific faith to cover.)
  2. Instruct students to summarize their interviews, highlighting key points, which they share with the class, either on chart paper or via computer (Power Point, a class list serve). Ask students to discuss what these findings indicate and to determine what the future of religion and spirituality may look like.

Culminating Activity

  1. Instruct students (individually or in small groups) to draw on their understanding of the issues raised in the R&E segments, their interviews and their personal experiences with religion and spirituality, and devise a strategy that might engage young people and/or adults in some type of religious or spiritual activity, whether it be in a traditional house of worship or a creative approach that builds spiritual connections in an informal fashion.
  2. Invite students to present their strategies and have the class assess the potential success and impact of these approaches. Students might want to present their ideas to local religious and spiritual organizations and entertain their interest in trying them out.

Extension Activities:

Students can:

  • Invite members of community religious or spiritual organizations to discuss (individually or as part of panel) challenges in keeping members and adherents spiritually engaged and strategies they use to “keep the faith”
  • Visit retail stores of different faiths or spiritual practices and report on the marketing of religious “goods”
  • Identify, examine and compile narratives on emerging, non-traditional spiritual practices; make determinations about what people seek in the modern world to address their spiritual needs and interests
  • Visit local religious/spiritual establishments to examine how they serve their adherents.

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