Talking About Religion

| Understand the role of the early years practitioner when supporting moral and spiritual development (1)

James Fowler developed his stages of faith after conduction in-depth interviews of 359 people. The sample subjects were predominately white, with equal numbers of males and females and included a wide range of ages, from three and a half to 84 years old. Fowler’s interviews consisted of 30 plus questions regarding the subject’s life experiences, relationships, values, commitments and religion. After analyzing the responses, Fowler placed each subject in one of six faith stages. The responses indicated that as the subject’s age increased, so did their stage of faith (Hutchison, 2015).

Children may have to attend a school that is associated with their religion. It is always possible that this gives the child a different quality/balance of education. They may struggle to understand other people‘s religion or lifestyle choices. They may become confused or isolated and

Abstract: The Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a religion invisibly growing amongst U.S. teenagers. It is an interfaith religion which is has been developed on a book by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton called Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. The article on “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” as U.S. Teenagers ' Actual, Tacit, De Facto Religious Faith ...

This class would focus on the five religions with the most adherence in Winston-Salem and worldwide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Students would learn the central tenants of each faith, as well as the similarities and differences between them. As juniors and seniors in high school, these students exhibit a greater amount of maturity and a greater ability to think critically about religion. By offering Introduction to Religion as an elective course, students get to decide whether or not to take this course; therefore, students who sign up will likely display a genuine interest in the subject. This discussion-based class would create a forum for students to professionally discuss religion and the influence it has on society. In the classroom, religion can be taught objectively to increase students’ knowledge about religion without influencing their personal

The Cognitive Science Journal found that children who were exposed to religion have a harder time distinguishing fact from fiction. In their study, they told 66 five and six year old children stories containing both realistic and supernatural elements. Out of all of the participants the children who regularly attended church had a significantly harder time identifying the supernatural elements as fictional than those who hadn’t attended church regularly. Devout religion seems to continue to impact children into their teenage years. NBC News found that teen birth rates are higher in religious states. Mississippi ranks at the top in both teenage birth rates and conservative religious beliefs. Experts say that this is mainly due to the discouragement of contraception in religious

Donahue, M. J. & Benson, P. L. (1995). “Religion and the Well-being of Adolescents” in

Religion, whether we realize it or not, is a major element of American society (and also worldwide history). For many, religion is a significant part of their cultural identity. Religion plays a part in all levels of politics and is often an aspect of community events and organizations. Everyday, we all interact with people who have different religious backgrounds and personal beliefs. Children born into religious families are very connected with their religions from birth and this affects the way they will see the world for the rest of their lives. Even those who later explore other faiths or convert to other religious ideas will be affected in

Another factor attributing to the shallowness of adolescent religiosity presents itself in the form of the melting pot of diversity that blurs the lines between beliefs resulting in a high degree of toleration and a low degree of commitment to identity. “Teenagers, who mingle daily in the cultural stir-fry of American pluralism, know that answering these questions is dangerous. One slip could offend a friend, risk a label, and isolate them from their friends” (32). Because of this preference for a homogeneous and less controversial stance in encountering the “other,” Dean attributes the problem of “almost Christians” to occurring because churches have lost track of Christianity’s missional imagination.” She then goes on to expose this missional

Their beliefs and understandings of faith are being challenged and questioned in order to strengthen their understanding. Rather than having the adults in their life tell them what to believe, they are now responsible for forming opinions about everything in their lives. For this reason, it is vital that students stay connected to God during their college years. If they are not firmly grounded in truth, the controversial ideology that college courses may bring will easily sway them. If a spiritual foundation is not there, a student will face a “spiritual struggle: an experience with which many students are familiar, particularly those who concern themselves with deep reflection on faith, purpose, and life

Paul Tillich’s philosophy reminds us that her faith development is at a critical point; if her faith is not nurtured in an appropriate way by people she looks up to and trusts, she likely will take a path that ignores her faith and it will slowly be pushed to the outside as other issues consume her time and attention. “This is often the time that someone will leave their religious community if the answers to the questions they are asking are not to their liking.” But if she has mentors that carefully, lovingly, and appropriately work with her she can find the balance of developing her faith at the same time working through the countless issues that young people her age face today.

When working with students assignments that deals with religion, we as educators have to take various things into considerations. We have to allow students the opportunity to express themselves even when dealing with religious

Educators need to understand the impact of religion on the lives of their students. According to Gallup poll data, nearly 95% of teens believe in God and 86% believe that Jesus Christ is either God or the Son of God (Gallup & Lindsay, 1999 as cited in Ream, 2003). These and other similar statistics demonstrate the importance of considering religion when dealing with young people. Ream

Presented with the task of assessing someone’s faith development required the answers to three essential questions. How has social learning played a part in the individual’s religious development? How has attachment played a part in the individual’s religious development? Upon answering these questions we must then evaluate the stages of faith development in which the individual is in according to James Fowler and David Elkind. After thorough evaluation has occurred the question pertaining to the role of doubt can then be answered. With these questions in mind, the theory that religious beliefs and adherence to spiritual faith are ultimately tested and proved during adolescence was the driving thought throughout the process of interviewing

In this essay, I am going to discuss religious education under various topic headings including R.E and the R.E teacher, World Religions and morality and ethics. Through attending lectures and seminars, I have learned a lot about the Religious Education system in Ireland and further afield. Furthermore, in my reflective journal, I have reflected on a world of possibilities of what religion means to me. Throughout the year, my opinions on certain topics has changed, or has strengthen and I feel the reflective journal has helped me. In the essay, I am hoping to include reflections, readings and my experiences from the lectures and seminars to discover the various of topics.