Last Sunday, January 16th 2011, was the 3rd Sunday of January and that means that it was celebrated worldwide as “World Religion Day”. We are on school holidays at the moment and this day is always on a Sunday, but during term I often put together a display of books about religion, especially ones that stress their similarities rather than differences. There is a lesson plan for ESL teachers on the web here, and from it I have borrowed this to use as part of that display :
It is a good idea to understand how similar the great world religions are in their beliefs. Look at these writings from different religions. Are they similar to your own religion’s teaching? Buddhism states: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” This is similar to Christianity, which teaches us to: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you,” and Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.” The Baha’I Faith tells us that: “Blessed is he who prefers his brother before himself.” This teaching is very similar to Islam, which says: “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” In Sikhism "No one is my enemy, none a stranger and everyone is my friend."
Books that I might put on display are:
* Faith by Maya Ajmera
* What I Believe by Alan Brown
* A Faith Like Mine by Laura Buller
* The Story of Religion by Betsy and Guilio Maestro
* Many Ways by Shelley Rotner
What a nice day to have. The beliefs you quote are so similar that you wonder why people of different religions don't get along so well. Well, maybe they will someday.
ReplyDelete