Children Learning Virtues of Judaism, Islam and Christianity
Posted March 10th, 2008 by aaron
Parents in West Falls, Virginia, USA have pooled their religious beliefs to create a spirituality course for their children. Each week the children learn about a new virtue and are encouraged to apply the virtue in their lives between lessons.
The parents are involved in creating the content, raising funds to provide resources and supplies for the lessons and also support the children in applying the lessons. One parent reflected on rising pressures to ensure that her children learn to read and understand math at a younger age than preceding generations, but no one seems to be talking about the character side of her children's development. She aims to teach her children a perspective that if replicated, could have a very positive impact in the world: when her children meet someone from a religion that that they are unfamiliar with, she wants them to be curious and to ask questions, as opposed to shrugging off this new person and their religion as different.
The instructor provides a way for children to think about religion: "...religions are a lot like lamp shades. They may look different, they may be different colors or sit in different rooms, but they all have the light of God inside of them." The kids glue symbols of various religions onto actual lamp shades — a Christian cross, a Buddhist wheel, a star and crescent for Islam and place their decorated lamp shades on a light bulb.
Parents in West Falls, Virginia, USA have pooled their religious beliefs to create a spirituality course for their children. Each week the children learn about a new virtue and are encouraged to apply the virtue in their lives between lessons.
The parents are involved in creating the content, raising funds to provide resources and supplies for the lessons and also support the children in applying the lessons. One parent reflected on rising pressures to ensure that her children learn to read and understand math at a younger age than preceding generations, but no one seems to be talking about the character side of her children's development. She aims to teach her children a perspective that if replicated, could have a very positive impact in the world: when her children meet someone from a religion that that they are unfamiliar with, she wants them to be curious and to ask questions, as opposed to shrugging off this new person and their religion as different.
The instructor provides a way for children to think about religion: "...religions are a lot like lamp shades. They may look different, they may be different colors or sit in different rooms, but they all have the light of God inside of them." The kids glue symbols of various religions onto actual lamp shades — a Christian cross, a Buddhist wheel, a star and crescent for Islam and place their decorated lamp shades on a light bulb.