To think about religious symbols…  Is displaying them a good thing or a bad thing?  Can displaying them cause conflict?  If it causes conflict, should people be allowed to display religious symbols?  Whilst you do this you will also be completing a levelled task. Can you remember what religion these symbols are from & what the symbols are called? Dove - Christianity Communion - Christianity Cross - Christianity Star of David - Judaism Menorah - Judaism Kippah - Judaism Star & Crescent moon - Islam ‘What would Jesus do?’ - Christianity 5 pillars of Islam - Islam Icthus - Christianity Burqa - Islam

Religious believers are often proud of their religious symbols. But, sometimes religious symbols can cause conflict. What you’re going to do…  You’re going to have 2 descriptions to read, about when religious symbols have caused conflict.  You need to read the descriptions & then answer some questions.  For some of the questions the answers are in the descriptions, for some of them you’ll need to try to imagine that you are the person being described & for others you’ll need to think about the work that we have done about religious symbols.

The levels that you’re aiming for… This is a levelled task – that means that although your work will still be marked with 2 *s & a wish, it will also be given a level. Have a look at your level trackers in the front of your books – what is the next level or the next part of a level that you’re aiming for? Read what you have to do to achieve it. In this task most people should aim for a level 5 mark – to get a level 5 mark in this task you need to…  Describe symbols that are similar in different religions.  Write about religious symbols & what they mean using the correct names & correct vocabulary.  Show that you understand symbolic language.

This is what actually happened… Case 1 – Aishah Azmi & wearing a face veil The court ruled that Aishah had been discriminated against & she won £1100, but she still lost her job because the court also said that she should have removed her face veil because it had stopped the children getting a good standard of education. Case 2 – Nadia Eweida & wearing a cross necklace British Airways changed their policy & Nadia was allowed to wear her cross. British Airways also said that people could wear small badges of religious symbols.

As a class, think about the situations you’ve talked about today & discuss these questions from the start of the lesson? Is it a good or bad thing to display religious symbols? If displaying religious symbols can cause conflict, should people be allowed to display them? Can displaying religious symbols cause conflict? Some people say that we should be tolerant (what does ‘tolerant’ mean?) about religious symbols to avoid conflict. Read this quote from a Jewish woman who talks in schools about Judaism: ‘Perhaps one day one of those children that I speak to might meet someone who doesn’t do things quite the way they do things. Who wouldn’t eat the same food as they eat; or maybe who has their head covered. And perhaps they will understand why & tolerate it. And it might just make the world a little easier to live in.’