Religious Studies Classes in Primary School (2)

Around two weeks ago when discussing 'Christianity' in the classroom, (I took the material from here) I explained that in fact not only Judaism and Christianity have the same content in their holy books. Some materials in Alquran -- the holy book of Muslim -- are also similar with the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. People who are critical to the Bible said that the author of this book is not  creative because he just copied some material from the Torah. But the worst copycat of all is the author of Alquran, because he copied and combined (some parts of) both the Torah and the Bible. And to make it a bit different from the previous two 'holy' books. the author of Alquran added some more material.

I remember one female student looked at me with disbelief look, then said, "Miss, isn't it wrong to copy other religion's holy book?" -- I know her parents are Christian.

I didn't answer her question, but continued explaining. Nevertheless, for people who believe in Alquran, they believe that Alquran is the most perfect holy book because it has perfected the 'not perfect' parts of the previous two holy books. They are taught to believe that Islam as the last religion is the most perfect of all.

One student then commented, "But I don't believe in it, Miss."

I said it was okay for them not to believe in it. I explained that as one knowledge. I said, "Believe in your own religion as what your parents teach you. The most important thing is we respect other people's belief. Let us respect each other."

At that time. one particular student I mentioned in this post who said that he didn't want to be Muslim because he was afraid to be punished after death looked so 'relieved'. He no longer feels afraid to be a Muslim.

I said,

"Wise people say that those who sow will reap. If you do good, you will get good things. If you do bad, you will get bad things. No matter your religion is. The three Abrahamic Faiths teach that there are heaven and hell. If you are a bad person, you will go to hell after death. If you are a good person, you will go to heaven after death. If you are Buddhist or Hindu, you will be reborn and perhaps you will have a worse kind of life if in this life you are a bad person."

L Gayam 17.05 22/02/12