Religious Studies Classes in Primary School (2)
This is the continuation of this post.
After discussing Buddhism in one meeting some weeks ago, this week, my students -- especially grade 4 -- were discussing Hinduism. The same as the material of Buddhism, I downloaded the material of Hinduism from this link.
This is very interesting to directly compare Hinduism and Buddhism because they seem to have the same root.
- Both of them were first spread in India.
- Both of them believe in the life cycle -- birth, death, rebirth.
If Buddhism was founded by Siddhata Gotama around 2500 years ago, Hinduism was founded (by no one) around 4000 years ago.When reading this part -- about Hinduism does not have any founder -- a student raised his hand and said, "that is weird, Miss. how could a religion exist without anybody founding it?" Furthermore, he said, "In my opinion, it sounds more logical if someone named 'Brahman' (in the material, it is stated that Hindu people believe in a supreme god called 'Brahman') says to people around that he is god. Those people believe in him and they start worshiping him."
For adults, I believe what was said by that particular student of mine was not something new. But when that idea was said by a 4th grader, I am of opinion that it is great. After writing on the whiteboard how long ago four religions were founded
- Hinduism dates back over 4000 years
- Buddhism was founded by Siddhata Gotama 2500 years ago
- Christianity was founded by Jesus around 2000 years ago (although some students also agreed with me when I said that in fact Jesus was Jewish)
- Islam was founded by Mohammad around 1400 years ago
I discussed the statement of my student. For people who do not believe in Buddhism, they probably think that Siddhata Gotama is just a common person, while for his followers, Siddhata Gotama is for sure a sacred person or even a saint. Perhaps his life was already perfect so he was not reborn, he 'moksa' after his death. For non Christian people, they think that Jesus is just a common person, not the son of God.
After saying this, one female student looked into my face with weird facial expression, while mumbling, "Jesus is indeed the son of God."
For Muslim people, they are taught that Jesus -- or Isa -- is 'just' a prophet, not the son of God. Furthermore, for non Muslim people, they believe that Mohammad is just a common person, not a messenger or prophet of God. Perhaps he just happens to be a good man so that when he says that he gets messages directly from God, people believe in him.
That particular female student then raised her hand, "What is your religion, Miss?"
I said that it was not important for me to say what my religion was because I wanted to position myself 'outside the box of any religion' so that I could give 'balanced' opinion and I would not take side to any religion.
