Catholic
Religious Education provides teaching and learning material for
the Key Stage 3 programme, GCSE and post 16 education. All resources
are free and can be amended to suit the particular needs of students
and teachers. The resources are designed to compliment lessons not
to dominate them.
GCSE
Religious Studies:
Learn topics in GCSE religious studies and how to answer exam questions
on this site, which has extracts from a book by two chief examiners
who have set exams for many years and who teach you to answer questions
such as does God exist? and can we describe him? as well as teach
you what Christians - Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant - believe
about God, Jesus and creation, how they worship, and why they say
some actions are right and others are wrong in areas ranging from
sex, marriage and abortion to wealth, poverty and liberation.
GCSE
RE: This website is a resource for all teachers and students of
Religious Education. Divided in two main sections the site covers
both content and coursework assistance. The coursework section has
guidance on essay writing and coursework writing as well as help pages
on common coursework topics as a growing number of question and answer
pages from questions that students have e-mailed. The Revision section
contains notes, sample questions and tests on: Buddhism, Christianity
Islam, Judaism, Mark's Gospel, Roman Catholicism and Christian Perspectives.
World
Religions: This website is for Secondary school pupils and teachers.
It covers the main six world religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Islam, Sikhism and Judaism. There are introductions on each religion,
plus additional sections for pupils who wish to go into greater depth
on any of the religions. There are links for each religion to external
sites of interest. For teachers there are teacher resources and interactive
lessons for Y8 (Creation, The Hajj, World Festivals) and Y9 (The Resurrection).
The resources can be used in school or you can use them as part of
their homework tasks. The site also covers the Edexcel GCSE Short
course and aspects of the Philosophy & Ethics A level.
Fundamentals
of Buddhism: The
Fundamentals of Buddhism has been produced by BuddhaNet, an organisation
based in Sydney, Australia. The creators explain that this website
is the "result of a vision to link up with the growing world-wide
culture of people committed to the Buddha's teachings and lifestyle,
as an on-line cyber sangha". It provides information on twelve
areas of Buddhist teaching and covers the life of Buddha, the Four
Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma, rebirth, dependent
origination, the three universal characteristics and the five aggregates.
Sikhism:
Sandeep Singh Bar began this impressive website in October 1994 after
discovering there were no websites about Sikhism. He has produced
a wonderful resource for the religion's 20 million followers and all
those interested in Sikhism. One of the features of the website is
the downloadable audio files of all the daily Sikh prayers. Other
categories include: a Glossary, the Sikh Alphabet, Sikh Names and
Reading List. The Essay section contains articles on specific aspects
of Sikhism. For example, one essay explains the background to why
smoking has been banned for followers of Sikhism since the 1780s.
Church
of England: A
good source of factual information about the Church of England. Sections
include 'History of the Church of England', 'What it means to be an
Anglican', 'The Church of England's Liturgy', 'Organisations of the
Church of England' and 'Relations with other denominations and faith'.
Teachers will find 'The Church of England's view on…" particularly
useful. After putting the subject in its historical context, it uses
statements from official documents explain the latest thinking on
subjects such as animal welfare, hunting, factory farming, abortion,
alcohol, drugs, genetically modified organisms, contraception, homosexuality,
capital punishment, divorce, etc.
Hindu
Universe: The
Hindu Universe has been created by the Hindu Students Council, an
organisation based in Boston. A web directory designed in the style
of Yahoo, enables you to quickly obtain information on different aspects
of Hinduism. The material arranged under the following categories:
Arts, Customs, Worship, Books & Resources, Dharma & Philosophy,
Hindus Around the World, History, Temples & Organisations, Languages,
Interfaith Relations, God, Sages & Gurus, Sciences, Scriptures
and Social & Contemporary Issues.
Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation: David Krieger, the founder of the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation, argues that cultures need heroes and provide
a "concept of the ideal for educating new generations".
This website contains biographies of Krieger's heroes including Jane
Addams, Ralph Bunch, Helen Caldicott, Cesar Chavez, XIVth Dalai Lama,
Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Dag Hammarskjold, Cordell Hull, Martin
Luther King, Coretta Scott King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Rosa
Parks, Linus Pauling, Jeannette Rankin and Albert Schweitzer.
World
Minorities Alliance was conceived 25 years back with a view to
bringing all religious minorities of the world at one platform. The
objective was to promote world peace through ending inter-community
hatred, prejudices and bias. The five point agenda of Alliance which
is now being thrown open for discussion at the forthcoming international
conference was aimed at economic, social and political uplift of minorities
which are generally backward and downtrodden in many countries.
American
Jewish Historical Society: The mission of the American Jewish
Historical Society (AJHS) is to foster awareness and appreciation
of the American Jewish past and to serve as a national scholarly resource
for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination
of materials relating to American Jewish history. The Society tells
the story of American Jewry through its distinguished quarterly journal,
American Jewish History, as well as through other publications, exhibitions,
lectures, symposia and public programs.
Virtual
Tours of Monasteries: Dr. Deborah Vess of
Georgia State University has visited some of the most well-known medieval
monastic sites in the world. She has decided to share these experiences
with others through a series of virtual tours. This includes online
tours of Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, Lindisfarne Priory, Celtic
Holy Wells, St. David's, Mellifont Abbey, Whitby Abbey, Kirkstall
Abbey, St. Augustine's Abbey and Battle Abbey.
Medieval
Pilgrimages: The Standards Site is managed by the Department for
Education and Employment's Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU).
The main objective of the site is to supply teachers with "guidance
and tools to help schools improve effectiveness, raise standards and
reduce workload". This scheme of work deals with the question:
"Why did people go on pilgrimages?" Aimed at Y7 pupils (11
to 12 year olds) the material attempts to explain why the cult of
relics was an important aspect of medieval religion.
Medieval
Pilgrimage: In the Middle Ages the Church encouraged people to
make pilgrimages to special holy places called shrines. It was believed
that if you prayed at these shrines you might be forgiven for your
sins and have more chance of going to heaven. Others went to shrines
hoping to be cured from an illness they were suffering from. This
website provides an overview of pilgrimages and sections on Britain's
most important religious shrines including
those at Canterbury, Walsingham, St. Winifred's Well, Lindisfarne,
Glastonbury, Bromholm and St. Albans.
Dorothy
Day: Almost immediately after her death in 1980 controversy arose
about whether Dorothy Day should be canonized a Saint by the Church.
Voices opposing the process say that Dorothy Day shunned the suggestion
she was a saint and believe she would rather have any money spent
on her canonization given to the poor. Others are concerned that her
radical vision will be sanitized and spun to support Catholic traditionalism
and a narrow anti-abortion stance, neutralizing her ardent pacifism,
radical critique of society, and love of the poor. This website provides
a tribute of this amazing woman and includes biographies, articles,
photos, bibliographies and a large collection of her work as a journalist
and campaigner.
Jewish
Women's Archive: The "Primary Sources" section of this
website gives students direct contact with the past by allowing them
to work with facsimiles of actual documents. The material is searchable
by type, time period, or topic. Features of the this section include:
digitized versions of photographs, documents, video, and audio; printable
text and PDF versions of documents; historical background and discussion
questions for each primary source; teacher notes and student activity
sheets for each type of primary source.
Jewish
Virtual Library: The Jewish Virtual Library is the world's most
comprehensive Jewish cyber encyclopedia with more than 8,000 entries
covering everything from anti-Semitism to Zionism. The Library has
13 wings: History, Women, The Holocaust, Travel, Israel & The
States, Maps, Politics, Biography, Israel, Religion, Judaic Treasures
of the Library of Congress, Vital Statistics and Reference. The Reference
section has bibliographies of more than 1,000 books and 1,000 web
sites, and a glossary of more than 1,000 words and a time-line for
the history of Judaism.
Beyond
the Pale: The Jewish people descend from nomadic tribes in the
Middle East. In the Russian Empire the presence of Jews was not tolerated
since the Middle Ages. Jews were considered the enemy of Christ by
Orthodox Christianity and believed to aim at converting Christians
to Judaism. The Czars, in their role as Protectors of the Faith, regularly
refused permission even for Jewish merchants to enter Russia. This
website provides a detailed account of the history of the Jews in
Russia.
Sikh
Gurdwara: A Sikh place of worship is called a Gurdwara, which
means doorway to the Guru. In other words, a Gurdwara is God's house.
It does not have to be a special building. Especially in India, Gurdwaras
may be in ordinary houses or other buildings. The most important thing
is that the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, is there. It is
a place where people meet to worship, to learn, to have fun, and to
have meals together. This website, produced by Fairlands Primary School
& Nursery, provides an excellent introduction to the subject.
History
of the Jewish People: In
the year 1741 BCE, Abraham began his long journey from Haran to Canaan
- a journey which would change the history of the world and have a
profound effect on the development of most major religions. Throughout
the ages there has been a fascination with Jewish history. Countless
times, people have questioned the "miracle of the continual existence
of the Jewish people" - this despite the almost consistent world
delight in their persecution and ridicule. Can we, by reading history,
find any clue to this intriguing historical riddle? This website,
produced by Eli Birnbaum, attempts to answer this question.
Educhurch
allows pupils to find out more about the Christian faith. It features
three churches, all very different from each other: an Anglican church,
a Salvation Army citadel, and a free church. For each church there
are photos and information about: the building, artefacts used within
the church (e.g. font, flags and items for communion), events within
the church (e.g. worship, prayer and homegroup) and interviews with
Christians (e.g. minister, teenager and Sunday school teacher). Educhurch
was designed and written by Andrew Trythall from Sir Robert Hitcham's
Primary School in Suffolk.
Virtual
Tours: This website allows you to take a virtual tour of churches
of different Christian denominations as well as places of worship
of the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths. All examples so far
are from Lancashire. The photo tour of each building is accompanied
by explanatory test. The website also has question sheets that can
be downloaded.
Places
of Worship: A series of resources produced by Jerome Monahan of
the Education Guardian that looking at places of worship and how their
buildings may be linked to what goes on inside. As well as highlighting
the differences between the practices of different faith communities,
the approach should also show up their similarities and provide some
help for young people when they visit sacred buildings.
Religious
Education: The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has
just published a controversial report on the teaching of Religious
Education. It has upset some traditionalists by suggesting that atheism
should be introduced into the RE syllabus. The IPPR report also proposes
the introduction of teaching about humanism. Critics of the report
have claimed that RE should be about teaching faith. However, others
have argued that schools should be mainly concerned about providing
knowledge and understanding of different religions. Humanist have
replied that schools should be helping pupils to explore ways in which
people can find meaning and purpose without religion.
RE
Quest: This is a cross-denominational primary source about what
Christians in the U.K. do and believe today. Each section on a Christian
denomination was written by a member of that group. Although sponsors
of RE:Quest come from the Protestant evangelical tradition, every
effort has been made to include writers representing all the main
Christian denominations. 'Christian' is defined as one who subscribes
to the Nicene Creed. The main sections are prepared with Key Stage
2 and 3 in mind. The 'Churches' section is supplemented in places
to resource project work and Key Stage 4 coursework. Wherever possible
links are provided with other relevant Internet sites.
Christianity
for Children: This website created by Carol Rainbow sets out to
describe the life and teaching of Jesus and includes some of his better
known stories. It describes the main beliefs of Christians. It is
written for primary school age and includes material under the sections:
Jesus' Life, Jesus' Teaching, Beliefs, Celebrations, Festivals, Denominations,
Symbols, the Bible, Clergy and Worship.
Children
Talking: The National RE Festival in Autumn 1997 involved over
1,250,000 children and young people in around 14,000 schools along
with people from about 9,000 different faith community groups. The
purposes of the Festival included offering opportunities to children
and young people to explore and articulate their own beliefs and perspectives
on a range of religious and spiritual topics, and one way in which
the PCfRE sought to put this aim into action was by developing and
distributing a questionnaire for pupils to complete. About 500 pupil
records were selected, searchable by phase, age, gender, religious
affiliation and question. The online version of the database, launched
in May 2003, allows pupils to participate in the questionnaire, adding
their own ideas and views. All additions will be moderated before
being made available for public viewing.
RE
Today is wholly owned by the charity Christian Education, and
is committed to the teaching of the major world faiths in Religious
Education, and to an accurate and fair representation of their beliefs,
values and practices in all its teaching materials. It carries forward
the work of the former Christian Education Movement (CEM). It also
provides teaching materials and background papers, together with the
termly magazine REtoday and the British Journal of Religious Education.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
