This file explores the answer a spiritual teacher gave to the question of Why Does A Mother Hit Her Child? Is she a bad mother? His answer was, No - she is not a bad mother, She just ran out of peace. Reflecting on this DurgaMata shares two stories about her honorary grandsons and mistakes they have made - in a cautionary tale the eldest (then aged 17) is sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving. In the story of my grandson's first child the younger one (now aged 22) is taken unconscious from his burning flat. I ask - What is inner peace and where can we obtain it? How can we support our students, some of whom will be seeing (or suffering from) Domestic Abuse of one kind or another - and what strategies can we give them to find peace for themselves and their families - and not grow up into adults who are likely to abuse their partners or children?

This is copied from a thread on my messages. Tonight I answered the atheists statement in some detail and it occurred to me that this conversation would be useful when exploring the God question in school. I would love some feedback, especially questions that your own pupils may ask - so I could make my response more comprehensive and useful. the one I have just put up - (in progress) is probably the last in this series as I am now working with the atheist teacher to turn it into a book which will, hopefully, do justice to both our different viewpoints.

My subject specialism is Religious Education and I am sharing here an exercise which I find very useful when presenting students with information about a new subject. They work in groups of three. This is designed to improve listening skills and understanding. The exercise is by no means only useful in an RE setting so I am sharing it with other subjects too. I also include here two articles forwarded from some my business mentor emailed to me - one on listening and one on leadership. I hope you find them helpful. Do give some feedback.

In process - ch 4 half - A royal family, divided by greed and jealousy, faces a battle which symbolises the eternal battle between good and evil. Arjuna asks his charioteer Sri Krishna, to drive his chariot between the two armies. In both armies he sees friends and relatives. He is grief-stricken at the immanent destruction and refuses to fight. Sri Krishna says he must fight. Arjuna begs Krishna to teach him, and Krishna does. This conversation is recorded as 'The Song Celestial' - the Bhagavad Gita - and encompasses the essence of Hindu teaching.

An introduction to meditation with a great breathing exercise which helps de-stress and prepare for difficult encounters. Very versatile - and a link to find out more Give some feedback - then I can improve the resources and others can more easily find things that help. I will try to add more exercises to this resource.. Hope it is helpful. Meditation certainly helps me. I've been learning since 1973 but am still a real beginner.

video links from youtube and book reviews from google search will add more details later. (in haste Pizza going cold)

Another in this popular series, no commentary. 212 slides C 20 minutes. Some disturbing images. Explores natural beauty, spirituality, family diversity, peace, war, poverty, harmony with nature, Global Warming, responses to suffering, diversity of age, disability etc with some great quotes. 'If you made a slide-show, reflecting on life from your perspective - what would you change- (add or take out?) What other causes of suffering can you think of? Collect relevant poems and quotes, etc Listed as video = use it with music. Contact me if you would like a list of music that works well.

Excellent article on cuts to Health and Safety due to a desire to please the companies which fund political parties (saving firms money required for improving safety standards) with serious consequences for employees. Rates of death/injury at work will increase causing huge financial costs to the taxpayer and immeasurable suffering for many individuals and families. We need a campaign like we had for the forest sell-off to reverse this evil policy. The article raises important questions and is clear enough to use with KS3 upwards. Stimulate some great discussion/higher level thinking.

An interesting 'paper&' on Process Theology by two authors with a brief biography at the start. The biographies alone would be useful in exploring the way that our beliefs change and are shaped by experience - and the problem that some people find with traditional or fundamentalist-Christianity Process Theology is at the cutting edge of Christian Theology today, one of the most interesting and challenging responses to the life and teachings of Jesus. For example, God, in this article is referred to as &';She.'

Taking part in Inter-Faith experiment 'conversations of the soul' at the St Ethelburga Centre for Peace and Reconcilliation. One activity was to share our own Faith Journey. An interesting and effective way of deepening dialogue and encouraging empathy and understanding so I have tried to adapt it for KS4 and Post 16 RE. I have added a second and third version (the first is age &'up to 20&'; and about 20 pages long, the second is 'up to 19&' but over 30 pages long, the third is over 40 pages long.. Later versions explore family and relationships and asks more questions. Do give some feedback.

This is a lesson plan for introducing Christianity and the Holy Land. It includes an overview of the history of Europe - with particular attention to the Holy Land - from the 21st Century back to the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. I aim to create a Power Point to go with this plan.

Not a topic that often comes up in RE but if it does I guess there are not many resources to refer to. Some GCSE syllabus' do cover paranormal so this may be useful there. (eg Edexcel Religion & Life in the belief in God unit. ) This resource began with my response to a question that the Atheist Science Teacher asked in our on-line conversation - so the first file comes from that. However I then looked for other resources which may shed some light on this question. I will add any comments or articles others may offer from the forum.

Imbolg is the first of many subjects I hope to explore under this heading. If there are others which you would like me to include, do send a PM. Imbolg is the festival which marks the beginning of spring, when the goddess Bride and her groom (the terms Bride and Groom originate here) get together and the year unfolds in all its glory. There are ceremonies to turn away winter and welcome spring - clear out the old and welcome the new ... It is celebrated around the 2nd February - which happens to be today, Happy Imbolg!

this is an astonishingly brilliant collection of important quotations from Christian and Hindu sources for GCSE students. You will find it also at chartere23's site and I am not sharing it here to take any of the credit for it at all - simply because it is so good I want it to be seen by and used in class by as many of my colleagues in RE as possible. The only changes I have made to this version are - an introduction with thanks - and slight adjustments to formatting. Ideally I would then pdf it but no facility for that here. Thanks again chartere23

a range of articles on these topics from Internet including about the relationship between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan (most recent example of Religious Prejudice resulting in deaths that I know of - in 2013.) and some history of the Israel/Palestine conflict. I will add to this should other examples arise.

most of an essay I wrote on Christian Theology in around 1990 when working for my degree in Theology and Religious Studies. This is a good text to discuss with GCSE and A'level students.

My Wish or Somebody Loves You would be great to use as a reflection exercise or starter in RE or pshe. I will add other useful songs with video as I come across them. ' please share your own favourites and I will add them too.

This section aims to share conversations about all sorts of important subjects. The first is in response to the email I sent about Religious Education and the English Bacc. - with a French Anarchist. It explores many interesting ideas and can be used to stimulate class discussion about what religion means and why we study Religious Education. If using with KS3 then some 'unpacking' may be needed, but the G + T fringe may enjoy it and some may respond by joining the campaign to support RE. A great example of how a potentially confrontational argument can end up as accord.

in response to a question on the thread - here are a few resources from the web. in haste. I will try to process them and create something better later.

25 pages of quotes and poems with a couple of essays at the end - all about patience and dealing with life's problems and trials. Useful for many units of work including interfaith as quotes from many sources, secular and from various religions.