This document talks readers through a range of important topics, offering questions and activities at intervals for an interactive learning experience. Arising from concern about the rise in racism since Brexit and the fact that many in RE are non-specialists and may feel ill-equipped to explore complex and controversial topics like these I have drawn on my own experience of teaching RE to offer this resource. I aim to develop this, expanding it to introduce the major religions and adding illustrations, games and more related activities - but even in this form I hope RE teachers and teachers from many other subjects may find it helpful next term - especially with KS3.

two articles relating to the attacks and what seems to have motivated them. Some lovely images of 'angry Muslims&' (actually ordinary people just being people - a great bit of satire.

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.

start of something great - to share everyone's favourite quotes and poems, good for exploring issues and putting up around the RE classroom. Some collections of my own favourites and bits from an RE thread on the subject of quotes. 133 quotes from wattsy85&'s fantastic collection. These are set out so you can print them onto A4 for laminating and display and saved as a pdf so they don&';t move around. Do send me your own favourites to share. I'll add more links later Thanks. DMC

A simple resource with endless applications. Do comment on how you use these Names.

115 images and texts which explore life and meaning on earth encompassing many different faiths, races, cultures and ages etc on the way. Designed to use as part of a Community Cohesion programme to stimulate reflection and discussion - this should ideally be accompanied by music. It was designed with ‘Windmills of your Mind’ (All Angels version). I

Fantastic programme about how science has learned more about the universe. It starts with the Ancient Greeks and the concept of the earth being the Centre of the Universe and moves on to the Hubble Telescope. On a personal note, I would have liked more than a passing reference to other cultures as Hindu astronomers had the sun at the centre of the universe thousands of years ago - and the Arab astronomers learned from them when the Mogul empire extended into India, but for what it sets out to cover it does a good job. It also introduces the Big Bang.

Responding to a question on a thread about this topic, an outline of the way that different schools of thought within Islam respond to the question of what sort of art is permissible. I hope to add the actual suras from the Qur'an which relate to art and the Hadiths to this plus a power point of examples of Islamic Art which can be used in both RE and Art lessons - but to start with, here is my response to the question on the thread.

From time to time I have mentioned a role-play Wedding exercise I have done with GCSE classes. I just came across some files relating to this from 2007. In 2007 I was HOD of RE and our year 10 classes did a 'Wedding Season.’ We explored weddings from the perspective of several denominations and the classes really enjoyed it. I include a detailed report on one wedding. I will add the ‘script,’ the music and photos - when I find them, but there is enough here to help other teachers to plan a similar event. It is a lot of work but well worth the exercise.

40 slide PPt with videolinks - introduces pilgrimage in an interactive way. Designed to set the scene for and inspire some extended group work involving research and presentation activity on pilgrimage + a simple assessment aid - My initial Pilgrimage resource is getting cluttered. I hope to create separate resources for each of the religions - an overview and exploration of them all - controversy version explores Shi'ite Sufi + more video links - 66 slides. For music/CD of Here in a Blind World please send a personal message.

Both these documents are more or less the same at the moment, but I will add to them. They arise from a question on Creation Story - but also touch on issues in other threads. KS4 + Post 16, give the whole document to 'thread info they already know' onto it, plus see where it falls short. (any generalisation is inevitably false.) Those who practise a faith can try to position themselves, those who belong to a religious community can look for examples of all these 'types' of Christian (or Muslim etc) in their faith community.

In her encounter with the Stone Age Tribe, Rebecca takes part in a mammoth hunt and then, during the feast that follows, tells the Wise Elder about her world. He is impressed and shares the problems of his own tribe, asking if we have peace in our world. When Rebecca tells him about war and poverty he asks if there is no God in our world. In the second story, the author wonders if the 'Druid-Man she met might be able to help her answer her own questions. Great stories for encouraging reflection and debate on the big questions, with elements for primary and secondary age students.

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

This film asks 'what is wrong with the world?' and &'What can we do about it?&'; It impressed and moved me so deeply that I would like to see the film shown at the start of Autumn term to all RE classes across the country. Each year the pupils would get more from it, as their own experience and understanding develop. Annoyingly these links have been removed - some copyright infringement. I have bought the film and will send you a copy if you give me a pm. It really is worth having and showing - in 'bite-size chunks&' for younger classes.

In response to a non specialist asking about the best way of approaching teaching RE I have collected the web-addresses for some of my most popular resouces and listed them grouped under headings to hopefully make them easier to find. First are the Exploring Religion and Reflections on Life slide-shows which are most popular. Then there are the poems and quotations, some files grouped with others from that religion, and finally some role-play exercises. I hope this will be useful especially for nonspecialists and NQT's

This Power Point slide show combines images and texts to encourage thought, reflection and discussion about important issues including evolution, family and relationship, peace and conflict, poverty and homelessness, global warming, disability, courage and hope.. It has evolved from the earlier slide-shows but this file is designed for use with GCSE, and older classes. There are images which could distress younger students - It's good for upper school assemblies I hope you enjoy this resource and find it valuable.

more interesting and insightful articles with some of the comments from the related forums - I have chosen a fair variety of views to encourage debate. The Anarchy News article was recommended by a friend! Those articles which I find most useful I have marked with AA or AAA rating, In some articles I have highlighted sections that if I were preparing material for use in school I would include - and blue highlighting indicates particularly pertinent sections - but of course this is a personal reaction. By copying the material in an Unformatted style they will be easy for you to edit.

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.

A selection of quotes from the thousands that are on the web, Einstein is known as one of the greatest minds and scientists of our age, but he was also a mystic and a deeply 'religious or spiritual' person. The quotes I have chosen are about life, creativity and religion. I made some quotes into a video but it&'s too big to load here. See my youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mASYwXH5ue8 the url is https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mASYwXH5ue8

This is a Power Point which explores the concept of Place of Worship and sets a reflective/mind-map exercise and research homework It explores the concepts of both place and worship encouraging reflection on what it means to be a human being, body, mind and spirit - where we go to find inner qualities such as peace and happiness - Very versatile introduction to the topic of places of worship but useful for more than that - including identity and meditation. Please give comments and ratings to help others.