09.+Sammi's+Reflection

On the day of the incursion, many different people from various faiths visited our school to talk to the year 10 students. Firstly, the Dandenong Interfaith Network, a group of people who were from different religions came to tell us the information about their religion that we may have known or hadn't known before. The religions include Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Baha'i and Judaism. The information that they told us were interesting as I learnt many things about the different religions. After, 3 people from the JCMA group came to talk to us and gave us their perspective of their religion. They told us about how their faith changed their lives and gave us a deeper understanding of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. JCMA were an interested group of people as they are young and engaged us more as they used technology and humour to engage us. It was a long day, but the day was just about to get better. A guest speaker Boori Pryor, an aboriginal, came to tell us about his religion and his life story. He told us many sad stories about his family then turned his stories to a funny situation. Overall, I enjoyed his performance as it was funny and it was a great way to end the day. From the incursion, I learnt that each religion had many differences as well as many similarities and I felt touched by each and every one of their stories. **Religious Excursion/Incursion- 16th September 2010** We started off the day by going to the Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh temples and ended the day by Sherese Hassan giving the whole year level a talk about her religion, Islam. //5 things I learned:// -Just because Muslims dress differently, they get frowned upon a lot -All Buddhists pray the same, with in-scent sticks -Everybody has to sit lower than the Guru -There's a lot of Gods at the Hindu Temple -At the Hindu temple, the food they give to the God's they can bring it home to eat //4 more questions I have about the religions:// -Because there's so many Gods, does everyone believe in a different God? (Hindu) -Why does someone have to wave the stick on top of the Guru? (Sikh) -Can hair be shown when wearing a head scarf? (Sikh) -What does the Guru look like? (Sikh) //3 reflections on my own faith journey:// //-// I have a greater understanding of the different religions and I will not misunderstand things anymore -Although the religions are similar, there are many differences -I have learnt a lot about the different faiths and beliefs of several different religions //2 things I learned about how different religions pray:// -All the different Buddhists all use in-scent sticks to pray -Sikh's sit on the floor as they have to sit lower than the Guru //1 thing I could personally contribute to interfaith relations in my local community:// I could stop religious arguments such as banning the burqa etc.. that occur by giving them a better understanding of the religion. **//4. You are required to engage with this scriptural passage- write a response according to the structure below, and post it on your personal journal page on your wiki.//** //b)// **//THE CANAANITE WOMAN'S FAITH//** //Matthew 15:21-28// c) First Jesus and disciples went away to the distrcit of Tyre and Sidon. Then a Canaanite woman begs for Jesus' help. Next Jesus says 'I only help the people of my own religion' and the Canaanite woman says 'Yes, but even though I'm not Jewish, I still deserve help'. Finally, Jesus heals the Canaanite woman's daughter. d) This is an example of Jesus in dialogue with another because Jesus is having a conversation- he responds and listens to the Canaanite woman. e) Humanity: Jesus wants to be seen as someone normal, not someone with a high status even though he knows he is the Lord. Prayer: The Canaanite uses terms that make it seem like she's praying to Jesus. Some of the phrases include: "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David" "Lord, help me." Faith: People who have faith deserves to receive the help that they need f) Towards the end of the gospel, there is movement towards peace and goodwill. Everyone changed such as the disciples and Jesus. The disciples and Jesus changed by having no faith in the Canaanite woman to having faith in her as they saw that she had faith in her. In the story, Jesus heals the Canaanite woman's daughter, the woman got the help she wanted and the disciples changed their minds about the Canaanite. This meant that they had mutual understanding of one another. g) Sherese Hassan taught me something new and changed my attitude towards her religion and culture as I gained more understanding of her religion. Since that day, I have learnt that banning their burqa would be like demolishing their religion overall as the burqa is an important part in their religion. **SELF-EVALUATION** //1. What have been my frustrations? My achievements?// Some of my frustrations would be not knowing how to use wikispaces properly until further down the track and also having to find topics to have a dialogue about. My achievements would be managing to finish majority of the humanity page by myself and also experiencing more about a religion and not just from the Catholic point of view but from the Christian point of view. //2. What I have learned?// I have learned many things but mainly that everything evolves around the one phrase, 'love thy neighbour'. This is because this phrase not only emphasises peace, love and justice but also peace and goodwill. //3. What is my faith tradition? How was studying this way, and this topic, cultivated my own spiritual path, or deepened my understanding of my own faith tradition?// My parents are atheist but in my background, my family are Buddhists. Although my parents are atheist, I also am Buddhist. Studying this way cultivated my own spiritual path by giving me a deeper understanding of other religions. Even though I have attended Catholic schools since grade 2, it was different to learn things from a different religion, Christianity. I have come to a conclusion that being a Christian and a Catholic you would hardly realise there's any difference but from researching, there are many differences.
 * Religious Incursion Day -24th August 2010**