Blog Task 2. Faith

Monday 22nd May

1. How could you apply the resources to your own teaching practice?
2. How could you integrate the research/work your students do on this subject into your teaching/professional practice?
3. Can you cite examples? You will share your thoughts within your groups and comment and share further resources you use in your own context.
N.B You are expected to engage with your blogging task groups

‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Stimulus paper (Modood & Calhoun, 2015)
I read Changes in religious demography, Minority identities and The ‘vaguely Christian’ UK.

A significant social change in Britain and Western Europe throughout the 20th century is the decline of traditional Christian beliefs and practice through organised religion. This ‘secularisation’ is particularly highlighted by the decline in Church attendance in Britain from 67% in 1983 to 42% in 2013. In contrast, those that say they had no religion were 31% in 1983 and 51% in 2013, by 2011 this was just over a third of 16–24-year-olds. Religion has been replaced by ‘belief without belonging’ a sense of spirituality or implicit religion for some. Whilst both the young and the highly educated are less likely to be religious, many university students say they are religious – which is surprising. ‘Approximately 5O% of UAL students identify as religious, and of those who don’t, only a small minority identify as atheist, while most prefer terms such as agnostic, ‘spiritual not religious’, etc.’ p25 from Shades of Noir. I wonder if this is because of the diversity of international students attending British universities. How does this impact their student life? Do they get support and how is this reflected in the work our students are making? 

I found it interesting to think about the changes in religious demography in Britain which indicate that in fact, faith will grow throughout the 21st century just not Christian. This major change has been driven by immigration since the 1950s: Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs and more recently the growth of West African Pentecostalist churches and Polish attending Catholic services. These statistics together, reflect an altered religious geography of Britain. Where larger towns & cities such as London are now more religious than smaller towns and the countryside, reversing traditions again. While in general, young people are less likely to be religious, amongst some – particularly Muslims, the importance attached to religion is more significance than for their elders. We must consider this for our students regarding access to prayer rooms and other considerations such as fasting when teaching and submitting work for marking.

The text talks about the decline in importance of religion-based social identities for Christians in Britain through the 20th century, however for post-immigration groups they are sometimes made conscious by others of their ‘difference’, expressed not only by their personal beliefs but also their shared practices such as dress or diet. Christianity has slowly come to say that faith is about beliefs and doing good rather than dressing in a particular way. Sikh turbans and Islamic headscarves are now unexceptional features of British citizens – yet I rarely see either of these when working at Ual – I wonder why? ‘Nonetheless, a vague sense persists that ‘we’ British are Christian – and this doesn’t change when the ‘we’ is narrowed to English, Scottish, Northern Irish or Welsh.’ This no longer fits the dominant image. We must make sure that when our students are designing, they use imagery that represents Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims, alongside Christians. ‘In the discourse of multiculturalism, religions are used as names for ethnically marked populations: Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Christians and Muslims. Blacks by contrast are labelled with a racial term. Because blackness is sometimes claimed more widely, the clarification ‘people of African or Afro-Caribbean descent’ may be offered’. This is something I should discuss with my cohort regarding the ambiguity about the place of national identity in relation to multiculturalism and the differences in religious history, practice and identity. My students create personas for their branding projects and always consider their target audience. These articles are fascinating and raise many issues I must consider regarding my teaching practice. I had not thought about the importance of faith or religion in relation to academic practice but I realise that I must increase my own knowledge so that I can support our students in a variety of ways.

The Reith Lectures: Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith
– Mistaken Identities
Kwame’s lecture posed the question – ‘What is it that makes us who we are?’ Identity: including religion, culture, country? Or none of those things.  A fantastic point to discuss with my students.  A Professor in philosophy and law at NY University. He has taught at Yale, Cornell and Harvard. He talks about ‘Mistaken identities’ – London taxi drivers asking, ‘where were you born?’ I try to be very careful and aware of asking this question. I try not to make assumptions. He explores the way family stories from our mothers and fathers shape who and what we are, a sense of self through family and affiliations spread out such as nationality, class, gender, race and religion. Our identity is shared with millions, billions of others but how does identity work? Creed – our religious identity is connected to the oldest stories we have via the ancient scriptures & texts of many religions. His parents were sustained by faith, infusing many aspects of their lives. Dress can distinguish us in religious matters but is that custom or creed? It is hard to separate or decide. Credo – Latin for ‘I believe’, we are taught that religion is a matter of beliefs. Kwame speaks of the three dimensions of religion – what you do – your practice, who you do it with – your community and a body of beliefs.  Orthopraxy, the belief that action, doing the right thing is as important as religious faith.

The power of ceremonies, the things we do together in fellowship are at the core of religious experience. Scripture is written in the poetic language of metaphor, obscure and sometimes fictional, requiring interpretation. As humans we look for rules and clarity to follow such as eat this, do not eat that. The condemnation of homosexuality in religious texts is an interpretation, not derived from it. Priests often insist doctrine drives practice, and the opposite, doctrine is often driven by practice can be ignored. In reality forms of worship, familiar feelings, traditions of social regulation and practice change over time, that can lead to new interpretations of a belief or abandoned if we cant make them work in the modern world. If scriptures were not subject to interpretation and reinterpretation they would not have survived and guided us for many hundreds of years, their openness is a blessing. Christian, Buddhist. Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, there is no one true way.  All religions are reactions to contemporary life requiring interpretive latitude. Whatever your faith, committed people have believed other things in all sincerity. Be open and welcoming to all in my teaching practice and my life. Once you recognise these perplexities mobilised by outsiders to indite a religion and by insiders to defend a practice they favour such as treating men superior to women in Islam. You could apply this to any religion. Religious communities shift their views about gender again and again. Faith is not one thing, Scriptures require interpretation. they aren’t lists or documents of how to live. We look for certainty, the recognition of human fallibility. Relaxed convictions, leave open to challenge and revision of new ideas to come in. Scared and ecclesiastical texts are more about the readers than the texts themselves often shifting or clashing interpretations. It’s hard to say what is true. Some things only work because we believe in them such as money, religions are changing and have to be to survive. The history of faith is the history of doubt – you might be wrong about things. ‘Reasonable people can come to a very wide range of different pictures of the world’ says Kwame. In terms of teaching, I must be open to debate and discussion, and find a way for a space for all to exist harmoniously or at least with respect in terms of opposing thoughts and feelings.

We can look at Buddhist text from 2000 years ago, Buddha teaches all phenomena are neither male or female, St Paul also write of there being neither male or female, all are one in Christ, The Koran also stresses equality, these traditions do not speak with a single voice, it is interpretation and ‘to know what scriptures to read into and which to read past’.  Kwame says. Think in context, dress respectively by local standards. It is all about interpretation. British Muslims are living through a modern-day experiment. Religious identities are transformed through history. ‘To be loyal to your God you need not revile the Gods of others’ Farlo of Alexandrea expanding Exodus 22:28. None of us creates the world we inhabit from scratch – Kwame speaks of how we craft our values and commitments through our dialogue and debate with the past. Dialogue is not determinism, the identity revealed as an activity not a thing. The nature of activities to bring change. We too shall one day be ancestors and we do not merely follow traditions we create them – which is a blessing.

The artist Grayson Perry is in the audience, as an Atheist he asks ‘what do you fill the hole with?’ – can non-religious secular people fill the hole with community and identity? Kwame thinks there is not a hole left by a lack of God.  He sees religion as a process, to figure out within each faith, for everyone to move forwards in a sense of community, he feels our sense of identity is at the core of that. Kwame ‘we always have choices, identities are not a fate, figure out what to do with them.’ ‘What processes can we be involved in as educators?’ – a participant asks, Kwame ‘I am a big believer in conversations across difference – yes for teaching. Conversation involves consenting adults, but some don’t want to talk to you.’ Some people are unavailable to us but try to be open to conversations with all. Invite them in, be a good listener.  I am interested. We have separated our religious and scientific thinking. Identity is based on creed, colour, country, culture; religious is the least important in terms of identity, but he concludes that the order of importance depends on who you are!

3. SoN Terms of Reference on Faith. Interview with
Saffron Mustafa
Born and raised by white Muslim parents, Saffron sometimes felt caught in space between multiple cultures. A predominantly Asian religion. Islam spans many different places & cultures, with many different nuances and understandings. She came into contact with many people of faith through her parents with a melting pot of views and opinions. As a family, she moved to Saudi Arabia and her mother found it hard on their return, wearing a hijab she received many comments & reactions because of it. People would ask ‘where are you from?’ We must really think about this question and what it implies – that you are something ‘other’, something different – as a question it can seem very judgmental even if it does not mean to be. I must listen to my students, be aware but do not ask certain questions that might be offensive. The headdress is a religious choice which may suggest you are from somewhere ‘other’ – people make a lot of assumptions based on their own baggage.  As a white man with a Muslim name her father experienced prejudice when applying for jobs. People made judgements about him, having not even met him. Be aware of this, do not judge people or make assumptions when teaching because they may well be very incorrect. Saffron speaks of Islamophobia and how far reaching it can be, the difficulty in being allowed to pray – I have not ever thought about this to my shame. She talks about the experience of living near Mecca and how welcoming and kind everyone was, yet her parents seem to have experienced the opposite on their return to live in the UK. This made her parents question their faith which ultimately made Saffron question hers. She now considers Sufism her faith as it is more spiritual and allows her to connect with her parents. Her sense of self and identity seem very connected to her religion, and she struggled with finding what felt right to her. The concept of intersectionality – she found herself more comfortable with British Asians than the white British community because of her religious faith. Particularly the subgroup of Sunni Islam. She struggled at sixth form college and the freedom others were given to drink and smoke, a more liberal approach than her own upbringing. She uses her faith to express her feelings about religion. Her faith is a way to express herself and be creative, its personal to her and a part of her identity, Increasing her creativity. She wrote her dissertation on belief systems and the dichotomy that religion can both bring together communities and also tear them apart.

Extended Activity:
SoN ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’ Faith
I was very interested in Aalimahs story, a Muslim Iranian student. Her tutor had publicly stated her positionality as an atheist at the beginning of the course (something which I feel is very personal and probably not suitable to disclose as part of her teaching) as a statement rather than an open discussion where multiple viewpoints must be listened to, discussed and heard. I realise in my teaching I must be very aware of this and make safe spaces for all my students to be comfortable to talk openly and debate. The Little Book gives excellent guidance on how to facilitate discussions by including students in this process. Asking them to think about positive and negative experiences they have had in group discussions, for them to set the rules so that everyone feels comfortable with and have the space for their voice to be heard and included. Being considerate to multiple viewpoints and voices, especially if my students own work encourages debate and discussion on any number of issues.

‘Religious expression is increasingly more visible and more diverse, with many universities having 10 or more faith societies representing the major world religions. The University has a responsibility to all its students and staff to provide a Multi-faith Chaplaincy. The chaplaincy should be equipped to support students and staff for my diverse faith backgrounds.’ This is not something I have given much thought to previously, but I plan on finding out where the prayer room is at LCC and more about the support offered to students of faith such as the Chaplaincy, so that if I am asked for information, I have answers I can share with my students.

This unit has opened my mind to thinking about many issues that may come up in my teaching practice, giving me the skills and knowledge to think about the best way I can support my students through open debate and inclusivity. I will be taking all that I have learnt and applying it to my teaching.

References

Appiah, K. A. (2016) Reith Lectures: Creed –Mistaken Identities [Radio]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b07z43ds

Modood, T. Calhoun, C. (2015) Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. Available at: http://www.tariqmodood.com/uploads/1/2/3/9/12392325/6379_lfhe_stimulus_paper_-_modood_calhoun_32pp.pdf

Shades of Noir (2017) ‘Interview with Saffron Mustafa’, Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief, pp. 28-31. Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/higher-power-religion-faith-spirituality-belief/