Religion is an important part of society which effects everyone whether or not they believe in a certain religion. In today’s Society and lifestyle module, I was involved in listening, discussing and thinking about both positive and negative impact religion has on society. I have developed some knowledge and understanding about how different people see religion. For example, a simple definition of religion is “belief in spiritual beings” but different people within the society will have different definition of what they feel religion is. I also learned that religion can be looked into from outside and inside. If we look from the inside, we look into the believer’s approach of the religion whereas if we look at religion from the outside we view it from a scholarly approach. I also gained some detailed knowledge about the different types of religion; Established religion (which is religions that have existed for a long time such as Christianity, Hinduism and Islam) a sect and a cult. We also briefly looked into how religious diversity can affect the society in the lecture and had a group discussion about this during the tutorial class.

 

I feel that I understood most of the content that was provided during the lecture and the workshops. However, I felt that the pace of the lecture was fast and therefore I did not fully understand some of the main concepts. I hadn’t fully understood the role of theorists and was quite confused about how I would write about them in my essays. However, this became clearer to me during the individual task that was given during the workshop.

 

We were provided with a lot of content during the lecture and I felt that I failed to understand some of the information that was provided to us. I plan to read the suggested books and look back through the presentation to gain a better understanding of the content that was discussed during the lecture.

 

I have had the opportunity to experience two different cultures and have seen the effect culture and religion can have on society throughout my life. However, I had never deeply thought about the functions religion can have within a society. From the lecture, I gained some understanding of how humans use religions to deal with life-crises and social relations.

 

Since religion plays a vital role in many people’s life, I feel that children should be taught about different types of religion at primary school. There is a possibility that the students within my classroom will have different religions and by carrying out experiences to explore the different religions, there will be chance for group discussions and the children with different religions will feel included.

 

Overall, I feel that I have gained a lot of knowledge from today’s lecture and workshop and look forward to the next society and lifestyle lecture, where I can expand my knowledge about religion and society.