Religion as a Moral Guide
Learning Plan 3: Sample Format for Religion as a Moral Guide
Religion as a Moral Guide
Student’s Name
Ethics
Learning Plan 3
Date
Instructor’s Name
1
Religion as a Moral Guide
Introduction
Response: (Note: Explain the purpose of your paper. Explain to the reader
using two to four sentences and/or highlight major ideas to be covered.)
Examine the Religious Impact on Interviewee
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe at least four ways your interviewee felt
“shaped” by his/her religious experience. Select four sub headings listed below.)
Religious Traditions
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe the interviewee’s religious traditions. Please
review page 4 for a definition of the term traditions.)
Religious Practices
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe the interviewee’s religious practices. Answer
the questions, “How can this believer trace his/her ethics to his/her religious
background/experiences?”)
Special Religious Times
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe the interviewee’s special religious times.)
Education/Indoctrination into Religious Beliefs
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe the interviewee’s education/indoctrination
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into religious beliefs. State how members were enculturated into their beliefs; that is,
what was religious education like…at home/in the center of worship/at summer
camps/where else.)
Sense of "Religious Community”
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe the interviewee’s sense of “religious
community” Examine how a sense of "separate religious community" was
established/maintained? What insures that the practitioner feels "like" a Mormon, a Jew,
etc.?)
Personal Obligations Based on Religious Teachings.
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You describe the interviewee’s personal obligations based
on religious teachings. Elaborate: What obligations does this person feel because of
his/her religious faith? What obligations are taught but this follower does not believe in?
Why?)
Critical Thinking to Challenge Religious Teachings or Traditions
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You consider how this person did (or did not) use critical
thinking to challenge religious teachings/traditions of the faith. Provide examples.)
Ethical Reasoning to Religious Training
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You develop at least two concrete examples that illustrate
how this person connects his/her ethical reasoning to religious training.)
Religion as a Moral Guide
Personal Insights on Religion for Moral Development
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. You develop at least three personal insights gained from
listening to Gandhi's AND your interviewee's stories as well as from class activities.)
Conclusion
Response: (Note: Your response should be written in complete sentences and
proper paragraph structure. Provide a summary of the main points and final thoughts.)
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References
Response: (Note: Your response should be a listing of references using the APA
format. You need to cite at least one source and it may include the course textbook. You
can use citation machine to assist you. Special note on Interviews: Because a personal
interview is not "recoverable data," the APA guidelines stipulate that you list it in the text
of a manuscript but do not put it in the reference. In a manuscript (or outline, for some
assignments), you would cite an interview after mentioning some information from the
interview as follows:
...is the usual procedure followed when a student is caught violating a campus alcohol
consumption policy (A. B. Smith, personal communication, February 23, 2004).
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Definitions
Religious Traditions
What holidays (if any) are celebrated? What times of the year are especially important?
Are any special food/dress/gifts/etc. tied to those traditions. For example, in the church some
individuals were raised in a very German area, Christmas services were always conducted in
German. Another example, during a Presbyterian service, the kids always put on a Christmas
program and a spring musical tied to Bible stories. Grandpas and Grandmas, older siblings,
parents, etc. all attended, Church was/is always packed for those services. On Christmas Eve,
after a "communion" of hot chocolate and cookies, people sang "happy birthday" while a couple
dressed as Jesus and Mary carrying their newborn wandered the sanctuary.
At a pagan services held at solstices, individuals held a "Festival of Lights" service just
before Christmas that includes Jewish, Christian and Kwanza practices. Practioners felt
committed to learning about a variety of religious traditions, including recently a members' "ascent
into atheism". At the end of Ramadan, a Muslim came to describe why that tradition is so
important to communal life among Muslims.
Religious Practices
What do members DO? At some services, members always have a time of "joys and
concerns" where members come up and light a candle and "fill us in". Members may have a
period of meditation, whether backed by quiet music or silence. What hymns do they typically
focus on? Perhaps, such practices as celebrating community, social justice, and love of the
earth. What are some of the causes that the congregation is focusing on? Such practices as
social activism, fair trade efforts, "green" projects, the local humane society, CROP walk, and
community diversity initiatives.
Religious Community
What makes one feel like a Muslim? Like a Jew? A pagan? Members may get together
weekly or monthly on social events, such as, couples Covenant Group, a member of the
Cribbage Players, and a member of a Women's Group whose primary focus was eating out. Do
they participate in choir? Do they have parties at member’s homes to celebrate Christmas,
Religion as a Moral Guide
Hanukah? Do they go on bike trips, picnics, nights out to plays, etc? What are member’s social
and religious gatherings?
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