Your task is to write an essay looking at places of worship in different religions.

Suggested structure:

• Introduction: You should have a paragraph explaining that “Places of Worship” tell us about the religions that worship in them. You should then introduce the Places of Worship that you are going to explore.
• Section One: Choose a religion and explain what its place of worship tells us about the religion. Remember to consider all the “Think about” things below and EXPLAIN them. How do these things tell us something about the religion involved?
• Sections Two and Three: Choose another two religions and repeat what you have done for section One.
• Analysis: Are there similarities and differences between the places of worship? What are they? Do they tell us anything about the religions involved? Are there similarities between Christians, Jews and Muslims? Are there similarities between Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists?
• Evaluation: “Which place of worship most fully reflects its religion?” Which place of worship tells us most about its religion? How do you know? What’s your evidence?

Think about:

• What objects might be in the place of worship
• What events might happen in the place of worship
• How is the place of worship laid out?
• Are there special rooms?

Below is a list of resources to help you out. There are also lots of books in the classroom.

General Help
REOnline – Places of Worship
BBC Religion – Places of Worship in pictures

Sikh Gurdwaras

Sikh temples are quite interesting because they have a “langar”, a food hall for everyone to use (Sikh and non-Sikh), which shows their belief in the equality of all human beings. They also have a special “bedroom” for their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, which they treat as a person and so put to bed every night.

Sikhs.org – the Gurdwara
LearningLive
Gurdwara virtual tour

The Jewish Synagogue

Jews have met in the Synagogue for many centuries. It is not so much that the structure of the building tells us about Judaism, but they have lots of special things in there which tell us about them. You might talk about the idea that different Jews called their place of worship by different names and explain why.

Chabad.org – Interactive Tour
BBC Religion
JewFAQ.org

Christian Churches

There are lots of different kinds of churches – it would be excellent if your presentation showed some of the differences between them!

RE:Quest – Virtual Tours
h2g2 – Church Layout

Muslim Mosques

There’s loads of stuff to find out about mosques. There is meaning in both what the building looks like, and lots of stuff to say about what happens inside too!

Birmingham Council of Muslims – Virtual Mosque Tour
BBC Religion
Hitchams School Mosque website

If you find anything else that might help please leave a comment!