The aim is to show we all have things we hold “Sacred” in our lives, that it’s not only a religious but a human phenomenon to have these beliefs, and also that we don’t need to “resolve” our idea of “Sacredness” with anyone else’s.
Give participants pens and post-it notes or small pieces of paper, then tell them to sit on their own.
Ask them to write down single words on each note which denote something they think is “Sacred” e.g. family, holy scripture, human life, countries, people, locations
Once they have written these, ask participants to partner up and try to explain to each other why they associate these things with “Sacredness.”
After some initial discussion, ask partners to team up to make fours, in which participants should try to group together examples of “Sacredness” that they think are similar or belong together. You can also ask whether they feel some of the ideas are more or less important than others.
As groups present back their groupings, the following questions may be useful:
- Why have you chosen to put these together?
- Do you think any of these contradict each other? If not, why not? If they do, does this present a problem for people who uphold these beliefs or values?
- What happens when the things people hold sacred clash with someone else’s?
By framing this as an activity to talk about the conflict, it could allow young people to express their connections with what is going on, such as:
personal links with people,
connections with the physical land,
or even the idea of “peace”.
Alternatively, you could ask them to imagine what different people living in Israel or Gaza would write down as the things that are sacred to them.
This is part of a series of activities that help participants learn and practice skills for dialogue and communication. For more information on this series or to invite our team into your school, please contact us.
Our education officers run programmes in schools to help young people about faiths, beliefs, identities and society > more info
