Studying religions as a doorway into differences, commonalities

Activity

Nearly all places of worship welcome visitors to come observe how their community experiences spirituality.  Help your kids do some research about different types of religion and then come up with a list of 3-5 places of worship that you would like to visit.  Then, come up with an easy “check-list” of things to look for such as:

·         Who leads the worship

·         Do the people leading the service wear any special clothes

·         Is there music?  If so, what is the music like?

·         Is there a lesson or lecture?  What was the lesson about?

·         Is there a special part of the service just for kids?

As you begin to do your visits, keep you checklists in a special place so that you can begin to compare what you see at each place.  Over time, engage in discussions about what is different among the religions but also, more importantly, what they have in common.