"Design your own god" homework

[AChickenCalledKorma]

DD2 is in year 8 and has been asked to design a god/goddess for RS homework. We are an active Christian family and she doesn't want to do it because the Bible says she shouldn't.

I'm interested whether other Christian, Jewish or Muslim parents (or any other faith that has a problem with idols) have had a similar issue arise and how you handled it. Part of me thinks she should just treat the homework as an interesting art project. It's not as if the teacher is asking them to worship what they invent (hopefully!!!). But the other part of me thinks that she has a point and it's good that she's made the connection between what she reads in the Bible and what she's being asked to do.

Allegedly, her older friend refused to do a similar homework and got a detention for it.

I'm a Christian, and would not have been comfortable with this homework as a teenager, and nor would I be comfortable with it being asked of my children. I would support her if she feels strongly about it, but maybe talk through how she can do a version of it based on God (so it's not that she isn't bothering).

jbiscuits
I agree there's lots of ways for her to complete the task without it being incompatible with faith.
E.g. My God is...
And then take the qualities and attributes of our God.

It's only an issue if people create one in my eyes.

Are they doing something linked with Feuerbach's theory that man creates his own god as a projected image of his own idea of perfection? Bit deep for Y1 but maybe the end results will show that the whole class comes up with common traits to their gods, eg kindness, thereby encouraging tolerance and better understanding.

I'm an atheist so not Christian, but I think it's good for children to explore different religious concepts to come to their own conclusions. My kids are so far two atheist and one agnostic, all conclusions arrived at on their own, which strengthens their conviction.

Just reread and realised your dd is Y8. Yes, it's Feuerbach's theory.

I got set this task as a piece of work when I was in high school 15 years ago. I am a Christian too and it felt wrong. I quietly told the teacher why I didn't want to do it and he was fine with it.

I would have been happy to draw my own mythical creature but design your own God is different. Christians believe a lot of trouble happens precisely because people do design their own gods.

But its not actually designing your own god. Its just draw a picture of the aspects you think a god should have. The Op is just getting hung up on the tittle.

I'm an agnostic from a Christian background and would not want to do / want her to do this homework. I find it a bizarre task and quite counter to the idea of any major religion - you don't just make up your own deities.

But if you’re an actively Christian family she may be influenced by what you believe.

I think it’s an interesting exercise between the values that we think should be worshipped and the values that are actually worshipped in the various gods.

I don't think theres anything wrong with it as a piece of homework. Surely there are things about the god she believes in that might be better described by your dd than currently are described in the bible? She's not being asked to change religion shes being asked to consider how she sees her own god.

By supporting her in not doing her homework you are suggesting that her own beliefs allow her to not do something just because it makes her feel uncomfortable. She should do it imho and you should help her understand that sometimes we have to do things that may go against what we personally believe but that the action doesn't mean her belief changed, it just made her look at the world differently.

I'm pagan, along with my dh, dd and ds. I vehemently object to religion in schools, it goes against everything I believe in but I have never permitted my children to choose to opt out of any schoolwork based on the fact they have a different belief to whats being taught.

I'd be uncomfortable with this idea and I'm a teacher. It's probably well intentioned thoughtlessness on the part of the teacher who set it, contact them and say very happy to do another piece of writing on another theme instead, but this goes against our beliefs and dd won't be doing this one. You really should be getting a slightly embarrassed apology rather than any come back.

but maybe talk through how she can do a version of it based on God May I ask what that will be based on?

It’s just making up a story kind of like real religion

Vitalogy well for me it would be based on what the Bible tells me about God.

For those saying it's OK because she's not being asked to worship her designed god, it's not just about that. It's the idea that we can know better than God himself as to what he should be like that's the issue for me as a Christian.

Some very interesting perspectives here, thank you. It's an interesting idea that she could use it to reflect on her understanding of God, but that would not address the fairly fundamental biblical objection to creating an idol, or physical representation of God.

And yes, I accept that she's influenced by our family's beliefs. But she's also been through phases of being quite interested in Buddhuism and Hinduism, through the influence of friends of different faiths, so I find it interesting that she's come up with this objection without any promoting.

I find it a bizarre task and quite counter to the idea of any major religion - you don't just make up your own deities.

But that exactly what a lot of people do and that is why it is important to study it.

But you can still draw an image of God based on biblical teaching.

Unless you are totally against any representation of any form of any God (which makes no sense on any grounds because a basic reword in the title to 'depict a God someone might worship' hit sthe same outcome) then thr homework is only as problematic as you make it.

I'm Christian, so if I had that homework I would probably draw a triangle for the trinity and then write attributes of God. Totally in line with the Bible.

If anyonr wanted to argue with me that me doing that is anti-Christian then I would feel quite strongly that thry are probably a fundamentalist who also spends a lot of time whining about how marginaliaed and victimised Christians are in the UK. Maybe that's because thr people i know who'd have an issue with this homework all attend a certain local evangelical church

but that would not address the fairly fundamental biblical objection to creating an idol, or physical representation of God.
So just to be clear, you don't:

• have any images in your bibles
• have images of Jesus on Christmas cards
• have never bought the children a 'my first bible'
• have never had your children do faith based crafts at sunday school/children's club
• never allowed them to participate in the nativity because that depicts God made flesh

Or is it just a homework task where it's an issue?

Does the bible have a description of what god is supposed to look like then?
I believe in the source/soul/god and find the depiction of god in the Sistine chapel offensive, how dare they!

Vitalogy sorry I was thinking more about the attributes/character of God rather than what God looks like. As a teenager I would probably have done some word-art describing God rather than a picture in that case.

Hmm - she may well go for the idea of drawing a Trinity symbol or a picture of what she thinks Jesus looked like .....

I'm not sure how that would go down with her teacher, but it could work if she explains why.

If she has achieved the objectibes (which seem to be presenting attributes of a God) then there's many ways she can do it in a way that doesn't cause an issue of faith.

Is Christianity even the subject of this rs when I was in school was a study of all religions current and old there are a lot of weird god depictions in a lot of them. Could this be more to do with one of those?

Yeah, word art sounds the best bet.

Petalbird she thinks they are going to be looking at Hinduism.

I quite like this homework, as it allows a Y8 child to explore known concepts of God, such as omnipotence and omniscience and explain why they have chosen them. The Bible is full of allegorical references that help people visualise the divine, such as God being a shepherd and a father, the Holy Spirit being a bright light and a dove... For children less well versed in Christianity, it might give them the opportunity to hear about why. It also allows that to be compared with Ancient Greek gods, who are more like superheroes. Of course, the opportunity is there to draw a flame or indeed any natural thing to explain how Christians believe that God's goodness or greatness is reflected in all of his creation.