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Original poster

"Design your own god" homework

213 replies

AChickenCalledKorma · 06/11/2017 18:35

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.

OP posts:
FlaviaAlbia · 07/11/2017 18:37

13/14 (if I've got it right) is a bit if a susceptible age, I would be a bit concerned about her reading the bible and taking things from it literally without discussing it with anyone one. Any good bible discussion groups or groups she could join that are led by responsible adults if she hasn't already?

My experience of scripture union in school was that it tended to be a bit of an echo chamber rather than a discussion group.

Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs AChickenCalledKorma

nooka · 07/11/2017 18:40

Julie8008 none of the Abrahamic faiths have disowned the Old Testament (and it's not relevant to non Abrahamic faiths). I'm not sure where you have the idea that there are accounts of god apologising for his previous behaviour, although there is definately a 'reset' with the coming of Jesus. Some Christians interpret the Bible fundamentally as the written word of god whilst others think of it as a collection of writings inspired by god, some parts are considered to be more metophoric, some histories and others more literal.

I think this is an interesting piece of homework that fits with a comparative study of religion. Different cultures and faiths have different ideas about the attributes of their gods. It is interesting to consider why, even if you believe that your god is the only true one.

Julie8008 · 07/11/2017 18:50

nooka, I accept Christianity hasn't went public about the OT but every Christian I have ever spoken to (that I can think of), has set aside the OT as part of their beliefs and just consider it story's not meant for public consumption.

Hence no main stream religion literally believes god drowned millions of humans, then regretted it, promised not to do it again and gave us the rainbow as 'proof' he could be trusted.

nooka · 07/11/2017 18:57

I can't speak for all Christians I've ever met but Catholics have a reading from the Old Testament at every mass. So very much for public consumption. The Church of England also recognises the Old Testament as canonical as do many other denominations. They may well see sections as being more like parables than literal history but that's not the same as denouncing the whole thing.

Julie8008 · 07/11/2017 19:11

nooka, if that's the case then hasn't this problem been caused by the churches. If they released a list of which parts of the Bible are to be taken literally and which aren't then we wouldn't get this confusion.

nooka · 07/11/2017 20:13

Well maybe, but we are talking about the ten commandments here, not one of the more fantastic or gruesome stories. Personally I do have an issue with cherry picking the bits of the Bible that sound nice and excluding those sections that are more problematic, but then I'm an atheist now and so think that it's an interesting historical document and nothing more than that.

speakout · 07/11/2017 20:27

If they released a list of which parts of the Bible are to be taken literally and which aren't then we wouldn't get this confusion.

That's so funny.

MaisyPops · 07/11/2017 22:34

13/14 (if I've got it right) is a bit if a susceptible age, I would be a bit concerned about her reading the bible and taking things from it literally without discussing it with anyone one. Any good bible discussion groups or groups she could join that are led by responsible adults if she hasn't already?
My experience of scripture union in school was that it tended to be a bit of an echo chamber rather than a discussion group
So very true.
And in my experience groups for teenagera seem to focus on very absolute interpretations of the bible and they tend to shy away from debate out of some fear that the kids might come up with a different idea and then leave the church forever and ruin their salvation etc.

Thr best youth groups I've been involved in openly discuss multiple views and the problems and challenges.

As a Christian I think people love to quote the old testament and sling it about ti show how enlightened they are.
I always want to ask whether they also think children should be killed for disobeying their parents. Or ask if they sit in a seat that has ever been sat in by a woman on her period.

There are multiple challenges to faith. People who clutch at parts of the OT to prove how religious they are (say homework image if God is bad but picture biblea are fine) to me resemble the pharases who wore all their outer symbols but were full of contradictions.

thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts · 08/11/2017 10:35

I can see why this bit of homework was set. At one level it is asking children with no concept of what a God is to use their own experience of life to start to think about it. This will be a springboard to introduce other belief systems and concepts of God. The teacher is going to learn a lot about the pupils, their hopes and dreams and fears in what is written.

At year 8 most of the young people will have moved away from a childish belief system of believing what their parents tell them about the world. This usually kicks in around 7. As young teenagers they will be beginning to own their own beliefs but being very tribal about them. Lots of people stick in this stage whether it is faith or football or whatever. It is quite hard to move into the next stage of beginning to see outside the box they are in and seeing value there. It is a late teenage, early adulthood stage but some may be moving into it at a younger age. I used to find this age group really hard to engage in faith discussions as they are a very mixed bag with raging hormones; it's adult then back to toddlerhood in an instant. www.psychology-charts.com/james-fowler-stages-of-faith.html

The issue of creating a God is going to be a real one for the OP's daughter and there is lots of potential for looking at her own belief system and those of others. She has realised that this piece of work is challenging for her. She has to decide how to make it work given the need to complete the homework. What she could do is take an image of God such as in Amos of justice flowing down like a river and do something creative around this. I hope you found a solution OP.

Julie8008 · 08/11/2017 23:02

we are talking about the ten commandments here, not one of the more fantastic or gruesome stories

Which ten commandments? all of them are dangerous pretty dodgy, morally speaking. I think religion would be a lot safer if the leaders just came out and said if we are supposed to take them literally or not.

BertrandRussell · 08/11/2017 23:05

But the commandment says thou shalt not make a graven image to adore it. Nobody is suggesting that she worships the God she creates......

MaisyPops · 08/11/2017 23:08

But the commandment says thou shalt not make a graven image to adore it. Nobody is suggesting that she worships the God she creates......
This.
It doesn't say 'you should never do any visual representation of any element of the trinity ever or you will be eternally tortured by Satan himself'.

This is what I don't understand about the objection. I can't see the religious grounds for objecting, unless you were part of a more fundamentalist branch of Christianity who objects to all images or symbols of the trinity.

ForgetMeNotCat · 09/11/2017 09:16

I dont think the dd has a problem with creating a visual representation of an element of the trinity, it was the "design your own God" task that she felt was wrong wasn't it? Normally when kids are asked to design their own whatever they'll do an idealised version eg. "Can make you invisible" "grows free money" etc. Maybe she feels it's a bit disrespectful.

Original poster
AChickenCalledKorma · 09/11/2017 17:05

ForgetMeNotCat - thank you, yes that was much more the issue for her. She already believes in God and that he is a real being. Making up a different one seems wrong to her.

She does also know about the graven images stuff, but I think it's the idea that it would be OK to invent a ("better"?) god that bothers her. And for what it's worth, I think that's a section of the ten commandments which is still perfectly valid, unlike some of the other OT laws which are clearly bonkers in 21st century terms.

(And no, I really don't want to get drawn into any (more) arguments about whether God is a human creation or vice versa. That's not what this discussion is about.)

OP posts:
Julie8008 · 09/11/2017 18:06

She does also know about the graven images

A graven image is one that has been carved or sculptured. A pen/pencil drawing on paper is not a graven image. So that commandment does not apply to this homework.

headinhands · 09/11/2017 18:21

but I think it's the idea that it would be OK to invent a ("better"?) god that bothers her.

Gosh yes.* If I believed in a specific god, I think I would also be bothered if I could even imagine a god that was better than the god I believed in. It can’t be nice to think you might be morally superior to the god you’ve opted for.*

Julie8008 · 09/11/2017 21:41

That's a good point headinhands, I never considered it that way. A teenager must find it quite scary to realize they can actually imagine a better or more moral God than the one you are meant to worship/believe in. That could destabilize their whole way of thinking.

speakout · 09/11/2017 21:54

That could destabilize their whole way of thinking.

And that would be bad?

Jaytee38 · 10/11/2017 04:09

Im a Christian and I would not be happy with this task. The only thing I'd be happy to do is to use descriptive words of God then when put together on a computer programme it could maybe shape the words into letters and she could spell out the word God?

As for the previous poster who talked of leaving out the O.T. That is totally ridiculous. The Christian bible consists both books. The O.T tells all of the coming Christ and teaches us about God.
Also if you are a Christian you know we are under the covenant of grace and the Levetican laws have no rule over us.

The NT characters including Jesus talk of the people and scriptures of the O.T. They belong together.

Anyway O.P how did the art project go?

bayseyan · 10/11/2017 04:15

I’m a Christian and I agree with you, I would not be happy with this assignment. I would complete it using our Christian God as the template and if the teacher has a problem with this I would explain why.

BertrandRussell · 10/11/2017 06:41

I've noticed before that the Christian god does seem to be a bit fragile......

StringyPotatoes · 10/11/2017 06:47

Are you from South Wales by any chance, OP? I had this homework in Year 8 too and struggled for the same reasons. At my mum’s suggestion I decided to illustrate one of God’s Hebrew names - Jehovah Rohi (The Lord is my Shepherd), if I remember correctly - and I drew a shepherd. It fulfilled my teacher’s requirements without me doing something I didn’t want to do.

IL0veCl0thes · 10/11/2017 06:53

I think that's an excellent piece of homework!

I will say that to my son, conversationally, I won't set it as homework.

IL0veCl0thes · 10/11/2017 06:55

ps, one can design a god without worshiping it so definitely not 'breaking a commandment'

MaisyPops · 10/11/2017 07:03

ps, one can design a god without worshiping it so definitely not 'breaking a commandment
Exactly.
I've noticed before that the Christian god does seem to be a bit fragile......
Only in thr eyes of some Christians. In my experience they are usually the types who are more theologivally conservative, spend a lot of tike teaching absolute 'we have THE answer' stuff, go on about how strong God is but are simultaneously terrified that if their teens access other views thrn their faith will be destroyed forever.

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