Lesson video

Hello there, my name is Mr. Robertson and I'm delighted to welcome you to this RE lesson.

Today's lesson is the first in our enquiry, Freedom: How far should governments go to protect freedom of religion or belief?

And in this lesson, we're gonna be thinking about this concept of freedom, what it is and how it's protected.

I really look forward to learning with you today.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use a range of methods to explain how freedom of religion or belief is guaranteed by Human Rights law.

We have three keywords today.

The first word is freedom.

And by that, we mean being able to believe what you want or not believe at all, and being respected for that choice.

Our second words are Article 18, and that refers to one of the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights referring to freedom of religion or belief.

And our final word is violation.

And in this context, it means human rights violations which occur when fundamental freedoms and rights are disregarded, restricted, or denied.

By the end of this lesson, I think you'll feel really confident with this.

So our lesson about "Freedom: what is it and how is it protected?

" has two parts.

In the first part of this lesson, we're gonna be thinking about this question, what is freedom of religion or belief?

So let's start by thinking more generally about this.

I wonder when you hear that word, freedom, what you think we might mean by it?

I wonder if you would know what it means to be free?

How do you know that you are free?

And what does it mean?

I wonder how you would know if you had freedom, what conditions, what would it feel like?

What would the world be like if you had freedom?

And finally, I'd like you to think about how freedom is guaranteed in this country.

So this might be a point where you want to pause the video, discuss with other people, and come back with some ideas thinking about these questions.

So I wonder what you came up with in your discussions.

Let's meet Andeep, Sofia, Lucas and Aisha, and they're also discussing this idea of freedom.

Andeep says, "I think freedom is being allowed to be myself and think what I like.

" Sofia says, "I think being free means not being afraid of expressing myself.

" Lucas says, "I know I have freedom in the UK because I can protest if I want to.

" And Aisha says, "I think freedom is guaranteed by human rights.

" I wonder what you said in your discussions.

Did you come up with similar ideas to this or did you come up with some of your own ideas as well?

Look at this photograph here.

It's a very famous woman called Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the wife of a very famous president of the United States.

You can see her holding an enormous sheet of paper, and if you've got really good eyes, it says "the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

" Now, many of the freedoms that we have as human beings are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This document was created in 1948 and it's the foundation of human rights law.

After the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust and the genocide and destruction, many countries around the world came together to say, how can we safeguard and protect those human rights to make sure that these sort of things don't happen again?

And this universal declaration sets out all the rights and freedoms of human beings.

One of these articles specifically covers the freedom of religion or belief.

Now, Andeep has some questions for you, and I'd like you to have a go at answering these before we look at this in more detail.

I wonder which religions you might think are protected.

I wonder if you might question whether all religions are protected, and what about non-religious beliefs?

Again, this might be a great opportunity to pause the video and have a think about some of these questions or discuss them with someone next to you.

Well, the article that relates to the freedom of religion and belief is known as Article 18.

Now this is a really, really important point.

Article 18 protects people and not religions and beliefs.

Article 18 protects people in the same way as all other human rights.

So human rights protect individuals, they protect people, they don't protect religions and beliefs.

Let's just check our understanding so far.

Which article relates to the freedom of religion or belief?

Is it Article 16, Article 17, Article 18 or Article 19?

Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's C, Article 18.

Brilliant if you got that right.

So Article 18 protects everyone who identifies with, believes in, or practices a religion or belief.

It does not protect the religion itself.

It protects people who belong to large religions or small religions.

They could be the majority in their country or it can be a minority religion in their country.

So Article 18 does not protect people with only certain religions.

It protects all religions or beliefs.

I wonder what this symbol is.

Do you recognize it?

Have you seen it anywhere?

Excellent.

It's the Happy Human symbol of Humanism.

Article 18 also protects those who have a non-religious worldview such as Humanists.

A freedom of religion or belief also protects other beliefs such as atheism or pacifism.

So you can see that people with a religious or non-religious belief are all protected by Article 18 in terms of freedom of religion or belief.

Let's check our understanding so far.

I've got a true or false question for you.

Freedom of religion or belief protects religions.

Is that true or false?

Excellent.

It's false, isn't it?

But why?

Well, it's false because freedom of religion or belief protects people, not the religions or beliefs themselves.

Brilliant if you got that right.

Okay, I want us to check our understanding of everything we've learned so far.

Again, we are meeting Andeep, Sofia, Lucas and Aisha, and they're discussing freedom of religion or belief and what it means.

I'd like you to look at what each of them says and then we're going to think about whether they understood this correctly.

Andeep says, "Freedom of religion or belief protects Sikhs in the UK.

" Sofia says, "Freedom of religion or belief protects Christianity from criticism.

" Lucas says, "Freedom of religion or belief protects people who identify as Humanist.

" And Aisha says, "Freedom of religion or belief would not apply to people with a pagan worldview.

" So I'd like you, by yourself or with someone else, to look at each of those people in turn, read their statement and think, have they understood what we've learned about freedom of religion or belief correctly?

Well, well done for having a go.

Let's have a look at what we've said.

So Andeep was correct, wasn't he?

Because freedom of religion or belief protects people not religions.

So Sikhs are protected by those rights.

Lucas is also correct as the right protects people with non-religious beliefs, such as Humanists.

Sofia is incorrect because the freedom of religion or belief does not protect Christianity.

It protects people who identify with Christian beliefs.

And Aisha's also incorrect.

The right of freedom or belief would apply to Pagans as it is a small religion and it applies to people who follow a majority or minority religion in a country.

I just want to draw your attention here that we've really looked at this from the perspective of the UK and we set out what freedom of religion or belief looks like here.

Not every country in the world would recognize these religions and worldviews in the way we've described them, but well done if you've got those right.

For the second part of this lesson, we're going to look in a little bit more detail about how freedom of religion or belief is protected.

So as we've already established, international declarations form the basis of the right to freedom of religion or belief.

Article 18 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights sets out the intentions, but what does it cover?

We're gonna look at that in a bit more detail now.

So I'm going to show you the text from Article 18.

This is what it states.

It says, "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

" So that is the full text in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

And you might be thinking as you were hearing that, that it uses the pronoun "his.

" That's because it was written a very long time ago.

Of course, this right applies to all people, not just men.

So you might want to pause the video and read through it in a bit more detail and more slowly.

What rights do you think this suggests that we have?

And what is protected?

I wonder what you managed to pick out.

We're going to look at them now in more detail, step by step.

So the heart of freedom of religion or belief is the right to have or change your religion or belief.

And this is what's known as an absolute right with no limits.

And that means it applies no matter which religion or belief you hold, it applies whichever country you live in, and it applies whatever the majority religion in your country.

To help us understand this, we're going to look at some case studies of different people, and that's gonna be a really useful way of trying to understand how these rights and freedoms work in practice.

So let's start by meeting Sarah.

Sarah decided to become Muslim after being helped by a Muslim colleague in her workplace.

Let's hear some of her story.

Sarah says, "I was brought up in a family that were culturally Christian, but we didn't really practice it.

After my brother became seriously ill, I was a bit lost.

A friend at work was Muslim and she took me to her mosque.

The community welcomed me, so I reverted to Islam.

I now identify as a Muslim.

" So thinking about Sarah's story, how is her decision that she made protected by freedom of religion or belief?

Well, you may have noticed that Sarah started off in a Christian household, although they weren't particularly practicing Christians, but then she decided to change her religion as she would say she reverted to Islam, so she's now a Muslim.

So we talked about the absolute right to have or change a religion, and Sarah has changed her religion, which she has an absolute right to do under the freedom of religion or belief.

Let's just check our understanding so far.

Which of these is not true about the right to freedom of religion or belief?

A: it is an absolute right.

B: it applies to all religions.

C: it applies whichever country you live in.

D: it applies only to countries with minority religions.

Which do you think it is?

It's D, isn't it?

The absolute right to freedom of religion and belief applies to all countries, not just those countries with a minority or majority religion.

Well done if you got that right.

So the right of freedom of religion or belief also allows you to leave a religion you have previously belonged to.

This means you can choose to remain with or leave the majority religion of your country or the religion or belief of your family.

And governments and families must respect your right to leave a religion or belief.

Let's meet Warren.

We're going to hear a little bit of his story and how he came to leave his family's religion.

Warren says, "My parents were Christian and we went to church every Sunday.

I sang in the choir.

As I became a teenager, I began to question some of the beliefs.

I realized I didn't believe any more and felt more an atheist.

My parents were very upset and for a time we didn't speak, which was painful.

However, they have now accepted my atheist beliefs.

" Thinking about Warren's story, how is his decision protected by freedom of religion or belief?

You might have noticed that Warren came from a Christian family and was brought up a Christian, and when he decided he wanted to leave his family's religion and become an atheist, he has an absolute right to do that.

So that right was protected.

It was a really tricky decision and his parents weren't very happy.

But eventually they've come round to his way of thinking and they've accepted his beliefs.

And this is important because leaving or changing a religion or belief can be difficult, but it is something, as a human being, that everyone has a right to do.

So let's recap.

Both Warren and Sarah have exercised their right to change their religion or belief.

But the important thing here is that many people are denied this right.

When a right is denied, it's known as violation.

Some governments do not allow people to choose their religion or belief and people can face prison or loss of opportunities.

A very common form of violation of rights to freedom of religion or belief is hate crime.

Why do you think that might be seen as a violation?

We're going to meet Sarah again and Sarah's going to help us understand this idea of violation In a bit more detail.

Sarah says, "I decided to wear a hijab as a sign of my commitment as well as to show modesty.

Since I've changed religion, people sometimes cross the road or ignore me.

Once, two men grabbed my hijab and spat at me in the street.

" So that's a terrible experience for Sarah, isn't it, that that's happened to her?

I wonder how this incident violated Sarah's right to freedom of religion or belief.

So Sarah has a right to change her religion.

She also has a right to manifest her religion and show it.

And one of the ways she wanted to show her religion is through wearing of the hijab.

That terrible hate crime where her hijab was grabbed and she was spat at is a result of her violation of her rights to freedom of religion or belief because she has a right to be able to wear what she likes to show her religious commitment, and those rights were violated when she was attacked.

Let's just check our understanding so far.

When your rights to freedom of religion or belief are ignored or repressed, it's known as A: infringement, B: violation, C: transgression?

Excellent, it's B, a violation, isn't it?

Brilliant if you got that right.

Another important aspect of the right to freedom of religion or belief can be seen here: "and in public or private to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

" I wonder what you think that might mean.

So the word manifest in this context means to express your faith and beliefs in words or actions, publicly or privately.

So like Sarah was manifesting her beliefs when she was wearing the hijab.

The right to manifest or practice religion or belief means governments should: allow religious or belief communities to open and use places of worship or gathering; allow people to show their religion or belief publicly through clothing or diet; allow people to perform actions or form charities based on their beliefs; allow people to teach others about their religion or belief.

Let's meet Kaspar.

Kaspar's going to talk about living as a Jehovah's Witness.

Kaspar says, "I was born in Russia.

The government describes Jehovah's Witnesses as extremists.

People have been imprisoned for talking about their faith.

Our Kingdom Hall was closed down.

In the UK, I have the freedom to practice as a Witness and also to tell others our message.

We meet every week in our Kingdom Hall.

" Thinking about Kaspar's experience, how does his experience of freedom of religion and belief compare in Russia and in the UK and what rights of his work violated when he was in Russia?

So you may have noticed that Kaspar was not allowed to hold his belief as a Jehovah's Witness because the government has said that they were extremists.

So his absolute right was violated.

But also he wasn't able to manifest his religion either.

People who talk about their Jehovah's Witness's faith were put in prison.

His place of worship, his Kingdom Hall Was closed down so his other rights were violated as well.

In the UK, he has the freedom to practice as a Witness and he can also manifest his beliefs through talking to other people and meeting in his communal Kingdom Hall.

The right to freedom of religion or belief has been incorporated into UK law.

The UK Government passed the Human Rights Act in 1998.

This made Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights Law.

The Equality Act of 2010 also contains provision for freedom of religion or belief.

So in our country, in the UK, these rights and freedoms have been incorporated into law and so are protected very securely.

True or false?

Freedom of religion or belief in the UK is protected directly by Article 18 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Excellent.

That's false, isn't it?

Why is it false?

Because the rights to freedom of religion or belief are protected in the UK by the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act, and not directly by Article 18.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, I want us to bring all our learning together.

So we're gonna start by reading Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights again.

"Everyone shall have the right freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

This right shall include freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice and freedom either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

" You may want to have a copy of that in front of you.

And you might also want to look at the case studies of Sarah, Warren and Kaspar.

And on the next slide, I've summarized those as well.

What I'd like you to do with both putting these together is this: I'd like you to think about which aspects of Article 18 do they experience protection or violation of their freedom of religion or belief?

So in their life stories, when they made decisions, which parts of this human rights act were they protected through?

And at times, where have their particular rights been violated?

Let's remind ourselves of the case studies.

Sarah reverted to Islam, she wears a hijab and she's experienced hate crime.

Warren was brought up in a Christian family.

He became an atheist as a teenager despite his family's views.

And Kaspar is a Jehovah's Witness from Russia who now lives in the UK.

So go back and look at these case studies.

Read again the Declaration of Human Rights Article 18 and think about which rights they have protection from and where their rights may have been violated.

Good luck.

So, brilliant work.

You might have said, Sarah: the right to freedom of religion or belief offered her protection.

When she changed religion to Islam, it offers her protection to manifest her religion.

Wearing religious clothing is an example of manifesting a religion or belief.

And this protection was violated when she experienced abuse because she wore a hijab.

Warren: the right of freedom or religion of belief offered him protection when he changed belief from being a Christian to an atheist.

It offered him protection to manifest his religion or belief.

His family were not happy, but as a teenager, he had a right to decide to change to a different belief from them.

And Kaspar was living in a country where the right to freedom of religion or belief was violated.

His religion was not protected and he did not have the freedom to manifest his religion or belief publicly or in community.

Coming to the UK, he now has the freedom to practice and manifest his faith as a Jehovah's Witness.

Well done if you manage to find and tease out those points as well.

Brilliant work.

So in this lesson about freedom, we've learned that Article 18 of the United Declarations of Human Rights refers to freedom of religion or belief.

We've learned that people have an absolute right to choose, change or leave a religion or belief.

We've also learned that people may practice or manifest their religion or belief, and examples may include worship as a community or wearing religious clothing.

We've learned that freedom of a religion or belief protects the person and not the religion or belief.

And finally, we've learned that freedom of religion or belief covers both religions and non-religious beliefs.

I hope you found this lesson interesting and useful, and I really look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.

Thank you.