Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

It's Mr. Robertson here.

And I love RE.

I'm really, really excited to be with you for another fantastic RE lesson.

We're continuing with our big inquiry question, Worldviews: How Is Our Country and Community Changing? And today in this lesson we're going to expand out to look at the global context of worldviews.

Can't wait to begin learning with you today.

So by the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe the context of global worldviews using data.

Really exciting.

In this lesson, we have four keywords.

Let's start.

Our first keyword is worldview.

Repeat after me.

Fantastic.

Second keyword is majority.

Amazing.

Our third keyword is survey.

And our final keyword is context.

Amazing.

Brilliant.

Let's find out what they mean.

So a worldview is the way that people see, interpret, or inhabit the world.

Majority means more than half of a group.

A survey is a way to ask many people questions to gather information.

And context is the situation, background, or circumstances around something.

We're gonna be using all these words in the lesson, and by the end, I'm really confident you will be able to use them brilliantly.

Okay.

So in this first part of the lesson, we're gonna be asking the question, what worldviews do we see in the world today? Let's go.

This lesson is a social science lesson.

So we're going to be looking at our RE using the tools of social science.

Now, in case we don't know what that is, Alex is going to explain how we use social science in Religious education.

Alex says, "Social scientists are interested in how people live and how context, like where they live or when they live, affects this.

We can better understand people's worldviews by looking at photographs and analysing data.

We can survey or interview people to find out more about their worldview." So we know what social scientists do and we also know some of the tools they use as well.

So in this lesson we're going to be examining data about religion and belief in the world and consider how context affects this.

Let's start.

Aisha and Jacob are talking about worldviews.

Aisha says, "We can find out about what worldviews there are in the UK using the census.

I wonder if it's possible to find out about what worldviews people share around the world?" Jacob says, "It'll be interesting to compare the worldviews in other countries to those in the UK." Really deep thinking there, Aisha and Jacob.

I wonder what you think.

Would it be possible to find out about worldviews across the world? And what tools would you use to find this information out? Right, I'd like you to do a little bit of thinking like social scientists.

Pause the video and either talk to the people close to you or ponder for yourself.

Could we find this information out and what tools might we need to find it? Amazing thinking, everybody.

Great, you're really, really, really starting to think like social scientists.

Let's find out.

So many social scientists who study worldviews collect data.

Now, remember, data is just another name for information that we can find from people.

Social scientists use data to analyse worldviews by collecting information through surveys, interviews, and observations.

So we've got lots of different ways we might find information using a social science tool, surveying people, talking to them, or observing.

Different types of data can be used to investigate and understand worldviews globally.

Social scientists might collect data about religions.

They might find out about beliefs and practises.

They might find out about conversions between religions.

And they might look at the impact of worldviews on society.

Izzy says, "There are many other types of data that could be used to learn about worldviews." Worldviews are so rich.

There's so many things we could look at.

So we're gonna focus just on one thing today.

Let's think which of these might be a method used by social scientists to find out about people's worldviews.

So might social scientists use surveys? Might they use interviews? Might they interpret sacred texts? Have a think about what we've been learning so far.

Pause the video and have a think.

Brilliant work, social scientists.

It's a and b, isn't it? Surveys and interviews are tools that social scientists use.

Interpreting sacred text is really useful, but that's the sort of thing that we might do if we were doing some theology instead.

Right, we've got some data to look at now.

This is called a pie chart.

You might have looked at pie charts in maths perhaps.

And this pie chart is the summary of survey data, which means that lots of people were asked questions that asked people all over the world to identify the worldview they belong to.

So this information has come from across the world.

So it's a really, really big set of data.

And I wonder what questions you might have after looking at this pie chart.

So let's have a look at this pie chart.

We've got around it, we've got some different worldviews, so people might say they're Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, no religion.

And then the size of the pie means that there are more or less of those different people.

You might want to pause the video and look at this data.

What do you notice? Is there anything that surprises you about it? Does it show what you expect? Pause the video and have a think.

Go at analysing some of this information.

I could hear the amount of things you're saying.

So this information came from over two and a half thousand censuses in 230 countries.

You might have said, well, where does this information come from? It was collected by an organisation called the Pew Research Centre, who specialise in information about religion and worldviews.

So it asked two and a half thousand censuses in 230 countries, so that's a lot of information, isn't it? The data was collected in 2012.

Now, obviously, 2012 is quite a long time ago, but this is quite difficult, complex information.

And so this is the most recent kind of worldwide data we have.

And so it may be different, but it's the best snapshot we have at the moment.

So over 10 years old, but it's unlikely to have changed significantly in that time.

Okay, so according to this data, which worldview is in the majority in the world today? So remember, by majority we mean the largest amount.

Which is the largest slice of the pie? Are you thinking the same? Yeah, it's the Christian slice of the pie, isn't it? 31.

5% of people identified as Christian.

That's approximately 2.

2 billion people.

That's a lot of people, isn't it? But then there's a lot of people in the world.

Christians form the majority worldview in the world today.

And Aisha says, "About a third of the world is Christian." So well done, Aisha.

One in three people in the world has a Christian worldview.

Let's have a look at doing some analysis for ourself now.

So which worldview is the second largest in the world today according to the survey data? We've already established that Christians are the largest worldview.

I'd like you to look carefully at that pie chart and see if you can work out what is the second largest worldview.

Is it a, Muslim, b, Hindu, or c, non-religious? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

Well done, social scientist.

It's Muslim, isn't it? Because we can see Muslims make up 23.

2% of the world.

And so it's the second largest worldview in the world today.

16.

3% of people identified as having no religion.

This means people who have a non-religious worldview.

All the other groups are religious worldviews.

We can see that no religion section of the pie there, 16.

3%.

And Aisha again says, "No Religion might include people who are atheist," which means they definitely don't believe in God, "agnostic," people who aren't sure if there's a god or not, "humanist," which is a non-religious worldview, "or don't identify with a particular worldview." So 16.

3% of the world generally don't believe in God, do not have a religious worldview.

So let's summarise what we've learned so far.

What does this survey data tell us about worldviews globally around the world? The majority worldviews are Christianity and Islam.

Approximately 84% of people have a religious worldview, which means that the majority of people in the world have a religious worldview, because that's the largest group.

And approximately 16% of people have a non-religious worldview.

Those are people for whom God is not an important part of their lives or they don't believe in God.

Let's just check our understanding here.

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

The majority of people in the world have a non-religious worldview.

Is that true or false? I'd like you to pause the video and have a think.

Excellent, social scientist.

It's false, isn't it? But why is it false? Hmm, let's have a think about that.

Why? Well, it's false because if you remember what we were saying earlier, 84%, the majority of the world, follow a religious worldview.

They may be Christian or Muslim, for example.

Only 16% of the world identify with a non-religious worldview.

Well done, social scientist, if you've got that right.

I want us to draw this learning together.

I've got a task for you now.

So we're going to use this survey data about global worldviews, and I'd like you to complete these sentences for me.

The two majority worldviews globally are.

Can you use that information to tell me that? I know this because.

How do you know that? I'd like you to use some evidence for me.

Use the data.

Hindus make up.

So I want you to find out what percentage of the world defines itself as Hindu.

Most people in the world have a.

So what kind of worldview do most people have? On the other hand.

I'd like you to tell me some counter information.

So if most people have a what kind of worldview, what might be another kind of worldview that people might have? Right, I want you to think like social scientists are going to use this data.

I'm really excited to see what you say.

See you shortly.

Wow, what a lot of amazing discussions, analysing, use of data I can see going on here.

So you may have said something like this.

The two most common worldviews globally are Christianity and Islam.

You might say, I know this because 31.

5% of people identified as Christian and 23.

2% identified as Muslim, which means over half of the world are either Christian or Muslim.

Hindus make up 15% of worldviews globally.

So well done if you could read that data accurately.

Most people in the world have a religious worldview.

It's about 84%, we said.

On the other hand, 16% identify with a non-religious worldview.

Social scientists, really impressed if you managed to lay that information out and analyse correctly.

Fantastic work.

Okay, welcome to the second bit of our lesson, where we're going to be answering this question.

How are worldviews shaped by context? Aisha and Jacob are thinking about the worldview data we've been looking at earlier in the lesson.

Aisha says, "Most people in the world identify as either Christian or Muslim.

I wonder if that's the same everywhere in the world?" And Jacob says, "I think context will be important.

It might look different in different places." Hmm, great thinking again, you two.

I can really rely on you to think of some really interesting, deep questions, can't I? I wonder what you think.

Will people's worldviews look different in different places? And why do you think that? I wonder what evidence or ideas might have influenced that.

Maybe you'd like to pause the video at this point and think about some of your predictions here and share some information about why you think it.

Wow, some really, really deep thinking again.

Let's find out a little bit more, shall we? So what do we mean by context? Might be a tricky word.

We may not have used that one before.

So context means simply the circumstances of something.

But a bit more than that, context can be geographical.

So context might be where different people live.

So the context of living in a desert, where it's really hot, for example, would be very, very different from living in a cold country.

So geography can make a difference.

Cultural, the ideas and ways in which people live.

So the culture in the UK is quite different from the culture in other parts of Europe and very different to the culture in other places in the world.

If you've ever been abroad on holiday, you may have noticed that foods might be different, buildings might look different.

The way people greet each other or talk to each other is also going to be different in different places.

It might be religious.

So certain places have different beliefs, and that makes a really interesting difference as well.

So the biggest religion in a country might make a big difference.

So what is the best definition of context then? Is it a, the number of people who live in an area? Is it b, the place that people live? Or is it c, the circumstances that might affect something, such as geography or culture? I'd like you to pause the video and have a think.

Well done, social scientist.

It's c, isn't it? The circumstances that may affect something, such as geography or culture.

Brilliantly well done if you managed to get that right.

Look at this beautiful map.

This map is from the same survey data about worldviews.

It shows the majority religious and non-religious worldviews in each country.

I wonder what you noticed about the map.

You might see that it's colour coded and the colour represents different worldviews, such as red for Christians and green for Muslims, et cetera.

I wonder if there are any patterns that you see.

Again, you might want to pause the video and talk about this or just think for yourself.

Awesome, amazing thinking here.

Yes, I could see people really are spotting some patterns, aren't you? Were you surprised by anything interestingly? Did anything surprise you? So Jacob's been doing some thinking and he says, "I can see that geographical context does matter.

The majority of Christians are found in North and South America, Europe, and the southern half of Africa." And we've ringed these for you so you can see what we mean.

Making some good links here with your geography knowledge, social scientists.

All those areas ringed have a majority of Christians.

And also places like Australia as well, you may have noticed.

So that's really interesting, isn't it? So geographical context does seem to matter.

Let's have a look at something else.

Aisha's looked at another piece of geographical context.

She says, "I can see the majority of Muslims are found in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Indonesia." And she's had a little think about that as well.

She says, "I know Islam began in Saudi Arabia and spread outwards." So that's interesting, isn't it? So geography and history can make a difference.

Islam began in the Middle East and it spread outwards.

And so we have that area of the world where majority Muslim.

And we have different area of the world which is majority Christian.

I wonder if we can answer this question then using this map.

Where are the majority of the world's Hindus found? Is it a, Europe, b, Asia, or c, Africa? Use the map and the key to help you.

Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent, social scientists.

It's Asia, isn't it? In fact, if you look at the map, it's country like India and Nepal where you've got a Hindu majority.

And that is where the world's majority Hindus are found.

Well done if you got that correct.

Aisha and Jacob are talking about context.

Aisha says, "The majority of Hindus and Buddhists can be found in south and south-east Asia.

This is where these worldviews began.

And Jacob says, "So context matters.

You're more likely to be Hindu or Buddhist if you live in these places.

But people could have many other worldviews too." Really wise comments from both of them, as usual.

I wonder what tools you would use to find out more information about context in the UK.

So we can find out about context in places like Southeast Asia and know who's there.

How would we find out about it in the UK? What information and what questions might we need to ask? So one way we can find out information is to use the census data.

The census data in 2021 asked people what religion they belong to, so it allows us to find out something about their worldview.

We can then use that information and compare it to the global data we've been looking at for the whole world.

So here on the left is the information for England and Wales in 2021.

You can see all the different worldviews there.

And on the right, we've got the worldviews around the world that we've been looking at earlier today.

I'd like you perhaps to pause the video and look at it and think what's similar and what's different.

Which of the pies are larger than the others and what do you think is interesting? Hmm, there's so much to look at, isn't it? Well, one thing we can definitely say, looking at both of them, is that the majority worldview in England and Wales is Christian.

We can see that because if we look at the left-hand pie chart, it says Christians at 46.

4%, so the largest pie.

We can also go on to say there's a larger percentage of Christians in England and Wales than there is globally, because when we look at the pie chart on the right, there are 31.

5% Christians, so it's smaller globally than it is in England and Wales.

So more people as a percentage are Christian in England and Wales than they are in the world.

People with no religion form the second largest group in England and Wales.

So if we look at no religion on the left, we can see it's 37.

4%.

If we compare it to the world, we can see that there's a larger percentage of people with no religion in England and Wales than there is globally.

So that's really interesting, isn't it? There are relatively more Christians and more people with no religion than there are in the world, where there are slightly less Christians and a lot fewer people with no religion.

So we have got quite a difference, and it shows that context really matters.

I wonder if we could use what we've been doing to answer this question.

Can you describe the difference between Muslims globally and in England and Wales? Remember, the chart on the left is England and Wales and the chart on the right is global.

What do you notice about the difference? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

You may have noticed that 23.

2% of the world is Muslim.

However, only 6.

5% of people in England and Wales have a Muslim worldview.

So actually, there are far fewer Muslims relative to Britain than there are in the world.

In the world, nearly one in five, well, more than one in five people are Muslim, but in the UK, it's only six and a half percent.

So it's a much smaller worldview in England and Wales than it is globally.

Well done if you spotted that difference.

Okay, we're going to look at our final task now.

Izzy, Jacob, and Alex are discussing worldviews globally and in England and Wales.

For each statement, I'd like you to give a reason or piece of evidence, ideally using some of that data that we've been looking at, to either support it, which means you agree with it or disagree with it.

So Aisha says, "Christians make up the majority of people globally and in England and Wales." Remember, majority means the largest group.

Jacob says, "There are more Muslims globally than in England and Wales." Alex says, "Non-religious worldviews are found equally around the world." So I'd like you to look back at the data.

Do you agree with Aisha, Jacob, and Alex? If you do, can you find some evidence to support what they're saying? Or do you disagree with them, and can you find some evidence to prove them wrong? Right, we're really thinking and using the tools of social science here.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

See you soon.

Oh, amazing thinking.

Right, let's see what you put.

So Aisha said, "Christians make up the majority of people globally and in England and Wales." She was right, wasn't she? And you might have said, yeah, 46% of people in the UK and 31% of people worldwide are Christian.

Jacob says, "There are more Muslims globally than in England and Wales." So yeah, he's right as well.

23% of the world is Muslim, but only six and a half percent of England and Wales are Muslim.

So he was right.

There are more Muslims globally than in England and Wales.

And Alex says, "Non-religious worldviews are found equally around the world." No, he's not right, is he? Because 37% of people in England and Wales identify with no religion, but only 16% of people globally identify with no religion.

So actually there's quite a lot of differences around the world.

Brilliant use of social sciences data.

I'm really impressed if you managed to answer those questions correctly and find some evidence.

Fantastic.

Let's summarise what we've learned so far today.

So in this lesson, we've been learning about the global context of worldviews.

We've learned that social scientists investigate religion and worldviews, and one tool they use is survey data.

We can use survey data to better understand the context of worldviews globally.

We've learned the majority of the world's population identifies with a religious worldview.

We've learned that Christians and Muslims make up the majority of those with a religious worldview.

We've learned that worldviews vary around the world depending on geographical context.

Wow, we've learned a lot today, haven't we? You've done brilliantly well.

And I look forward to learning again with you soon.

Thank you.