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Lesson 5 of 5
  • Year 11

Considering contested issues around freedom of religion or belief

I can make an informed judgement on a contested issue relating to freedom of religion or belief.

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Lesson 5 of 5
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  • Year 11

Considering contested issues around freedom of religion or belief

I can make an informed judgement on a contested issue relating to freedom of religion or belief.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There may sometimes be tensions between rights associated with religion and belief and other human rights.
  2. In contested situations, it is important to gather evience of possible infrigements or rights violations.
  3. Rights may need to be balanced against each other and there may ultimately be trade-offs between different rights.
  4. Coming to an informed judgment means weighing up the evidence and using this to make a decision.

Keywords

  • Balanced/balancing - the process of weighing one right against another to decide how far each should be protected in a particular situation

  • Competing - when two or more rights, interests, or freedoms conflict with each other

  • Violated/violation - human rights violations occur when fundamental freedoms and rights are disregarded, restricted, or denied

  • Infringement - the act of violating, limiting, or interfering with a person’s rights or freedoms

Common misconception

It is always possible to have situations where all rights can be considered equally.

There are situations where rights compete and may involve trade-offs between competing rights.


To help you plan your year 11 religious education lesson on: Considering contested issues around freedom of religion or belief, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

This slide deck is intended to facilitate a whole class role play. As such, many of the slides provide instructions to the teacher and the pupils to orgainse the learning and activities. You can decide whether these need to be shown to pupils or can be given as verbal instructions.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
What does it mean to manifest religion or belief?

to remove religion from society
Correct answer: to express beliefs through practice or worship
to hide religious beliefs

Q2.
Why were places of worship closed during Covid-19?

Correct answer: to protect public health
to remove religion from society
to stop community gatherings permanently

Q3.
Article 3 protects the right to .

Correct Answer: life, Life

Q4.
What can individuals do if they believe their rights have been violated?

change the law themselves
Correct answer: take the case to court
ignore the issue

Q5.
Why are case studies useful when studying human rights?

they remove discussion
they avoid evidence
Correct answer: they show real-life examples

Assessment exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
What are competing interests in a rights discussion?

interests that agree with each other
Correct answer: interests that conflict
interests that are ignored

Q2.
An informed judgement requires gathering .

Correct Answer: evidence, Evidence

Q3.
What may occur when rights are balanced?

all rights are removed
no decision is needed
Correct answer: trade-offs between rights

Q4.
Freedom of religion protects the .

Correct Answer: individual, Individual, person

Q5.
Who has a responsibility to promote freedom of religion or belief?

Correct answer: everyone in society
only courts
only governments