Living as a cultural Christian or Jew
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain how some people may feel culturally or ethnically aligned with a religion, but may not participate in any or all of its beliefs and practices.
Key learning points
- Great Britain has an established church, the Church of England.
- This makes it officially a Christian country, which is reflected in some laws and traditions.
- Many British people identify as Christian, but are not practising.
- Many Jewish people identify ethnically as well as, or instead of, religiously due to shared anscestry and culture.
Keywords
Cultural Christianity - a form of Christianity where someone identifies with Christian traditions, holidays, or values without actively believing in or practising the religion
Ethno-religious - where a religion is often inherited, communal, and tied to ancestry, culture, or peoplehood
Secular Judaism - a form of Judaism where Jews identify with Jewish culture, history, or ethnicity but do not follow all Jewish religious beliefs or practices
Common misconception
The majority of people who identify as Christian in the UK are regular church attenders.
According to PEW research, the majority of Christians in the UK are non-practising and do not attend church services more than a few times a year.
Teacher tip
To further embed the learning from this lesson, students could create venn diagrams of the different religious characters to show where they overlap or differ in their beliefs, practices and religious identity.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
5 Questions
Q1.Sociology studies how people behave in ...
Q2.According to sociologists, the decline of religious influence has happened ...
Q3.According to Linda Woodhead, people increasingly align by rather than religion.
Q4.Who are the 'nones'?
Q5.The rise of the 'nones' suggests ...
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.The head of state in England is also head of the ...
Q2.Which practice might a culturally Christian person still follow?
Q3.Some non-practising Christians may raise their children as ...
Q4.Judaism is described as -religious.
Q5.What is the purpose of the Seder meal?
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: Living as a cultural Christian or Jew, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: Living as a cultural Christian or Jew, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 religious education lessons from the Identity: how does religion or belief look now and what might the future bring? unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.