These resources are more effective when used in conjunction with the book.
Buy NowName of Activity: Religious Oppression - Welcome and Overview (INT)
Instructional Purpose Category: Tone setting / developing group guidelines
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to go over the conceptual frameworks used to discuss and learn about religious oppression and Christian advantage in the U.S.
Learning Outcomes: To provide a framework for the participants so they understand the approach in the course or workshop
Time Needed: 20 minutes
Materials Needed: Information below as slides or on poster paper
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: None
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Community Building, Option A: Introductions (INT, ELS & ID)
Instructional Purpose Category: Icebreakers; Early learning / socializations
Instructional Purpose of this Activity: The effectiveness of social justice education (SJE) depends to a large extent on the quality of the learning community within which participants will take risks, expose themselves to new learning, share information about them- selves with their peers, and respect and value the experiences their peers share with them. They will make mistakes and rebound from their mistakes. This activity enables participants to know about each other at a meaningful level, and prepares for the next phase.
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: 30 minutes; depending on the size of the group, and the degree of detail modeled or asked for by the facilitator, more time is often needed
.Materials Needed: Instructors and facilitators should review the section in Chapter 2 where they will find a detailed segment on establishing a learning community.
Degree of Risk: Low to moderate
Procedure:
The purpose of this activity is to build a learning community by enabling participants to see themselves and each other in a shared historical context, based on what they know or can guess about their family religious and ethnic legacy.
If time and readiness permit, there are ways to go more deeply and devote more time to this community-building activity:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: This activity enables participants to share their own religious background information with each other. It is important to model the tone and content you want to elicit from participants and, as noted above, to be clear in advance the level of depth and risk you feel comfortable modeling and that you think is appropriate for the group (their familiarity with each other, with the topic, their general maturity and level of experience).
It may also prove challenging to strike a balance between getting enough information from the participants and having an activity that takes too long. Decide whether to do this as a whole-group or small-group activity, and estimate how long each participant can take for the introduction, depending on the number of participants in the class.
Recommended Readings/Materials for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor or Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: None
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression Group Norms and Guidelines, Option A: Creation of Group Norms and Guidelines (INT)
Instructional Purpose Category: Tone setting/developing group guidelines
Instructional Purpose: In teaching about religious oppression, it is important to create a learning community among the participants and the instructor. This learning community should be a challenging, yet safe-enough space for participants to actively engage in learning about religious oppression. Creating a space for introductions helps set the tone that everyone in the group matters, and begins to build a cohesive learning community. This activity creates space for the development of community agreements about learning together about religious oppression that can ensure a productive learning space for participants.
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: 10 minutes
Facilitation Note & Considerations: Acknowledge to participants that everyone in the group is entering from different social locations, different experiences, and different levels of knowledge. This is also a good time to share that we all have access needs (e.g. captions on for videos, frequent movement breaks, etc.), which can and should be incorporated into the community agreements.
Sample Group Norms and Guidelines:
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator:
Bell, L. A. (2010). Cultivating a counter-storytelling community. In Storytelling for social justice. New York: Routledge.
Bell, L. A., Goodman, D., & Oulette, M. Design and facilitation. In Teaching for diversity and social justice, 3rd edition.
Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2014). Respect differences? Challenging the common guidelines in social justice education. Democracy & Education, 22(2), 1–10. Note: This is the feature article, and there are several articles in response that provide a thoughtful discussion of the challenges in creating counter-storytelling community in a racially diverse classroom.
Names to credit for this activity: Modified from Chapter 4 (Bell & Griffin) and Chapter 5 (Griffin & Oulette) in Teaching for diversity and social justice (2007), 2nd edition. New York: Routledge.
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression Group Norms and Guidelines, Option B: Hopes and Concerns (INT)
Instructional Purpose Category: Icebreakers; Tone setting / developing group guidelines
Instructional Purpose of the Activity: This activity elicits the hopes and concerns of participants in order to make them explicit to all and lays the groundwork for creating community agreements.
Learning Outcomes: Provide participants the opportunity to share and compare their hopes and concerns regarding learning about religious oppression and Christian privilege
Time Needed: 40 minutes
Materials Needed: Pens/pencils and blank index cards
Degree of Risk: Medium
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
Recommended Readings/Materials for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor or Facilitator:
Chapters 3, 4, and 12 of this volume (Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 3rd edition)Names of those to credit for this activity: Chapter 4 (Bell & Griffin) in Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 2nd edition
Name of Activity: Religious Identity & Oppression: Who’s in the Room, Option A: Common Ground (ID, INT)
Instructional Purpose Category: Tone setting / developing group guidelines; Exploring Privilege
Instructional Purpose: This activity can help set the tone of the workshop. It allows participants to see and hear the different faith groups, atheists, and agnostics that are present in the room.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will have an awareness of the different faiths and spiritual identities present in the room.
Time Needed: 20 minutes
Materials Needed: Sentence stems; see below
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: Example sentence stems for the Common Ground Activity in the Religious Oppression class:
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator: None
Names of those to credit for this activity: Maurianne Adams
Name of Activity: Religious Identity & Oppression – Who’s in the Room, Option B: Treasure Hunt (INT & ID)
Instructional Purpose Category: Icebreakers; Exploring privilege
Instructional Purpose: This activity can help set the tone for the workshop. It allows participants to see and hear the different faith groups, atheists, and agnostics that are present in the room.
Learning Outcomes: For the group members to meet one another and gain insight to the different faiths and spiritual identities present in the room
Time Needed: 20–30 minutes
Materials Needed: “Who’s in the Room: Treasure Hunt” handout
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Students: Each participant needs a copy of the “Who’s in the Room: Treasure Hunt” handout
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator: None
Name(s) of Those to Credit for this Activity: Maurianne Adams
Who’s in the Room: Religious Oppression Treasure Hunt- INT, ID
Go around the room, introduce yourself, and get to know your peers in the room. Write down the names of the people who do the following in the list below. Individuals may answer for themselves or family members. Individuals may answer in relation to their past or their current life situation.
Do any of the following statements apply to you, or any family members, or close friends?
1. You attend a church . . .
2. You attend a synagogue . . .
3. You worship at altars in your own home . . .
4. You travel to sacred sites for worship . . .
5. You find it challenging to find an appropriate place to worship . . .
6. You need to create an appropriate place to worship . . .
7. Your language of worship is English . . .
8. Your language of worship is a language other than English . . .
9. You have developed your own form of religious faith or mode of worship . . .
10. Your family identifies as non-believers, freethinkers, agnostics, or atheists . . .
11. Your family are or were the only members (or among very few members) of your religious group in your home community . . .
12. You are or were one of the few members of your religious group in your K–12 schools . . .
13. You are or were part of the majority religious group in your K–12 schools . . .
14. You feel that your questioning of belief, or agnosticism, or atheism leads people to question your morality . . .
15. You have to make special arrangements to eat at school because your religion has requirements about what you eat . . .
16. Public prayers (prayers at public events) and religious references acknowledge your own religion . . .
17. You were bullied, harassed, teased, or publicly embarrassed about your religion . . .
18. You wear or wore signs of your religion without fear or concern (cross, Star of David, other) . . .
19. You have felt unsafe wearing indicators of your religion (kippa or yarmoulke, head scarf, turban, other) . . .
20. Members of your religious community believe that other religions are wrong or the members face damnation . . .
21. You were ever proselytized to by members of a majority religious community . . .
22. Members of your religious community help each other find jobs . . .
23. Members of your religious community provide help and support to each other in crises . . .
24. Your family members identify with orthodox or traditional or unquestioning branches of your religion . . .
25. Your family members identify with liberal or progressive branches of your religion . . .
Name of Activity: Personal Awareness and Reflection Activity: Religion and Stereotypes (ELS & MANI)
Instructional Purpose Category: Identifying stereotypes; Exploring internalized oppression, internalized messages, or implicit bias
Instructional Purpose: A short presentation on stereotypes is followed by an activity in which small groups generate stereotypes of marginalized religious groups, share their examples, and discuss the sources and common themes in the information generated.
Learning Outcomes: For participants to understand that stereotypes are learned (even if we do not believe them), and that the stereotypes for marginalized religions impact our interactions with different marginalized religious groups.
Time Needed: 40 minutes
Materials Needed: Newsprint paper, markers, tape
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Participant Prompts to Generate Stereotypes on Newsprint:
types attributed to members of this group?
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students:
Castaneda, Flexing cross-cultural communication. In Readings for diversity and social justice (3rd ed., pp. 134–135).
Wasserman, Creating an Inclusive Learning Community.
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Names of Those to Credit for this Activity: Modified from Chapter 4 (Bell & Griffin) and Chapter 5 (Griffin & Oulette) in Teaching for diversity and social justice (2007), 2nd edi- tion. New York: Routledge.
Framework for Religious Oppression as a Social Justice Issue
Download Now (PPT 165KB)Name of Activity: Social Justice Approaches to Religious Oppression, Option A: Levels of Christian
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression; Exploring individual/interpersonal-level oppression; exploring cultural- or societal-level oppression
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to provide an overview of social/cultural (macro), institutional (meso), and personal (micro) manifestation of religious advantage and disadvantage with examples at the different levels.
Learning Outcomes: For participants to understand how Christian advantage plays out at different levels in society; and to understand how Christian advantage is embedded in our public policies, how it may be invisible, and how it is present in everyday interaction
Time Needed: 45 minutes
Materials Needed: “Levels and Examples of Religious Hegemony” PowerPoint presentation
Degree of Risk: Medium
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator: None
Names of Those to Credit for this Activity: None
Levels and Examples of Christian Advantage
Download Now (PPT 152KB)Overview of Five Faces of Oppression
Download Now (PPT 176KB)Name of Activity: Knapsack of Christian Privilege (MANI & PRIV)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring individual/interpersonal-level oppression
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this Knapsack activity is to generate from the participants a composite list of Christian privileges that they themselves have experienced or can imagine experiencing, either as people advantaged by Christian hegemony or targeted as non-Christians.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will learn the concept of privilege and be able to generate examples of having privilege and not having privilege.
Time Needed: 30–45 minutes
Materials Needed: Chalkboard or newsprint for facilitator; pens and paper for participants
Degree of Risk: Medium
Procedure:
Whereas Christian privilege refers mainly to the recipients of the privilege, Christian normativity refers directly to the norms, traditions, and belief systems that characterize Christian advantage in social systems. Examples of the norms, traditions, and assumptions behind law and policy that benefit Christians but marginalize, harm, or disadvantage non- Christians will be discussed later in this chapter.
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
Recommended Materials/Reading for Students:
Preparation Involves Reading One of the Following:Clark, C., Brimhall-Vargas, M., Schlosser, L. Z., & Alimo, C. (2002). It’s not just “secret Santa” in December: Addressing educational and workplace climate issues linked to Christian privilege. Multicultural Education, 10(2), 52–57.
Killerman, S. (2012). 36 examples of Christian Privilege. Retrieved from http://everydayfeminism. com/2012/11/30-examples-of-christian-privilege
McIntosh, P. (1988). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see cor- respondences through work in Women’s Studies. Working Paper 189. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley Centers for Women.
McIntosh, P. (1998). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. In Beyond heroes and holi- days: A practical guide to K-12 anti-racist, multicultural education and staff development (pp. 79–82). Wellesley, MA: Network of Educators on the Americas.
Schlosser, L. Z. (2003). Christian privilege: Breaking a sacred taboo. Journal of Multicultural Coun- seling and Development, 31, 44–51.
Recommended Supplementary Materials Reading for the Facilitators: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: None
Instructional Purpose Category: Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose: This activity provides an opportunity for a brief check-in by asking participants to offer one word or a brief comment about how they are feeling at the end of this first segment.
Learning Outcomes: After this activity participants will …
Time Needed: 10 minutes
Materials Needed: None
Degree of Risk: Low to medium. This depends somewhat on the reflections shared.
Procedure: Bring all participants together in a closing circle. Go around the circle and ask people to then share out one word or phrase describing how they’re feeling at the end of this quadrant. Let participants know they can pass if they’re still thinking. Come back to them at the end. This activity can also be adapted to use a few different questions, such as:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
There may be participants who prefer to respond tacitly. If possible, you can also provide the option to write a closing thought on a post-it or board to be shared out by the facilitator or viewed in a gallery walk.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity:This is a legacy activity credited to many generations of facilitators, most recently updated by Mariah Lapiroff.
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression Closing – Option: B Geometric Shape Check-in (CLOS)
Instructional Purpose Category: Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose:Participants reflect individually and submit a handout with their new learnings and remaining questions.
Learning Outcomes:After this activity participants will …
Time Needed:5 minutes
Materials Needed: Geometric Shape Exit Slip
Degree of Risk: Low to medium. This depends somewhat on the reflections shared.
Procedure: Provide all participants will the exit slip handout. Let participants know they’ll be completing a sheet for this quadrant that will be anonymously collected. This is an opportunity for their own reflection, as well as supportive feedback for the facilitators. They will be filling out the following:
CIRCLE – A question that keeps circling in my mind . . .
SQUARE – What squares with my values and beliefs . . .
X – Something I really disagree with . . .
TRIANGLE – Three things I learned . . .
Additional comments and suggestions for improvement . . .
Recommend they try to fill in something for each shape and let them know also they’re not required to fill them all in. Encourage them to move with where their reflections take them.
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
There is an option here to also let participants know that they may draw instead of write for any of the shape segments, if that feels more generative for them. Be sure to review each handout and incorporate feedback prior to the next session.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity:This is a legacy activity credited to many generations of facilitators, most recently updated by Mariah Lapiroff.
Geometric Shape Exit Slip
Download Now (PDF 59KB)Instructional Purpose Category: Tone setting / developing group guidelines; Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose: Participants review the previously documented agreements, have the opportunity to update each other about their present access needs and additional thoughts on agreements, and amend the written list as needed.
Learning Outcomes: After this activity participants will...
Time Needed: 10 min
Materials Needed: The group guidelines that were previously developed, on an easel pad, slide, and/or handout. If notes were taken about access needs, those also should be available on an easel pad, slide, and/or handout.
Degree of Risk: low to high, depending on how the process has been up until now.
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
In many cases, this activity will bring up little or no changes, and may take less than the allotted time. It’s worth doing anyway, because it reinforces the practice of collective access and normalizes that people have variable needs.
If the process in previous sessions was challenging or if conflict occurred, this activity may feel higher risk. It may be helpful to remind participants that the goal of formulating guidelines is not to categorize people or even behavior as good or bad, but rather to communicate clear expectations that will help this particular group function together for this particular workshop. Furthermore, the purpose of guidelines is not to prevent all conflict, but rather to enable the group to navigate conflict that comes up in constructive ways. If participants feel the guidelines didn’t “work” in previous sessions, some may frame it as a failure on the part of the group or the facilitators. It can be helpful to reframe it as a learning opportunity, and as a normal process of negotiation in groups of people with different needs.
Rarely, a participant may propose a guideline or access step that conflicts with someone else’s needs or, people may simply disagree about what the guidelines should be. In that case the facilitators should try to avoid adjudicating who is “right” or whose needs are more important, and instead aim for a “both/and” approach, using creative problem solving to meet as many needs as possible.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: none
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: Chapter 2: Pedagogy and Chapter 3: Design and Facilitation
Name(s) to credit for this activity: This is a legacy activity we have learned from generations of facilitators, most recently updated by Davey Shlasko.
Name of Activity: Timeline: History of Religious Oppression and Christian Normativity in the U.S. (HX)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring History; Exploring cultural- or societal-level oppression
Instructional Purpose: This activity provides the historical evidence to show that Christians in the U.S. have had advantages, and other faiths have been discriminated against for hundreds of years. This activity also provides evidence for the presence of systemic religious oppression and for individuals to understand that, although we have freedom of religion with the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, there is a long history of religious discrimination against the religiously oppressed as well as advantages to Christians.
This activity is intended to go over the patterns in U.S. history to illustrate the systematic and enduring features of racism, and highlight historical moments when racism was challenged or altered by collective human action. Since many people do not know this history, they are likely to assume that the U.S. has made steady progress in eliminating racism, and that racism is a problem of individual bigotry or discrimination. Knowledge of this history can help participants understand the basis for contemporary racial problems, and makes it possible to imagine solutions that address these underlying problems.Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: Time for activity: 45–90 minutes; prep time for the instructor will vary
Materials Needed: “Religious Oppression, Christian Privilege, and Religious Pluralism in U.S. History” handout; lecture notes or PowerPoint; historical cards or sheets of paper with dates on some/events on others
Degree of Risk: Low for students/participants; medium/high for instructor
Procedure:
Format 1: Ahead of time, put historical events on cards or sheets of paper and the dates on another set of cards or sheets of paper. Give some participants the sheets with dates printed on them and other participants the sheets on which the events are printed. Then ask participants to work together to match the dates and events. The participants holding the sheets with dates should have several people clustered around them at the end of the activity.
Format 2: Post the dates in sequence around the room. Give the participants cards that have descriptions of the events and ask them to tape their cards on the posters (stand in the space) with the appropriate date.
Format 3: In advance, construct a racism history quiz. Have participants complete the quiz on their own, then discuss the answers to the quiz. Participants can score their quiz, grade themselves, and discuss how much or little they knew about the history of racism and why.
Format 4: Construct in advance a racism history “Jeopardy” game using the format of the Jeopardy television show.
Format 5: Present a brief lecture based on the materials noted above. Post the timeline on newsprint paper or as a PowerPoint presentation so that it is visible to all the participants. Also provide a handout of the history timeline for each participant. Ask the participants to follow the lecture by making notes on the timeline as you go.
Format 6: The facilitators select enough items from the “Key Events” timeline so that each participant has one item with the date deleted. Distribute these items on slips of paper individually to the participants and ask the participants to form themselves into a historical timeline based on their best guess about when the event noted on their slip of paper took place. When they have formed their timeline, ask them to explain why they placed their event in that location. The facilitators then distribute a copy of the historical timeline from Appendix 11E with the dates. Ask the participants to re-group in the four corners of the room chronologically as follows: Corner 1: 1492–1760, Corner 2: 1777–1864, Corner 3: 1868–1944, Corner 4: 1946 to present day. Ask each group:
Ask the group to create a newsprint with their responses to these questions for their historical time periods. Their slips of paper can be taped onto these newsprints to illustrate their answers.
When they are finished, ask the four groups to post their newsprint in their corner. Ask the other three groups to visit each corner for a report from group members of their newsprint. When all four groups have been visited and had a chance to report, close the activity by asking the whole group:
General Processing Questions for Formats 1–6: After participants have completed examining key points in the history of religious oppression through one of the formats above, segue into a large-group discussion using the following questions:
Facilitation Notes: None
Recommended Readings/Materials for Students: None
Names of Those to Credit for this Activity: Khyati Y. Joshi and Maurianne Adams
Christian Privilege, and Religious Pluralism in the U.S
Download Now (PDF 241KB)Name of Activity:Processing of Historical Legacies, Option A: Social/Cultural, Institutional, and Personal Manifestations of Christian (Protestant) Hegemony and Marginalization of the Religious Other
Instructional Purpose Category:
4. Exploring institutional-level oppression
5. Exploring individual/interpersonal-level oppression
6. Exploring cultural- or societal-level oppression
Instructional Purpose:The purpose of this activity is to transition from discussing historical timelines to contemporary examples of oppression.. Facilitators may do this using the “Levels and Types of Oppression” (Option A) and/or the “Five Faces of Oppression” (Option B).
Learning Outcomes:After this activity participants will understand the use of the Levels and Types analytical frameworks.
Time Needed:40 minutes
Materials Needed: “Levels and Types of Religious Oppression” handout or digital link to the document
Degree of Risk: Low-risk
Procedure1: Review or introduce the “Levels and Types of Oppression.” Oppression is defined as a system that maintains advantage and disadvantage based on social group memberships and operates, intentionally and unintentionally, on individual, institutional, and cultural levels:
Using the attached handout, ask the participants (or small groups) to generate examples of oppression at each of the three levels. Clarify any examples that are unclear. Call attention to the misconception among many people that oppression operates only on the individual level and note that this is often what is most obvious in day-to-day interactions. To fully understand oppression, it is essential that the participants recognize that it operates on multiple levels, sometimes simultaneously. Some examples (concerning individual teachers, police officers, health care workers) might also be used to illustrate institutional policy (schools and colleges, the legal system, health care). In these cases, an individual might be discriminating against someone while also representing institutional policy. Differentiate individual prejudice from oppression and emphasize that it is only one of the three levels on which oppression operates.
Post a large copy of the matrix (newsprint, white board, or digital platform) and fill in the empty boxes with as many examples as the participants provide. (Alternatively, groups can work in small groups, brainstorm examples and post their sheets in a gallery and walk around the room to read all of the composite lists.) After the posted matrix has been completely filled in, conduct a group discussion that raises questions such as these:
Presenters might get participants started with some of these examples:
Individual Unintentional:
Individual Intentional:
Institutional Unintentional:
Institutional Intentional:
Societal/Cultural Unintentional:
Societal/Cultural Intentional:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: The facilitators should consider the purpose of their workshop or course, as well as the audience, when selecting examples that they want to offer the participants. Facilitators should brainstorm key examples that they want to include even if participants don’t think of them, and connections they wish to draw among manifestations.
Because of the racialization of religion, it is nearly impossible to separate racism from religious oppression in some manifestations of religious oppression. Facilitators should encourage participants to generate such examples, and to hold the complexity of racism and religious oppression happening simultaneously, rather than trying to strictly categorize which examples are or are not mostly about religion.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Participants:
Adams, M., Zúñiga, X., (2018). Core Concepts for Social Justice Education. Readings for Diversity in Social Justice. In Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W.J., Catalano, D. C. J., DeJong, K., Hackman, H.W., Hopkins, L., Love, B.J., Peters, M. L., Shlasko, D., Zúñiga, X., (4th ed., pp. 41 – 49). Routledge.
Hardiman, R., Jackson, B., & Griffin, P. (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education. In M. Adams, L. A. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed., pp. 35–66). Routledge.
Interchange Counseling Institute. (2013). Oppression 101.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkxi4V8zO2k
Pipes, E., (2016). Legos and the 4 I’s of Oppression. Encompass at the Western Justice Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WWyVRo4Uas
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator:
Adams, M., Zúñiga, X., (2018). Core Concepts for Social Justice Education. Readings for Diversity in Social Justice. In Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W.J., Catalano, D. C. J., DeJong, K., Hackman, H.W., Hopkins, L., Love, B.J., Peters, M. L., Shlasko, D., Zúñiga, X., (4th ed., pp. 41 – 49). Routledge.
Adams, M., Zúñiga, X., & Varghese, R. (2022).Getting started: Core concepts for social justice education (chapter 4). In M. Adams, L. A. Bell, D. Goodman, & D. Shlasko, R. Briggs, & R. Pacheco. Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice (4th Edition). Routledge.
Hardiman, R., Jackson, B., & Griffin, P. (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education. In M. Adams, L. A. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed., pp. 35–66). Routledge.
Interchange Counseling Institute. (2013). Oppression 101.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkxi4V8zO2k
Pipes, E., (2016). Legos and the 4 I’s of Oppression. Encompass at the Western Justice Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WWyVRo4Uas
Name(s) to credit for this activity:
1If conducting this activity on a digital platform such as Google Meet, Zoom, or other, be mindful of how the facilitator will create small breakout groups and support them (via chat or through digital access to materials).
Legacies of Religious Oppression
Download Now (PDF 61KB)Levels Types of Religious Oppression
Download Now (PDF 61KB)Name: 5 Faces of Christian (Protestant) Hegemony and Marginalization of the Religious Other
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression
Instructional Purpose: To draw out a variety of examples of manifestations of religious oppression, and to explore some overlaps and interconnections with other systems of oppression.
Learning Outcomes:Time Needed: 40-90 minutes
Materials Needed: easel paper, markers, plenty of wall space and movable chairs
Degree of Risk: medium
Procedure:
This activity is based on “The Five Faces of Oppression,” a model articulated by Iris Marion Young (1990) to describe different manifestations that oppression takes. Whereas the “levels of oppression” (micro, meso, macro) identify the scales at which oppression operates, the five faces describe qualitatively how it operates.A brief version of the activity can be conducted in as little as 40 minutes, and more in-depth versions can take several hours. Based on your estimate of students/participants previous understanding, and your time constraints, adapt the timing to meet your needs.
Exploitation is the systematic transfer of resources (such as land, wealth, or labor value) from one group to another
Marginalization is the prevention or limiting of full participation in society through exclusion from, for example, the job market, healthcare system, public benefits programs or community activities
Cultural Imperialism isthe valuing and enforcement of the dominant group’s culture, norms and characteristics
Violence includes physical, sexual and emotional violence and the threat of violence, including policies and structures that condone violence
Powerlessness is deprivation of the ability to make decisions about one’s living or working conditions
Small group work (15-30 minutes):
Report out (10-20 minutes): After each group has rotated through all five stations, ask for a volunteer to read aloud the easel sheets from each station. This gives all participants an opportunity to see and hear what has been written by the groups that came to each station after them.
Discussion (20-60): During and/or after the report-out, pose questions to the group (and encourage participants to ask questions of each other). If needed, some questions should prompt participants to fill in gaps in the examples generated, to make sure that examples address different levels/scales of oppression (micro, meso, macro). For example you might ask:
Other questions should support participants to get more specific in their descriptions of manifestations by specifying who is targeted, under what circumstances, and in what ways the manifestations are linked to larger system of power. For example if someone wrote “racial profiling” as an example under “powerlessness,” you might ask:
These questions often draw out parallels and intersections among –isms, such as the fact that transgender people, People of Color, and young Black/Latino men more specifically, are all groups that are disproportionately vulnerable to racial profiling in addition to Muslims and those perceived as Muslim. Further questions can focus on the relationship incarceration to systems of power:
Facilitation Notes: This activity involves a lot of time- and task-management. Facilitators should think through timing and room logistics carefully in order to effectively direct participants.
The discussion questions are key to this activity’s effectiveness. Facilitators should have follow-up questions on hand and be ready to improvise based on their knowledge of the group and its particular goals.
Because of the racialization of religion, it is nearly impossible to separate racism from religious oppression in some manifestations of religious oppression. Facilitators should encourage participants to generate such examples, and to hold the complexity of racism and religious oppression happening simultaneously, rather than trying to strictly categorize which examples are or are not mostly about religion.
Accessibility: In this activity, participants often end up standing around an easel sheet together for lengthy periods. Many participants who can walk and stand may nevertheless need accommodation because of the length of time spent standing. Facilitators can easily address this by inviting participants to bring chairs over to each station as needed.
Recommended Readings/materials for Students:
Young, Iris Marion. “Five Faces of Oppression.” Selection 7 in RDSJ4.Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor or Facilitator: Young, Iris Marion. “Five Faces of Oppression.” Selection 7 in RDSJ4.
Name(s) to credit for this activity: Davey Shlasko
Five Faces of Oppression Handout
Download Now (PDF 85KB)Name of Activity: Intersections with Other Isms, New Insights, New Questions, and Takeaway (Religious Oppression)
Instructional Purpose Category:
Exploring internalized oppression, intersectionality
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to provide an opportunity for participants to deepen their understanding of the effects of social group memberships on their experiences of privilege and disadvantage using an intersectional lens.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will be able to have a deeper understanding of the effects of group memberships as it relates specifically to religious/spiritual identity.
Time Needed: 60 minutes
Materials Needed: Print handouts and/or a digital link to the document or other digital platform
Degree of Risk: Low to medium risk
Procedure: Give the participants the Privilege and Disadvantage Inventory (see Chapter 4). Ask everyone to take 10 minutes to complete the inventory individually. When everyone is finished, ask the participants to gather in discussion groups of four to five people and instruct them to use the following questions to guide their discussion of the inventory. Encourage the participants to work with people in the small groups that they have not worked with yet in class.
Process Questions:
Allow for about 30 minutes of small-group discussion. At this point, you might consider giving participants a brief break before returning to discuss the inventory with the whole class. When the class has reconvened, invite the participants to share their responses to the following questions:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: This activity can be an eye opener for participants who have never thought about the ways in which they are privileged and how those identities intersect with other isms. For participants who are already aware of the ways in which they are disadvantaged by some of their social group memberships, it is an important insight to realize that they also have privileges based on other social group memberships they have. If some participants are struggling with the idea of seeing their own or their family’s accomplishments as partly due to privilege, acknowledge that this realization can be confusing. Encourage them to remain open to further exploration of the effects of their social group memberships and listening to the experiences of other participants who have different identities and experiences. Invite them to continue to explore these questions throughout the remainder of the workshop.
For some participants it may be easy to identify how certain advantages and disadvantages are about identities other than religion, and harder to understand how they are also connected to religious oppression. Facilitators should hold a both/and approach, while continuing to remind participants how religious oppression is connected with other isms.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity:
Hardiman, R., Jackson, B., & Griffin, P. (2007). Conceptual foundations for social justice education (Chapter 3 in M. Adams, L. A. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed., pp. 35–66). Routledge.
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression Closing – Option: A Take the Temperature (CLOS)
Instructional Purpose Category: Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose: This activity provides an opportunity for a brief check-in by asking participants to offer one word or a brief comment about how they are feeling at the end of this second segment.
Learning Outcomes: After this activity participants will...
Time Needed:10 minutes
Materials Needed: None
Degree of Risk: Low to medium. This depends somewhat on the reflections shared.
Procedure: Bring all participants together in a closing circle. Go around the circle and ask people to then share out one word or phrase describing how they’re feeling at the end of this quadrant. Let participants know they can pass if they’re still thinking. Come back to them at the end. This activity can also be adapted to use a few different questions, such as:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
There may be participants who prefer to respond tacitly. If possible, you can also provide the option to write a closing thought on a post-it or board to be shared out by the facilitator or viewed in a gallery walk.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: This is a legacy activity credited to many generations of facilitators, most recently updated by Mariah Lapiroff.
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression Closing – Option: B Geometric Shape Check-in (CLOS)
Instructional Purpose Category: Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose: Participants reflect individually and submit a handout with their new learnings and remaining questions.
Learning Outcomes: After this activity participants will …
Time Needed:5 minutes
Materials Needed: Geometric Shape Exit Slip
Degree of Risk: Low to medium. This depends somewhat on the reflections shared.
Procedure: Provide all participants will the exit slip handout. Let participants know they’ll be completing a sheet for this quadrant that will be anonymously collected. This is an opportunity for their own reflection, as well as supportive feedback for the facilitators. They will be filling out the following:
CIRCLE – A question that keeps circling in my mind . . .
SQUARE – What squares with my values and beliefs . . .
X – Something I really disagree with . . .
TRIANGLE – Three things I learned . . .
Additional comments and suggestions for improvement . . .
Recommend they try to fill in something for each shape and also let them know they’re not required to fill them all in. Encourage them to move with where their reflections take them.
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
There is an option here to also let participants know that they may draw for any of the shape segments, if that feels more generative for them. Be sure to review each handout and incorporate feedback prior to the next session.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity:This is a legacy activity credited to many generations of facilitators, most recently updated by Mariah Lapiroff.
Handout: Geometric Shape Exit Slip
Download Now (PDF 59KB)strong>Name of Activity: Religious Oppression Check-in (PROC)
Instructional Purpose Category: Tone setting / developing group guidelines; Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose: Participants review the previously documented agreements, have the opportunity to update each other about their present access needs and additional thoughts on agreements, and amend the written list as needed.
Learning Outcomes: After this activity participants will...
Time Needed: 15 min
Materials Needed: The group guidelines that were previously developed, on an easel pad, slide, and/or handout. If notes were taken about access needs, those also should be available on an easel pad, slide, and/or handout.
Degree of Risk: low to high, depending on how the process has been up until now
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
In many cases, this activity will bring up little or no changes, and may take less than the allotted time. It’s worth doing anyway, because it reinforces the practice of collective access and normalizes that people have variable needs.
If the process in previous sessions was challenging or if conflict occurred, this activity may feel higher risk. It may be helpful to remind participants that the goal of formulating guidelines is not to categorize people or even behavior as good or bad, but rather to communicate clear expectations that will help this particular group function together for this particular workshop. Furthermore, the purpose of guidelines is not to prevent all conflict, but rather to enable the group to navigate conflict that comes up in constructive ways. If participants feel the guidelines didn’t “work” in previous sessions, some may frame it as a failure on the part of the group or the facilitators. It can be helpful to reframe it as a learning opportunity, and as a normal process of negotiation in groups of people with different needs.
Rarely, a participant may propose a guideline or access step that conflicts with someone else’s needs or, people may simply disagree about what the guidelines should be. In that case the facilitators should try to avoid adjudicating who is “right” or whose needs are more important, and instead aim for a “both/and” approach, using creative problem solving to meet as many needs as possible.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: none
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: Chapter 2: Pedagogy and Chapter 3: Design and Facilitation
Name(s) to credit for this activity: This is a legacy activity we have learned from generations of facilitators, most recently updated by Davey Shlasko.
Name of Activity: Examining Institutional Religious Oppression, Option A: U.S. Constitutional Protections: “You be the Judge” (MANI & HX)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression; Exploring History
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to provide the opportunity for students to use the Constitutional protection of religion clauses to guess at the outcome of real legal cases dealing with religious oppression.
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: 75–90 minutes
Materials Needed: Newsprint paper, markers, index cards, “You Be the Judge” handout
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: If time is limited, you could divide the class into nine groups (one group taking each case). Having a dyad is fine. Have each group present their decision and have them provide a rationale.
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator:
Eck, D. L. (2001). A new religious America: How a “Christian country” has become the world’s most religiously diverse nation. New York: Harper San Francisco.
Feldman, S. M. (1997). The fruits of framing: Church and state in nineteenth-and early-twentieth- century America; and The fruits of framing: Church and state in late-twentieth-century America. In Please don’t wish me a Merry Christmas: A critical history of the separation of church and state (pp. 175–265). New York: New York University Press.
Long, C. N. (2000). Religious freedom and Indian rights: The case of Oregon v. Smith. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Maddigan, M. M. (1993). The establishment clause, civil religion, and the public church. California Law Review, 81(1), 293–349.
Mazur, E. M. (1999). The Americanization of religious minorities: Confronting the constitutional order. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Rievman, J. D. (1989). Judicial scrutiny of Native American free exercise rights: Lyng and the decline of the Yoder doctrine. Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, 17(1), 169–199.
Name(s) of Those to Credit for this Activity: Maurianne Adams
You Be the Judge
Download Now (PDF 135KB)Text for Lecture Presentation of US Constitutional protections
Download Now (PDF 238KB)Name of Activity: Examining Institutional Religious Oppression, Option B: Guided Discussion Groups (MANI & HX)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression; Exploring history
Instructional Purpose: Make connections among themes in readings and lecture content, including readings from Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, 3rd edition and content on Constitutional protections.
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: 30 minutes total (10 minutes for each group)
Materials Needed: Newsprint for major insights to share with whole group; reports and discussions
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: It is possible to have a group devoted to the role of religion in U.S. or global politics, if there are students who understand the intersections of privilege and marginalization based on religion and national identity and nationalism, as these intersect with economic advantage and disadvantage, ethnicity, race, class, and gender. These can be difficult intersections and they have not been prepared for in this specific design. It may be helpful to refer to the cases in Activity 2A, “You Be the Judge.”
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator: None
Name(s) of Those to Credit for this Activity: Maurianne Adams
Name of Activity: Recognizing Everyday Christian Hegemony and Religious Oppression in the U.S. Today, Option A (MANI & PRIV)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression
Instructional Purpose: This three-part activity has participants identify current U.S. Christian hegemonic norms and the ways in which they become oppressive, exclusive, and discriminatory to non-Christians. The second part asks participants to generate a list of “intersections” or “reinforcers” for examples of Christian hegemony and religious oppression from other forms of advantage and disadvantage. The third part of the activity visualizes the ways in which these norms or exclusions operate as a societal and cultural “web” of religious oppression.
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: 40 minutes
Materials Needed: “Everyday Christian Hegemony” handout; ball of yarn
strong>Degree of Risk: Medium
Procedure:
There are three parts to this activity. The knowledge, awareness, and skill level required builds from the previous activity.
Part 1: Handout. Distribute the handout. Participants will work singly or in pairs to list examples of institutional norms or policies that advantage Christians (left column) and related ways in which non-Christians are excluded or marginalized (right column).
Part 2: Intersections and reinforcers from other forms of advantage or disadvantage. Participants will create a list of intersections or reinforcers from other forms of advantage or disadvantage for two or three of their previous examples.
Part 3: Web of Christian hegemony and non-religious disadvantage, exclusion, and marginalization.
The facilitators ask the participants to stand in a circle and take turns “calling out” a social institution. Here the instructor could keep it at the meta level and have the students identify institutions such as education, health care, corporations, etc.; or instructors could have the students select specific institutions, such as a summer camp, elementary schools, or the emergency room at a hospital. After calling out the institution, the participant says another participant’s name and tosses the yarn ball to that person. It is important that the person “called out” is across the circle from the person doing the calling, so that the yarn ball is thrown across the circle, and that everyone continues to hold the yarn after it’s been thrown to them. In this way, the yarn ball can be tossed back and forth across the circle, and participants continue to hold their place on the yarn.
Each time the participant whose name is called catches the yarn-ball toss and names a specific example of religious advantage or disadvantage in the institution just “called out.” That person receiving the yarn ball and naming an example of religious oppression continues the process by calling out another participant’s name (across the circle), naming another social institution and tossing the yarn ball. The new recipient catches the ball and names an example of a social institution. When participants feel they are running out of names of social institutions, they can do a second turn on institutions named earlier. The process continues until everyone in the circle has caught the yarn ball, named an example, and tossed it to someone else. Participants continue to hold their end of yarn, and the yarn ball gets smaller and smaller with each successive toss.
By the time everyone’s name and numerous social institutions have been “called out,” there is an intricate “web” of yarn linking all of the participants in the circle and representing the “web” of all the instances of religious oppression that have been identified. The web comes to represent the interaction of all of the social institutions named in maintaining the “web” of religious oppression.
The first part of this activity enables participants to prepare for this activity. If the facilitator does not use Part 1 of this activity, the examples below will help “prime the pump” for this activity:
Name of Social Institution |
Example(s) of Religious Oppression |
|
Family |
Opposition to religious intermarriage |
|
Schools |
Holidays linked to Christian calendar; religious food requirements may not be met in school cafeteria; school may not accommodate the wearing of religious garb (hijab by observant Muslim women, the yarmulka or kipa by observant Jewish men) |
|
The media (TV, magazines, newspapers, radio) |
Muslims may be presented as terrorists; Native American spirits may be commercialized as mascots or advertisements; the assumption is that all families are Christian; major emphasis on Christmas and Easter in programming and in storylines |
|
Local police |
Religious and racial profiling |
|
Local, state, and federal courts |
In religious freedom cases, the courts may see non-mainstream religions as “private preference” or as less important than local laws or regulations |
|
Child adoption agencies |
May not know or consider it important to place adopted or foster children in same-faith families |
|
Building code enforcers |
May be designed (intentionally or unintentionally) to rule out preferred temple or mosque or minaret architecture; may enforce “same style” regulations as the prevailing neighborhood |
|
Prisons |
May make no allowances for non-Christian faith practices |
|
Drug and alcohol agencies |
May forbid religious use of peyote for members of the Native American Church |
|
Fashion industry |
Design “hip” clothes using Native American or Hindu styles and symbols |
|
Businesses and workplaces |
Make no “reasonable accommodation” for daily prayer or for holidays other than Easter and Christmas or for days of worship other than Sundays |
|
Colleges and universities |
There may be no affirmative effort to create prayer space or religious meeting space for non- mainstream religious groups |
|
Other social institutions |
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: The success of this activity depends largely on the participants having sufficient information to provide examples of institutional oppression—from readings, films and videos, discussions, observation, their own experiences—to generate examples quickly. The facilitator should have examples in mind to help out if participants have no examples, and in order to keep the process going.
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Reading for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor Facilitator: None
Names of Those to Credit for this Activity: Maurianne Adams
Everyday Christian Hegemony Handout
Download Now (PDF 64KB)Name of Activity: Recognizing Everyday Christian Hegemony and Religious Oppression in the U.S. Today, Option B: Everyday Scenarios (ELS & MANI)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring individual/interpersonal-level oppression; Exploring liberation and social action
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to understand how everyday situations result in exclusions of marginalized religious groups.
Learning Outcomes: Upon receiving four “everyday” scenarios, students will identify and discuss the advantages to Christians in that particular scenario and the marginalization or exclusion that the marginalized religious group in the scenario experiences.
Time Needed: 25 minutes
Materials Needed: “Everyday Harassment Scenarios” handout; newsprint
Degree of Risk: Medium
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Facilitator: None
Name(s) of Those to Credit for this Activity: Khyati Y. Joshi
Everyday Christian Hegemony Handout
Download Now (PDF 68KB)Name of Activity: Opening Activity, Option A: Interfaith Four Square (LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring internalized oppression, internalized messages, or implicit bias; Exploring liberation and social action
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to expose students to the different world religions present in our society. /p>
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: 30 minutes; preparation time varies, so adjust this activity grid to reflect the students in your classroom. Do any research needed to explain any answers you are uncertain about or unfamiliar with.
Materials Needed: Handout, answer key, accompany PowerPoint presentation for instructors
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes:
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students:
Haynes, C., & Thomas, O. (2007). Finding common ground: A guide to religious liberty in public schools. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.**Specifically, students should read Chapter 5.
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Facilitator:
Haynes, C., & Thomas, O. (2007). Finding common ground: A guide to religious liberty in public schools. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.
Names to Credit for this Activity: Khyati Joshi
Interfaith Four Square Handout
Download Now (PDF 70KB)Interfaith Four Square Answer Key
Download Now (PDF 65KB)Interfaith Four Square PowerPoint
Download Now (PPT 248KB)Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Opening Activity, Option B: Action Continuum – Room-Stations Activity (LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring liberation and social action; Developing action plans
Instructional Purposes: The purposes of this activity are (1) to identify the range of possible actions one can take to address Christian hegemony and religious oppression, and (2) to enable participants to identify where they currently are on an Action Continuum with regard to this issue.
Learning Outcome: Students will identify where they might want to be to take their next steps toward action in coalition with others. Instructors/facilitators have an Action Continuum posted or distributed to introduce the concept and the different steps or stages.
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Materials Needed: Handout, newsprint paper, markers
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
1. When we as individuals or when institutions maintain the system of oppression, it can be because we are:
A. Actively participating: This means that the actions we take directly support Christian hegemony and the oppression of the people marginalized by their religions. Can anyone give me an example of maintaining the system of oppression by actively participating in any ism? Examples include the following:
B. Denying or ignoring: This means we are denying that religious oppression is a problem and/or ignoring discrimination against people with of non-Christian faith traditions. Examples include the following:
C. Recognition, but no action: This means we are recognizing that discrimination against people of different faith traditions is a problem, but failing to take any actions to address Christian hegemony. Examples include the following:
2. When we as individuals or as an institution begin interrupting the system of oppression, it can be because we are:
D. Recognizing and interrupting oppressive behaviors: That is, we understand and take action against ableism. Examples include recognizing and responding to oppression against people of different faith traditions or people who take a posi- tion outside a faith tradition. This is a transitional stage where one goes from maintaining the system of oppression to interrupting the system of oppression.
E. Educating self: This means we learn about oppression against people of different faith traditions or outside faith traditions and come to know the people with dif- ferent religious or non-religious beliefs. Examples include the following:
F. Questioning and dialoging: This means we research and understand all levels of the field of Christian hegemony and religious and non-religious differences, and we talk with others about these issues. Examples include the following:
3. When we work to change ourselves, other individuals, or institutions, it can be because we are:
G. Supporting and encouraging: We take action and support members of different religious and non-religious people and communities. Examples include actions that support and encourage others in the breaking of the Cycle of Oppression against people of marginalized religious and non-religious traditions.
H. Initiating and preventing: This means we take the first step toward breaking the Cycle of Oppression and accommodating the needs of people from marginalized religious and non-religious traditions in order to create greater access and prevent discrimination. Examples include actions that actively anticipate and identify insti- tutional practices or individual oppressive behaviors and interrupt them.
3. Following this lecture or set of remarks, have participants identify where they currently see themselves on issues of Christian hegemony and religious oppression on the Action Continuum. Tell the participants to do the following:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Names to Credit for this Activity: Adapted from:
Wijeyesinghe, C. L., Griffin, P., & Love, B. (1997). Racism curriculum design. In M. Adams, L. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook (pp. 82–107). New York: Routledge.
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Moving Forward, Option A: Walking the Line in Public Schools (MANI & LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression; Exploring liberation and social action
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to help students understand what is legally permissible in public schools in terms of religion and religious acts.
Learning Outcomes: Students will have a better understanding on how religion is addressed in public schools by a number of different scenarios given in this activity.
Time Needed: Preparation time: 5 minutes (make copies of the activity); activity implementation: 25 minutes
Materials Needed: Enough copies of the activity for each person participating in the activity; writing utensils; a copy of, or access to, the 1st Amendment text
Degree of Risk (low, medium, high): Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:;
Source:
Marshall, J. (2003). Religion and education: Walking the line in public schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 85, 239–242.Recommended Materials/Reading for Students:
Haynes, C. & Thomas, O. (2007). Finding common ground: A guide to religious liberty in public schools. Chapter 5 in Finding common ground: A teacher’s guide to religion in the public schools. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Instructor or Facilitator: None
Name(s) to Credit for this Activity: Joanne Marshall
Walking the Line in Public Schools Handout
Download Now (PDF 74KB)Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Moving Forward, Option B: What’s Possible in Professional, Organizational, or Community Settings (MANI & LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression; Exploring liberation and social action
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to help students raise questions and find answers for the questions, as changes of policies or procedures are possible and feasible in their current or anticipated professional, organizational, or community settings.
Learning Outcomes: Students will have a better understanding on how religion is addressed in professional, organizational, and community settings by a number of different scenarios given in this activity.
Time Needed: Preparation time: 5 minutes (make copies of the activity); activity implementation: 25 minutes
Materials Needed: Enough copies of the activity for each person participating in the activity; writing utensils; a copy of, or access to, the 1st Amendment text
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations:
Recommended Materials/Reading for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to Credit for this Activity: Maurianne Adams
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Personal Considerations in Action Planning, Option A (LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring liberation and social action; Developing action plans
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to slow down the action planning process to enable participants to consider carefully what is involved for them personally, and to take those considerations into account in the next segment, when they come up with a plan of action.
Learning Outcomes: To analyze the personal ingredients in working for change
Time Needed: Depending on how many of the steps and handouts instructors use, this can take between a half-hour to a full hour
Materials Needed: Copies of the handout and copies of other handouts that accompany this activity (“Spheres of Influence” handout)
Degree of Risk: Medium, depending on the depth of the self-assessment
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: None
Personal Considerations in Action Planning, Option A - handout
Download Now (PDF 77KB)Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Personal Considerations in Action Planning, Option B (LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring liberation and social action
Instructional Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to provide an opportunity for participants to tell stories of times in their lives when they have been advocates for action and change—or times when they wanted to but felt unable to carry through.
Learning Outcomes: Participants will make connections between times they were advocates (or wished to be advocates) and considering becoming advocates or change agents regarding Christian hegemony and religious oppression.
Time Needed: 40–60 minutes
Materials Needed: None, unless the facilitator wants to turn the question prompts into a worksheet
Degree of Risk: Medium-High (depends on the stories that arise)
Procedure: The facilitator explains that taking action, especially on issues that seem new, can be difficult. But everyone can think of a time that they wanted to be an advocate for someone–or felt something was unfair and wanted to change it. Perhaps they tried and were successful. Perhaps they tried and felt unsuccessful. Perhaps they wanted to do some- thing, but they felt they didn’t have the skills or knowledge or self-confidence to intervene or propose change.
Storytelling about these earlier experiences can be an excellent way to learn from your own earlier efforts, and your successes as well as near-misses. The facilitator might be willing to share one or two brief examples of trying and not succeeding, or wanting to do something and not knowing how to do it, or succeeding in making an intervention.Step 1: Ask participants to pair up and answer these questions:
Step 2: Ask participants to return to the whole group. Ask volunteers to make comments on the last three questions they discussed in their pairs:
Step 3: Ask participants to comment on the commonalities. What gave them courage and strength, or held them back? Ask them to think ahead to the possibility of being advocates for people who are marginalized and excluded because of their religion, to intervene or take action, or to propose institutional or organizational or community change.
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: None
Spheres of Influence Handout
Download Now (PDF 70KB)Worksheet for Action Planning, Option B
Download Now (PDF 80KB)Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Action Planning, Option A: Planning for Action in Schools (LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring institutional-level oppression; Developing action plans
Instructional Purpose: Work in collaborative teams to develop a calendar that is inclusive of all religions.
Learning Outcomes:
Time Needed: Approximately 35 minutes: 15 minutes for small-group work, 20 minutes for large-group debrief, and 10 more minutes if you decide to have the class create one calendar (see procedure below)
Materials Needed: A K–12 school district calendar, a college/university calendar, or a workplace calendar (depending on the group using it)
Degree of Risk: Low
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/ Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for Facilitator: None
Name(s) to for this Activity: Jaquelynne Radcliff
Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Action Planning, Option B: Developing Your Own Plan for Workplace, Organizational, Professional, School, Community, or Other Settings (LIB & KEY)
Instructional Purpose Category: Exploring liberation and social action
Instructional Purpose: Work in collaborative teams to develop a feasible change or action plan around religious oppression that draws on the necessary skills and resources to be effective.
Learning Outcomes: By developing an action plan, students will reflect on and understand areas, steps, changes and coalition building necessary for disrupting and dismantling religious oppression.
Time Needed: 30–60 minutes, if teams report out
Materials Needed:
Worksheets for participants:
Degree of Risk: Medium to high, depending on the commitment of the team to the planned action
Procedure: The facilitator should link this activity to the work the group has already done in the previous segment, when they assessed their own skills, spheres of influences, and sense of personal risk, or told stories about their previous experiences in advocacy and change.
The facilitator has participants team up along lines of professional or organizational interest, or in other interest groups, to establish commitment among members of the group to invest in this change plan. It need not be something that will be implemented tomorrow or next week, but the plan does need to be real, feasible, well thought out, and have a reasonable expectation of success.
The facilitator should talk through all seven steps involved (listed below; also see the “Action Planning” worksheet). Hand out the worksheets and move around the space to provide support and guidance.
Action Planning:
Step 1: Participants can draw on the “change plan” they discussed during the previous segment, or they can decide on a common plan, or they can agree to help each other firm up and strengthen each person’s different plan. Whatever their decision, each person needs to have a clear goal of advocacy, change, or greater self or other education in mind. (Note that the Action Continuum can be a useful reminder of the possibilities for action.)
Step 2: At what level does this change or advocacy or action need to be taken? The facilitator explains that an advocacy action might involve individuals within an organization at different levels of the organization. For this reason, the broad understandings of “individual” and “institutional” need to be more finely nuanced to understand what that means within the organization. A grassroots community effort would also involve individuals who are in networks (political or religious, for example) that could be considered “institutional” and need to be considered.
Step 3: What are the specific steps that need to be taken? Who needs to be approached first, or what needs to be done first? Second or third steps? Simultaneous steps?
Step 4: Who are your allies and coalitional partners in this effort? Who needs to be directly involved, and who needs to be “kept in the loop?” What skills, resources, and levels of institutional power do they bring that you need?
Step 5: What levels or kinds of opposition do you anticipate? What pushback do you anticipate? How do you plan to win them over, or neutralize their opposition, or find ways around any obstacle course?
Step 6: What skills, knowledge, and resources do you and your coalitional partners need? (More knowledge of the structure of the organization? More information about the people involved?) Do you need to bring in people with skills or access not currently available to your group? What specific identification of skills, knowledge, and resources do you currently have and that you will need?
Step 7: Time frame and success: As you discuss this project in your groups, do you see this as a one-time “job done” kind of effort, or will it involve multiple steps over time? What time frame are you setting for yourself and how will you know whether you will be successful?
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: None
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Reading for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: None
LIB & KEY Religious Oppression – Q4 Action Continuum Handout
Download Now (PDF 69KB)What’s Possible in Professional, Organizational, or Community Settings
Download Now (Word 16KB)Name of Activity: Religious Oppression – Next Steps (CLOS & LIB)
Instructional Purpose Category: Processing / debriefing the process
Instructional Purpose: This closing activity enables participants to make a positive, forward-looking closing statement to the group.
Learning Outcomes: After this activity participants will …
Time Needed: 30 minutes
Materials Needed: Sentence Stems prepared on handout, easel pad, marker board or slide
Degree of Risk: Low - Medium
Procedure:
Facilitation Notes & Considerations: This activity is appropriate for any group, but particular those which came together just for this workshop and may not have ongoing relationships beyond the workshop space. The goal is to create a sense of closure and continuity. Depending on the overall goals of the workshop, and the learning needs of the group, facilitators may choose different or more specific sentence stems.
Recommended Materials/Readings for Students: None
Recommended Supplementary Materials/Readings for the Facilitator: None
Name(s) to credit for this activity: This is a legacy activity credited to previous generations of facilitators