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God on Trial
Religion: Western
(esp. Christian) Purpose:
to explore different rational (philosophical) arguments for and against the
existence of God Cognitive
Skills: comprehension, analysis, evaluation Learning Styles: active,
reflective, sequential (construction of a logical argument), global (the
entire lesson puts the pieces together at the end) Intelligences: interpersonal,
logical-mathematical Use:
in class For: small groups Estimated
time: 30 - 45 minutes Materials
needed: none (other than paper and pen) The
Activity: Students are tasked with brainstorming a variety of reasons
someone might or might not believe in God and present a rational argument.
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Begin with students
working quietly and independently (up to 5 minutes) to think of as many
reasons (arguments) they can, both pro- and con-, regarding the existence or
non-existence of God. Students should list these on paper and be prepared to
share their ideas with classmates in small group.
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Randomly divide
the class into at least three groups (have students count off, all one's in
one group, all two's in a second group, etc.). Randomly tell each group
which side of the argument they are to focus on: one will argue
"pro" (defending God's existence), one will argue "con"
(the "prosecution"), the third group will be the jury. If there
are enough students, then there can be any even number of groups,
half taking the "pro" position, the other half taking the
"con" position.
Note: since
students are not told up front which group they will be in, they need
to prepare (brainstorm) for both sides of the argument. This forces them to
consider alternative positions besides just their own, regardless of if they
personally believe or do not believe.
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Give groups 10 minutes
or so to prepare their argument. Students in each group should share their
brainstormed ideas and decide, as a group, which reasons will make for the
strongest case they have been tasked with arguing. Each group will select
one member to be the spokesperson who presents their case.
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Each group, in turn,
will have 3 - 5 minutes to present their argument.
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The jury will then
decide which group presented the best argument. If there were more than
three groups, the entire class will vote on the best argued case.
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Closure/debriefing:
now the teacher can briefly present some of the classic philosophical
arguments for and against the existence of God (ontological, teleological,
various cosmological arguments) (distribute a handout summarizing
each argument) and open a discussion regarding how some of the arguments
presented by the students actually relate to one or another of these classic
arguments. Rather than tell the students how they relate, see if the
students can make the associations (perhaps with just a few hints from the
teacher).
Alternative
possibilities: any controversial topic that lends itself to pro- and
con- arguments (e.g., various ethical issues that might be discussed in a
philosophy class, issues addressed in a sociology class, theories of history,
evaluation of art or music pieces, etc..)
Acknowledgment to Skip
Downing for this idea, presented at an "Empowering Students"
workshop for teachers
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