FORB in my day

Slides 48-60 of the Session 2 PowerPoint from the Local Changemakers Course (or printouts of these slides stuck on a wall in advance of the session).

(Optional: If you prefer, you can replace the photographs in the PowerPoint with photographs from your own context that illustrate similar things.)

One copy of the handout with groupwork questions per 3-4 participants OR a pre-prepared flipchart sheet with the groupwork questions on.

This exercise and the accompanying resources are available in multiple languages as part of Session 2 of the Local Changemakers Course.

Ask everyone to spread out in pairs. Explain the following:

We are now going to reflect on what freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief means for us in our daily lives. First, each person will think silently. Then we will share some thoughts in our pairs, before coming back together to discuss our thoughts.

Read out the following text (or say something similar). Flick through PowerPoint slides 48-60 or point to the printouts of the slides while you read it out.

“Think about a typical day in your life. When and how do you express your thoughts, beliefs, questions, and your sense of religious or non-religious belonging or identity? It could be:

• in the things you eat or don’t eat,
• in what you wear or don’t wear,
• in prayers or rituals or celebrations of key moments in life,
• in what you read,
• in conversations you have with your family, friends or colleagues and in how you bring your kids up or
• in how you serve the community or engage with issues that concern you in society.”

THINK (2 MIN)

Ask everyone to spend 2 minutes thinking silently about a typical day. When and how do they express their thoughts, beliefs, questions and religious or non-religious identity/belonging in the course of an ordinary day?

PAIR (8-13 MIN)

Ask participants to share their thoughts in their pairs and to discuss whichever of the following questions they feel comfortable talking about:

• Share a story of a time when you shared your ideas or questioned something. What happened and how did it feel?
• Share a story of a time when you couldn’t share your ideas, question something you felt was wrong or couldn’t be open with your identity. How did it feel?
• Is it important to you to be able to express your ideas and your identity in your daily life? Is it important to be able to question ideas or practices that you believe are wrong?
• How would it feel to be forced to live on the basis of what other people think and believe instead of your own beliefs?

SHARE (15-20 MIN)

Ask people to come back to the plenary. The questions we have been reflecting on in our pairs all relate to the following questions:

• Are the rights protected by freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief important to us?
• How does it feel when we don’t have them?

Ask if anyone would like to share thoughts, feelings or experiences relating to this, based on the discussions they had in pairs. All sharing should be voluntary! After a while, ask the group if our shared human nature means that everyone has similar human needs in relation to the rights to think – believe – belong – practice – question – change and refuse? Are these rights important for people of any religion or belief?

TIP! Be ready to provide some reflections about FORB in your own life in case the conversation is slow to start.

Conclude the exercise by thanking everyone for sharing their thoughts and their engagement in the discussion.