Blog Task 2: Faith

UAL’s Religion, Belief and Faith identities website

UAL’s Religion, Belief and Faith identities website is looking at, “a context that understands religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs in the broadest sense, not only in relation to formal membership of religions.” It’s never really occurred to me to “create opportunities for staff and students to discuss religion, belief and faith identities in relation to their academic and creative practice.” (Religion, Belief and Faith identities UAL website)

In fact, in design I feel there is a distinct separation from religion. Perhaps that is because “free speech is an important value for universities, and the idea that it is threatened creates concern.” (‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Stimulus paper. Modood & Calhoun, 2015. p.19) In my practice, most project briefs I have received generally have nothing to do with religion.

Considering my own positionality, I would describe myself as a Buddhist but perhaps more so as a philosophy rather than in practice. My parents were Buddhist but gave me to the freedom to learn about different religions and make my own choices which probably shaped my belief that there are many forms of spirituality and that people may be drawn to one in particular because of their backgrounds, cultures, community and personal experiences. But above all we should respect that and not try to infringe on other people’s beliefs. 

I was drawn to Alain de Botton’s video on Atheism 2.0, which looked at what atheists could learn from religion to “satisfy our human need for connection, ritual and transcendence” in which there were several points that I could apply to my own teaching practice:

• Education tell people something once and expect you to remember it. Religion are cultures of repetition, circling the great truths. 
• Religion uses the calendar to remind us of those ideas
• Religions uses our bodies to remind of us those ideas
• As educators, we should look at how religion is spreading ideas

Although I question his points on learning needing to be more didactic like sermons, I have been employing iteration of a methodology in each unit in hopes that after employing this methodology a few times, the students will be able to push, question and challenge it by the end of their Final Major Project. But the idea of using our physical bodies and the sensory qualities is something to think about. Currently we have field trips to get them out of their comfort zone and technical workshops to get them making, but what else could we employ their bodies to remind them of those ideas?

Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Stimulus paper. (Modood & Calhoun, 2015) 

The two papers posit that “religion is not well integrated within higher education institutions generally since many are secular in terms of their foundation and ethos” and that perhaps religion, like sexual and racial equality, should consider the position of religion within higher education. 

Calhoun discusses how one might argue that ‘woman’, ‘Black’ and ‘gay’ are ascribed, involuntary identities while being, say, a Muslim is about chosen beliefs, and that Muslims therefore need or ought to have less legal protection than the other kinds of identities.” However, “no one chooses to be or not to be born into a Muslim family.” (‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ Stimulus paper. Modood & Calhoun, 2015. p.10)

As an American, I am more than aware of the mounting rise of discrimination against extremism in my country. These papers place an interesting discussion worth considering. Modood says, “Public engagement with religion – including in universities – offers opportunities for both learning and achieving the public good” and I think there is room for learning and educating to over these forms of discrimination based on ignorance. 

So far I haven’t come across many of my students researching or working on religion so far. Is this because in Higher Education we generally don’t encourage this? Perhaps when appropriate I could encourage students to explore that aspect of their project work as a way to sharing their experiences and beliefs for the wider cohort. 

Kwame Anthony Appiah. Creed. Mistaken Identities.

Kwame Anthony Appiah’s talk confirmed my beliefs in my spiritual journey. Growing up in the US, I had often been approached by Christians trying to convert me. Open to new ideas and understand the religion, I took Bible study classes only to come up with the conclusion that the bible were a collection of stories, interpreted in many ways over time. 

My course MA Graphic Branding & Identity is very much about the unpacking of identity more so from a graphic and branding point of view. However, perhaps we can start examining it from other perspectives such as your credal identity.

I was a Buddhist for seven years. Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality & Belief. Shades of Noir

The title was already alluding to a disappointing experience with the religion. As I read through Melodie Holliday’s account, I thought once again how unfortunate particular individuals have ruined a religion for others because their behaviour or how their organisation was run. 

As someone who believes in the Buddhist philosophy, I was rather surprised by her ending saying, “I am extremely sceptical of those religions whose belief systems are built on the foundations of colonialism” because as I had understood it, the story of Siddhartha Gautama was he had left his life as a prince to find enlightenment. 

I looked this up and indeed “during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a number of Buddhist figures, such as Kimura Shigeyuki and Mitsui Koshi, upheld the Japanese nation not only as the culmination of Buddhist cultural development, but also as a legitimating factor in Japanese imperial policies.” (King 2022) Perhaps my positionality as a person of Chinese ethnicity I have always seen Buddhism as subject to oppression, which is also true.  

This notion of man using religion as a tool to justify wielding more power is not a new one. Manifest Destiny is also a  cultural belief in the 19th century where the US used religion as a way to acquire land to the west coast. It is such a shame when religion is distorted by man to accumulate more power. 

This article has made me consider the micro-aggressions that Melodie is facing, as well as how intersectionality might play a factor in her experience. But also that religion can be both a form of oppression and self-care depending on the context.

Bibliography

Appiah, K. A. (2016). ‘Mistaken Identities: Creed’ The Reith Lectures [Podcast]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds (Accessed 18th May 2022).

De Botton, A. (2011). ‘Atheism 2.0’ Ted Global. Available from: https://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_atheism_2_0#t-1124552 (Accessed 18th May 2022). 

King, R. (2022). Colonialism and Buddhism. Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Available at: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/colonialism-and-buddhism. (Accessed 25th May 2022).

Shades of Noir (2017). ‘I was a Buddhist for Seven Years.’ Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality and Belief. pp. 56-57. Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/higher_power (Accessed 25th May 2022).

Shades of Noir (2017). ‘Social Justice/Buddhism/Queerness.’ Higher Power: Religion, Faith, Spirituality and Belief. pp. 34-36. Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/higher_power (Accessed 25th May 2022).

The Leadership Foundation (2015). Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education, Stimulus Paper. Available at http://www.tariqmodood.com/uploads/1/2/3/9/12392325/6379_lfhe_stimulus_paper_-_modood_calhoun_32pp.pdf (Accessed 21st May 2022).

UAL (2022). Religion, Belief and Faith identities in learning and teaching. Available at: https://religiousliteracy.myblog.arts.ac.uk/ (Accessed: 18th May 2022).