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"I plant seeds for children... to think for themselves" Louisa Jane Smith of The RE Podcast - Sentientism 205
Manage episode 429565129 series 2882727
Louisa is a Religious Education (RE) Teacher and Head of Life Skills at a school in England. She is host of the RE podcast, an RE Subject reviewer for Oak National, a member of the NATRE (National Association for Teachers of Religious Education) executive committee and the Surrey SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) as well as being a public speaker and author.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"
Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
00:00 Clips!
00:45 Welcome
- Kids today are "The most enlightened generation... so socially aware... so aware of, for better or worse, the bigger picture... so passionate about things that really matter."
- Jamie's appearance on The RE Podcast talking about Sentientism
- "The reason we love RE [religious education] is because we love those big questions... this is like a proper geek out for me!"
- The balance between neutrality and authenticity for RE teachers... how much to talk about your own worldview
05:45 Louisa's Intro
- 22 years of RE teaching in UK secondary schools
- The RE Podcast "little lockdown project... I'd been wanting to do something creative... the first dedicated podcast for students and teachers of RE"
- "I had no idea what a podcast was... the RE community... have been so supportive... now nearing 4 years of doing this... I absolutely love it"
- Religious Education "fairly unique... to British schools... a national entitlement... every child up to the age of 18"
- How RE has evolved from religious instruction "how to be a good Christian" to now: "religion and worldviews - everybody in the world has a worldview... we all stand somewhere... show respect... compassion for people who think differently... religious and non-religious worldviews"
- NATRE exec
- Oak National online teaching platform
09:19 What's Real?
- #catholic mum, #atheist dad, brought up Catholic (christening, school, church)
- "You just accept the reality that you are given by your caretakers. And that was then reinforced at school... reinforced at church... with my friends..."
- Despite atheist dad: "At no point did I really consider that atheism was a valid worldview"
- At 8 yrs old "My dad had this big conversion... from being a complete and utter atheist and hating religion to becoming quite an evangelical Christian... he had a religious experience... he heard a voice... felt a pressure... waves of energy going through him."
- Going to protestant evangelical church with dad "so very different from my Catholic version... quite exciting... my whole family left the Catholic church and went to the Protestant church."
- "It was quite fundamentalist... to the point of it being quite judgmental"
- "University was the first time I really questioned anything... taken out of my little religious bubble... exposed to... alternative ideas"
- "A lot of the things I'd been told just didn't hold up... going to hell... attitudes to homosexuality..."
35:34 What Matters?
46:15 Who Matters?
01:11:26 A Better Future?
01:30:50 Follow Louisa
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
210 episodes
Manage episode 429565129 series 2882727
Louisa is a Religious Education (RE) Teacher and Head of Life Skills at a school in England. She is host of the RE podcast, an RE Subject reviewer for Oak National, a member of the NATRE (National Association for Teachers of Religious Education) executive committee and the Surrey SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) as well as being a public speaker and author.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the most important questions: “what’s real?”, “who matters?” and "how can we make a better world?"
Sentientism answers those questions with "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
00:00 Clips!
00:45 Welcome
- Kids today are "The most enlightened generation... so socially aware... so aware of, for better or worse, the bigger picture... so passionate about things that really matter."
- Jamie's appearance on The RE Podcast talking about Sentientism
- "The reason we love RE [religious education] is because we love those big questions... this is like a proper geek out for me!"
- The balance between neutrality and authenticity for RE teachers... how much to talk about your own worldview
05:45 Louisa's Intro
- 22 years of RE teaching in UK secondary schools
- The RE Podcast "little lockdown project... I'd been wanting to do something creative... the first dedicated podcast for students and teachers of RE"
- "I had no idea what a podcast was... the RE community... have been so supportive... now nearing 4 years of doing this... I absolutely love it"
- Religious Education "fairly unique... to British schools... a national entitlement... every child up to the age of 18"
- How RE has evolved from religious instruction "how to be a good Christian" to now: "religion and worldviews - everybody in the world has a worldview... we all stand somewhere... show respect... compassion for people who think differently... religious and non-religious worldviews"
- NATRE exec
- Oak National online teaching platform
09:19 What's Real?
- #catholic mum, #atheist dad, brought up Catholic (christening, school, church)
- "You just accept the reality that you are given by your caretakers. And that was then reinforced at school... reinforced at church... with my friends..."
- Despite atheist dad: "At no point did I really consider that atheism was a valid worldview"
- At 8 yrs old "My dad had this big conversion... from being a complete and utter atheist and hating religion to becoming quite an evangelical Christian... he had a religious experience... he heard a voice... felt a pressure... waves of energy going through him."
- Going to protestant evangelical church with dad "so very different from my Catholic version... quite exciting... my whole family left the Catholic church and went to the Protestant church."
- "It was quite fundamentalist... to the point of it being quite judgmental"
- "University was the first time I really questioned anything... taken out of my little religious bubble... exposed to... alternative ideas"
- "A lot of the things I'd been told just didn't hold up... going to hell... attitudes to homosexuality..."
35:34 What Matters?
46:15 Who Matters?
01:11:26 A Better Future?
01:30:50 Follow Louisa
Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall via this simple form.
Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. The biggest so far is here on FaceBook. Come join us there!
210 episodes
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