Religion(Transcript)

Zoe: Hello everyone, welcome to the first episode of Social Studies Thursdays. Today, we will talk about religion. You might be wondering, what is religion? Well, religion is our beliefs, or how we believe in. In the UK, 59.5% are Christian, 25.7% are Irreligious, 4.4% are Muslim, 1.3% are Hindu, 0.7% are Sikh, 0.4% are Jewish, 0.4% are Buddhist, 0.4% Others and 7.2% are Unknown. Follow me, as I will show you the first religion.

The camera follows Zoe to a protestant church near St. John Secondary School.

Zoe: So, the first religion I will show you is Christianity. There are many types of Christianity since the great schism in 1054, however, I will show you the major 2. Protestantism and Catholicism. For now, I will only show you Protestantism as Aidan will show you about Catholicism. So let me tell you the history of this religion.

Scene shows a slideshow of different painting from the middle ages.

Zoe: Protestantism shows a major role in English history. Ever since the Norman invasion to the present day. They were not very friendly towards other religions, especially Catholicism. Wanna know why? Follow me, as I will explain it. Starting with Pre-Reformation.

The first image in the slideshow is Arnold of Brescia.

Zoe: In the late 1130s, Arnold of Brescia, an Italian canon regular became one of the first theologians to attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church. After his death, his teachings on apostolic poverty gained currency among Arnoldists, and later more widely among Waldensians and the Spiritual Franciscans, though no written word of his has survived the official condemnation. In the early 1170s, Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians. He advocated an interpretation of the Gospel that led to conflicts with the Roman Catholic Church. By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to persecution. Despite that, the movement continues to exist to this day in Italy, as a part of the wider Reformed tradition.

The second image in the slideshow is John Wycliffe.

Zoe: In the 1370s, John Wycliffe—later dubbed the "Morning Star of Reformation"—started his activity as an English reformer. He rejected papal authority over secular power, translated the Bible into vernacular English, and preached anticlerical and biblically-centred reforms.

The third image in the slideshow is Jan Hus.

Zoe: Beginning in the first decade of the 15th century, Jan Hus—a Roman Catholic priest, Czech reformist and professor—influenced by John Wycliffe's writings, founded the Hussite movement. He strongly advocated his reformist Bohemian religious denomination.

The fourth image in the slideshow is the execution of Jan Hus.

Zoe: He was excommunicated and burned at the stake in Constance, Bishopric of Constance in 1415 by secular authorities for unrepentant and persistent heresy. After his execution, a revolt erupted. Hussites defeated five continuous crusades proclaimed against them by the Pope.

The fifth image in the slideshow are Utraquists and the Taborites.

Zoe: Later on, theological disputes caused a split within the Hussite movement. Utraquists maintained that both the bread and the wine should be administered to the people during the Eucharist. Another major faction were the Taborites, who opposed the Utraquists in the Battle of Lipany during the Hussite Wars. There were two separate parties among the Hussites: moderate and radical movements. Other smaller regional Hussite branches in Bohemia included Adamites, Orebites, Orphans and Praguers.

The sixth image in the slideshow are the Hussite Wars, including the 30 years' war.

Zoe: The Hussite Wars concluded with the victory of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, his Catholic allies and moderate Hussites and the defeat of the radical Hussites. Tensions arose as the Thirty Years' War reached Bohemia in 1620. Both moderate and radical Hussitism was increasingly persecuted by Catholics and Holy Roman Emperor's armies.

The seventh image in the slideshow is Girolamo Savonarola.

Zoe: Starting in 1475, an Italian Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was calling for a Christian renewal. Later on, Martin Luther himself read some of the friar's writings and praised him as a martyr and forerunner whose ideas on faith and grace anticipated Luther's own doctrine of justification by faith alone.

The eighth image in the slideshow is a stained glass image of the Unitas Fratrum.

Zoe: Some of Hus' followers founded the Unitas Fratrum—"Unity of the Brethren"—which was renewed under the leadership of Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf in Herrnhut, Saxony in 1722 after its almost total destruction in the Thirty Years' War and the Counter-Reformation. Today, it is usually referred to in English as the Moravian Church and in German as the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine.

Scene cuts back to Zoe in the church.

Zoe: So that's it for the pre-reformation era for Protestantism. Now it's time for Reformation Proper.

The first image in the slideshow is Martin Luther.

Zoe: On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther allegedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany, detailing doctrinal and practical abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the selling of indulgences. The theses debated and criticised many aspects of the Church and the papacy, including the practice of purgatory, particular judgement, and the authority of the pope. Luther would later write works against the Catholic devotion to Virgin Mary, the intercession of and devotion to the saints, mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and excommunication, the role of secular rulers in religious matters, the relationship between Christianity and the law, good works, and the sacraments.

The second image in the slideshow is Johannes Gutenberg.

Zoe: The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg. Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward, religious pamphlets flooded much of Europe.

The third image in the slideshow are Martin Luther, John Calvin and William Farel.

Zoe: Following the excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the Pope, the work and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere. After the expulsion of its Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Bern reformer William Farel, Calvin was asked to use the organisational skill he had gathered as a student of law to discipline the city of Geneva. His Ordinances of 1541 involved a collaboration of Church affairs with the City council and consistory to bring morality to all areas of life. After the establishment of the Geneva academy in 1559, Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, providing refuge for Protestant exiles from all over Europe and educating them as Calvinist missionaries. The faith continued to spread after Calvin's death in 1563.

The fourth image in the slideshow are stained glass from French and German Cathedrals.

Zoe: Protestantism also spread from the German lands into France, where the Protestants were nicknamed Huguenots. Calvin continued to take an interest in the French religious affairs from his base in Geneva. He regularly trained pastors to lead congregations there. Despite heavy persecution, the Reformed tradition made steady progress across large sections of the nation, appealing to people alienated by the obduracy and the complacency of the Catholic establishment. French Protestantism came to acquire a distinctly political character, made all the more obvious by the conversions of nobles during the 1550s. This established the preconditions for a series of conflicts, known as the French Wars of Religion. The civil wars gained impetus with the sudden death of Henry II of France in 1559. Atrocity and outrage became the defining characteristics of the time, illustrated at their most intense in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of August 1572, when the Roman Catholic party annihilated between 30,000 and 100,000 Huguenots across France. The wars only concluded when Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, promising official toleration of the Protestant minority, but under highly restricted conditions. Roman Catholicism remained the official state religion, and the fortunes of French Protestants gradually declined over the next century, culminating in Louis XIV's Edict of Fontainebleau which revoked the Edict of Nantes and made Roman Catholicism the sole legal religion once again. In response to the Edict of Fontainebleau, Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg declared the Edict of Potsdam, giving free passage to Huguenot refugees. In the late 17th century many Huguenots fled to England, the Netherlands, Prussia, Switzerland, and the English and Dutch overseas colonies. A significant community in France remained in the Cévennes region.

The fifth image in the slideshow are stained glass images of every Cathedral in Europe.

Zoe: Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli. Zwingli was a scholar and preacher, who in 1518 moved to Zurich. Although the two movements agreed on many issues of theology, some unresolved differences kept them separate. A long-standing resentment between the German states and the Swiss Confederation led to heated debate over how much Zwingli owed his ideas to Lutheranism. The German Prince Philip of Hesse saw potential in creating an alliance between Zwingli and Luther. A meeting was held in his castle in 1529, now known as the Colloquy of Marburg, which has become infamous for its failure. The two men could not come to any agreement due to their disputation over one key doctrine.

The sixth image in the slideshow is King Henry VIII, Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I and the English Civil War.

Zoe: In 1534, King Henry VIII put an end to all papal jurisdiction in England, after the Pope failed to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon; this opened the door to reformational ideas. Reformers in the Church of England alternated between sympathies for ancient Catholic tradition and more Reformed principles, gradually developing into a tradition considered a middle way (via media) between the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. The English Reformation followed a particular course. The different character of the English Reformation came primarily from the fact that it was driven initially by the political necessities of Henry VIII. King Henry decided to remove the Church of England from the authority of Rome. In 1534, the Act of Supremacy recognized Henry as the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England. Between 1535 and 1540, under Thomas Cromwell, the policy known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries was put into effect. Following a brief Roman Catholic restoration during the reign of Mary I, a loose consensus developed during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement largely formed Anglicanism into a distinctive church tradition. The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme Calvinism on the one hand and Roman Catholicism on the other. It was relatively successful until the Puritan Revolution or English Civil War in the 17th century.

The seventh image in the slideshow are Puritans.

Zoe: The success of the Counter-Reformation on the Continent and the growth of a Puritan party dedicated to further Protestant reform polarised the Elizabethan Age. The early Puritan movement was a movement for reform in the Church of England. The desire was for the Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially Geneva. The later Puritan movement, often referred to as dissenters and nonconformists, eventually led to the formation of various Reformed denominations.

The eighth image in the slideshow is the Church of Scotland.

Zoe: The Scottish Reformation of 1560 decisively shaped the Church of Scotland. The Reformation in Scotland culminated ecclesiastically in the establishment of a church along Reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France. John Knox is regarded as the leader of the Scottish Reformation. The Scottish Reformation Parliament of 1560 repudiated the pope's authority by the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith. It was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter.

The ninth image of the slideshow shows different activists of the Protestant Reformation.

Zoe: Some of the most important activists of the Protestant Reformation included Jacobus Arminius, Theodore Beza, Martin Bucer, Andreas von Carlstadt, Heinrich Bullinger, Balthasar Hubmaier, Thomas Cranmer, William Farel, Thomas Müntzer, Laurentius Petri, Olaus Petri, Philipp Melanchthon, Menno Simons, Louis de Berquin, Primož Trubar and John Smyth.

The tenth image of the slideshow shows different wars involving Protestantism.

Zoe: In the course of this religious upheaval, the German Peasants' War of 1524–25 swept through the Bavarian, Thuringian and Swabian principalities. After the Eighty Years' War in the Low Countries and the French Wars of Religion, the confessional division of the states of the Holy Roman Empire eventually erupted in the Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648. It devastated much of Germany, killing between 25% and 40% of its population.

Scene cuts back to Zoe in a church.

Zoe: Also I forgot to mention, during the Tudor ages, Queen Mary I wanted to get rid of Protestants of England by executing them. She even executed a protestant named Lady Jane Grey, who was de facto Queen of England and reigned for 7 days because of that. That's why different religions fight each other, even during the crusades when Christians are fighting Muslims. Now, we don't do that anymore, despite terrorist attacks and stuff. Also, do you know that most of the students in St. John Secondary School are Protestants? We have some students who aren't protestants, but skip that for now. On to Aidan as he will show you about Catholicism.

Scene cuts to a Catholic church where Aidan is.

Aidan: Hello everyone, I'm Aidan and I will show you about the next religion, Catholicism. Catholicism also plays a major role in English history, mainly Bloody Mary's reign. Now I'll tell you the differences between Protestants and Catholics, because you might think they're the same when they're not. Well, Protestants listen to preachings by a pastor while Catholics listen to priests or popes. We both use the bible, but us Catholics worship saints and pray with rosaries, Protestants don't do these things. Now for the facts, the country with the most catholics in the world is Mexico, the most Catholics in Asia is the Philippines. Enough said, Zoe has already explained enough about Christianity while I cannot explain anything about Catholicism because of how limited our time is. So now let's move over to Oakley.

Scene cuts to the library where Oakley.

Oakley: Hello everyone, my name is Oakley and I'm a Muslim. And yes, we aren't filmed in a mosque because mosques banned filming. Anyways, let me tell you what is Islam. Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah), and that Muhammad is a messenger of God. It is the world's second-largest religion with over 1.8 billion followers or 24.1% of the world's population, known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 49 countries. Now, why are we called terrorists? Well, this has started in the 11th of September 2001.

Scene shows an image of the World Trade Centre being destroyed.

Oakley: As you see here, this is the World Trade Centre in New York being destroyed. You may be asking, 'hey Oakley, you're a Muslim, were you laughing when you see this happening?' Well, no, no this is all wrong! Even if I'm a Muslim, I shouldn't be laughing at this event. I'm not Osama Bin Laden or any evil terrorist. Glad he's dead, he's showing the world that we're bad people when we're actually good. Even if ISIS exists, everyone thinks we're bad people. Anyways, let me tell you why everyone hates us.

The first image of the slideshow is a painting of Saladin and Guy of Lusignan after the Battle of Hattin.

Oakley: Beginning in the 8th century, the Iberian Christian kingdoms had begun the Reconquista aimed at retaking Al-Andalus from the Moors. In 1095, Pope Urban II, inspired by the conquests in Spain by Christian forces and implored by the eastern Roman emperor to help defend Christianity in the East, called for the First Crusade from Western Europe which captured Edessa, Antioch, County of Tripoli and Jerusalem. In the early period of the Crusades, the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem emerged and for a time controlled Jerusalem. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and other smaller Crusader kingdoms over the next 90 years formed part of the complicated politics of the Levant, but did not threaten the Islamic Caliphate nor other powers in the region. After Shirkuh ended Fatimid rule in 1169, uniting it with Syria, the Crusader kingdoms were faced with a threat, and his nephew Saladin conquered most of the area in 1187, leaving the Crusaders holding a few ports. In the Third Crusade armies from Europe failed to recapture Jerusalem, though Crusader states lingered for several decades, and other crusades followed. The Christian Reconquista continued in Al-Andalus, and was eventually completed with the fall of Granada in 1492. During the low period of the Crusades, the Fourth Crusade was diverted from the Levant and instead took Constantinople, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire (now the Byzantine Empire) further weakened in their long struggle against the Turkish peoples to the east. However, the crusades did manage to damage Islamic caliphates; according to William of Malmesbury, preventing them from further expansion into Christendom and being targets of the Mamluks and the Mongols.

Scene cuts back to the library with Oakley.

Oakley: Now during the modern times, people see us as bad people. There have been major conflicts in different countries because of us like Palestine, Kashmir, Xinjiang, Chechnya, Central Africa, Bosnia and Myanmar. If you see a Muslim on the sidewalk, don't point at us using the index finger, this is impolite. Also, don't call us terrorists because of terrorist attacks that have been happening. Enough said, now let Ankit takeover.

Scene cuts to the auditorium with Ankit.

Ankit: Hello everyone, I'm Ankit and I'm a Hindu. Hindus consist of most of the population in India, and I'm one of those Indians. And you may be wondering, what are Hindus? Hindus are people who includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but has no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, no prophet(s) nor any binding holy book; Hindus can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, henotheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. Ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle including: vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste, are subjects of debate, not dogma.

The camera follows Ankit out of the auditorium.

Ankit: Us Hindus believe in different gods, but I don't believe in one in particular. Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two schools, Vedanta and Yoga, are currently the most prominent. Classified by primary deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents are Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Devi) and Smartism (five deities treated as same). I think this is enough said, let's move on to Troy.

Scene cuts to the choir classroom where Troy is.

Troy: Hello, I'm Troy and I'm Jewish. Jews are an ethnoreligious group and a nation, originating from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. People claim that we are descendants of Abraham in the Bible which is basically true because God says that the stars in the sky are Abraham's descendants.

The image of the slideshow shows the characters from the bible.

Troy: Well, Jews originated as an ethnic and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, in the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel. The Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE (Late Bronze Age). The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as 'Hebrews'. Though few sources mention the exilic periods in detail, the experience of diaspora life, from the Ancient Egyptian rule over the Levant, to Assyrian captivity and exile, to Babylonian captivity and exile, to Seleucid Imperial rule, to the Roman occupation and exile, and the historical relations between Jews and their homeland thereafter, became a major feature of Jewish history, identity and memory. Prior to World War II, the worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million, representing around 0.7 percent of the world population at that time. Approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has slowly risen again, and as of 2018 was estimated at 14.6–17.8 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank, less than 0.2 percent of the total world population.

The next image of the slideshow shows the Israelites while they were slaves of the Egyptians.

Troy: During the Exodus times, Israelites have become slaves to the Egyptians. This has been going on for years until Moses delivered them to the promise land, which is currently Israel. Now, there have been terrorists attacks and Israel, definitely isn't the promised land. But, we are grateful to have some Jews living outside of Israel.

Scene cuts back to Troy in the choir classroom.

Troy: Now for the facts, this one is scary. Do you know how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust? I kind of felt uncomfortable with this topic, but about more than a 3rd were murdered at the time. The most notable one was Anne Frank. Also, do you know that Albert Einstein is also Jewish? He also escaped from the Holocaust during World War 2 and lived in America. Enough said, now it's Aiden's turn to takeover.

Scene cuts to the school backyard with Aiden.

Aiden: Hello everyone, I'm Aiden and I'm a Buddhist. But, we couldn't film on any Buddhist temple because they have banned filming. Anyways, Buddhism is not common here in the UK, but it doesn't mean I could explain it to you. So, Buddhist people worship Buddha, Buddha was a philosopher, mendicant, meditator, spiritual teacher, and religious leader who lived in ancient India (c. 5th to 4th century BCE). He is revered as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay. His teaching is based on his insight into duḥkha (typically translated as "suffering") and the end of dukkha – the state called Nibbāna or Nirvana.

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana started playing. But Aiden stopped the music.

Aiden: No, not that Nirvana. Enough said, we are limited in time, so please stayed tuned for next week's Social Studies Thursdays next week. Bye!