A study of beliefs and religions provides new perspectives.

During the weeks leading up to the end of Term 2, the Year 7&8 students had been doing an inquiry about beliefs. With the intention of discovering more about our peers, ourselves and about the multiple cultures around the world, one of our learning experiences was to take a field trip to ‘Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple’ and ‘Knox Church’ to help with this. After being split into two groups, my group and I entered the Buddhist Temple. Immediately, we were welcomed with a wholesome greeting and a welcoming environment from the members of the Temple and given a tour around the building. They had a recent rebuild and have made the temple more modern with accommodation of an art gallery, library and cafe, which is entirely open to the public. We ended the session with a video about the origins of the religion and were led through a calming meditation, made even better by the beautiful decorating in the shrine room. We were given a little fan and meditation bell as a parting gift and then we moved to the final destination: the KNOX Church. Knox Church has recently been rebuilt incorporating rich decor and old architectural design, which complimented the use of the space and gave an authentic feel to the church as they still included today’s modern style on the outside. We were given the story of why many Christians follow the religion and a quick performance on the organ. To hear this beautiful instrument played emphasised it’s beauty, as the sound travelled off the high ceilings. It was a great day out with the great kids in T@TT.

By Aleksandra Bogdanova