(CNN Student News) -- Your students will examine the similarities among Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Procedure

Remind students that according to today's news report, more than half of the world's population claims to adhere to either Judaism, Islam or Christianity.

Have your students learn about Christianity, Judaism and Islam and the similarities that exist among these faiths. Divide your class into three groups, and assign each group one of the three religions. Instruct each group to consult library and online resources to learn about the beliefs, customs and holy days associated with its assigned religion. After groups complete their research, ask students to share their findings and to identify the common critical themes associated with the three religions, including sacraments, good deeds and worship. Following the discussion, inform students that they will be conducting a mock religious summit that will be attended by world leaders. Have each group draw upon its research to prepare a persuasive speech that a group representative will deliver at the meeting. Each group's speech should underscore the similarities between its religion and the other two faiths, and how having a better understanding of these similarities might help to foster world peace.

Correlated Standards

Thinking and Reasoning

Standard 3: Effectively uses mental processes that are based on identifying similarities and differences

Level IV (Grade 9-12)

Benchmark 2. Identifies abstract patterns of similarities and differences between information on the same topic but from different sources

McREL: Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education (Copyright 2000 McREL) is published online by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) (), 2550 S. Parker Road, Suite 500, Aurora, CO 80014.

United States and World History (5-12)

Historical Thinking: Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation

A. Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions by identifying likenesses and differences.

The National Standards for History () are published by the National Center for History in the Schools ().

Keywords

religion, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, beliefs, customs, holy days

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