WEBQUEST ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah

By Oba-Ahday Connor

adaconnor@yahoo.com

P.S. 133

Fifth Grade

INTRODUCTION:

You are a student who lives in the city of Hialeah and your family practices the religion of Santeria. Your family has attended other church before they moved to the area. There have been rumors in the community that a Santeria Church will open in your community in a few weeks. When the city council is your town heard of the plans of the church opening they held an emergency meeting. The Santeria religion is a blending of African and Roman Catholic religions. In the Santeria religions animals are sacrificed during some of the ceremonies. As a result, the city council decided that the sacrificing of animals shouldn’t be allowed for religious purposes but would continue in certain places as long as it was used for food. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city.

TASK:

You will put together a presentation for the city council trying to get them to change their minds. In your presentation you will explain the practices of the Santeria religion and why animal sacrifice is a part of the ceremony. You will write a convincing speech and prepare a presentation that ill hopefully sway the city council to change their minds and allow the church to practice its rituals.

PROCESS:

Day One: You will first do research on the First Amendment, more specifically the right to Freedom of Religion protected by the First Amendment. You will use the links in the resource section.

Day Two: Next you will also do research and analysis on the basic principals of Catholicism and African religions.

Day Three: You will role-play your presentation to the city council. Other members of the class will be divided into parts. For instance, the students, the parents, members of the city council, members of the Santeria church, members of the community against the church and audience members.

RESOURCES:

http://www.maxwell.syr.edy/plegal/scales/lukumi.html

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=US&vol=508&page-520

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/

http://www.vatican.va/

http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/sub/yoruba.html

EVALUATION:

Based on their preparation and performance for the role-play, the students will be evaluated by the teacher.

The students will all prepare a speech in favor of the Santeria church using their research.

After the students have researched and analyzed the resources in the resource section, and at the end of the role play, they will be asked to write about their difference in opinion at the end of this experience as compared with their experience at the beginning.

CONCLUSION:

During their research and analysis phase, the students will have learned about the democratic process, where they learn that there are different forums for expressing their opinions. They also will have learned how to prepare written and oral presentations as they relate specifically to a Supreme Court Case and Freedom of Religion.

STANDARDS:

English Language Arts:

E1c-Read and comprehend information materials

E3b-Participate in group meetings

E3c-Prepare and deliver an individual presentation

E4a-Demonstrate an understanding of the rules of the English Language in written and

Oral work

E5a-Utlizing and analyzing functional documents

E7a-Utilizing and analyzing public documents

Social Studies:

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York

Standard 5: Civic, Citizenship and Government

Career Development and Occupational Standards:

II: Integrated Learning