18. Without Fear or Favour (Part 2)

INTRODUCTION

Remind students about the meaning of the term ‘without fear or favour’: encouraging those with power and/or influence to behave with fairness as their top priority.

Remind them also about the ideas they discussed about ‘nepotism’, where people deliberately give their friends and relations an unfair advantage in gaining job opportunities or promotions.

ACTIVITY

Engage students in a role-playing activity, called, ‘Without fear or favour’.

Explain the scenario:

All the students are to play the part of people who have been working abroad for a few years and have not had access to news from home. They have now suddenly been recalled to Britain to help the effort to re-establish the nation as one of the great powers of the world.

When they return they discover that the government has been taken over by a group known as the Nazbrits. They came to power in a military coup which resulted in the execution or imprisonment of most of the previously democratically elected government. Only members of the Nazbrit group are allowed to have positions of power or authority, so many ordinary people have joined them. To join, people only have to swear allegiance to the Supreme Leader of the Nazbrits, promise to pay their taxes and join in the annual celebration of ‘Liberation Day’ which commemorates the day the Nazbrits took control of parliament.

The Nazbrits blame the members of the old political parties in Britain for the downturn in Britain’s fortunes and for allowing too many immigrants into the country. They have begun to execute or imprison prominent members of those parties, and forbidden people to start up any opposition parties. They have taken control of the media and also begun a series of enforced ‘repatriations’ of immigrants, sending thousands of people ‘back where they came from’. In addition, public expressions of religion have been outlawed and religious buildings are being turned into museums, shops, factories or new housing estates.

Divide the students into teams and explain that, as newly returned citizens of the UK, with no easy way back out, they have to decide what to do. Encourage them to respond to such questions as:

  • What do you think of the new government?
  • What do you think will become of the country in the coming years if the Nazbrits remain in power?
  • What will the Nazbrits do when their attention turns to education, do you think?
  • What are the options for you as returning workers?

After some discussion time, get some feedback from the groups and encourage an exchange of views and ideas.

Ask them to imagine that the Nazbrits are planning to ‘recapture’ the ancient British territories in France as a first step in re-establishing British power in the world.

  • What happens next?
  • What do the students plan to do as participants in the play?

CONCLUSIONS

Get some feedback on their ideas and plans and ask them to reflect on whether their ideas are consistent with the encouragement to act ‘without fear or favour’.

SECONDARY SESSIONS: LIST OF TOPICS
1.  Happiness Part 1: status anxiety
2.  Happiness Part 2: religion and happiness
3.  Happiness Part 3: what is happiness?
4.  Morality Part 1: what is morality?
5.  Morality Part 2: should we live by ‘moral laws’?
6.  Morality Part 3: where does our sense of morality come from?
7.  Are You Religious?
8.  What Is a Religion and what is a Cult?
9.  What does it Mean to be Religious Today?
10. Religion in Numbers Part 1: how many people on Earth?
11. Religion in Numbers Part 2: how many people are ‘religious’?
12. Religion in Numbers Part 3: how did believers got to where they are?
13. Are All Religions Equal?
14. Transactional Analysis: learning how to feel equal
15. Bloom’s Taxonomy
16. Harry Potter and God
17. Without Fear or Favour Part 1
18. Without Fear or Favour Part 2
19. It’s Not Fair
20. Mind, Memory and Justice
21. Karma, Memory, Freedom and Justice
22. The Religion of Ordinary Life Part 1: Religion Without God
23. The Religion of Ordinary Life Part 2: God and Morality
24. The Religion of Ordinary Life Part 3: Is Life Beautiful?
25. Can Atheists learn anything from Religion?
26. What do Buddhists Believe about God?
27. Is Seeing Believing?
28. Are We Being Hypnotised?
29. Sex and Relationships
30. Truth, Proof and Evidence
31. How should we deal with the range of different opinions in today’s world?
32. Is Religion a Force for Evil or Good?
33. Do Religious Experiences Prove God?
34. What Is Evil?
35. God and Evil
36. Can we verify Religious Experiences?
37. How Spiritual are You?
38. What is Philosphy?
39. The Power of Words
40. Art and Beauty

A printable (pdf) version of this session can be found here

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