• Develops literacy, vocabulary, geography, politics!
• Improves research skills!
• Explains the global issue simply and clearly, without bias!
• Helps make the current situation clear to the student!
• Encourages the student to "connect up", understand & look for solutions to problems!
• Hands-on activities make civics relevant to the student!
• Develops critical thinking skills!
• Develops study in a self-determined manner!
• Lesson plans are complete and ready to use!  Start now!

Just wanted to put in a hurrah for STEPS Religious Tolerance Step 3-4 course.

My son is really enjoying the material and the process of thinking about and discussing tolerance and religious differences. He's a reluctant writer, and some of the assignments have really challenged him (thanks!). He's produced some decent work that really illustrates deeping of thought. It's been a great complement to his religious ed program at our Unitarian Universalist Church this year but could be used without any previous background in world religions, since some exploration in this area is included in the study.

The last section on the United Nations' declaration regarding religious and tolerance has stretched his thoughts, critical thinking, and vocabulary. It's been by far the most difficult writing of this course, and I'm delighted to see him thinking and working so hard.  I'm looking forward to exploring more in the STEPS "World Problems" series.   S.M., Homeschool Mom
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Another in STEPS series of Current Events courses for ages 9-adult.

These courses each start by defining a global problem. Then, the course leads the student through directed research, so that the student can get a real grasp of the current situation for that issue. The student follows this up with creative exercises which help define the issue and the student's response to it as a concerned citizen of the world.

For the student who wants to fully understand the problem of religious intolerance. 

In a world regularly tortured by religious war, terrorism and fear, no one can afford to not be aware of this core dilemma, one that separates families and nations, and results all too often in bloodshed and hatred.

Religious Intolerance – a failure in mankind and a plague that has fathered far too many wars, has laid to rest tens of millions of people in their graves on nearly every continent on Earth. Yet it is too rarely discussed, and is generally not deemed an appropriate subject in schools which run away from any religiously-based discussion.

Here is a course which does not run away from this difficult subject. A definition of religion, including descriptions of the major religions and a brief idea of where they came from, is provided. Intolerance is then considered in detail. What is intolerance? What are the sources of intolerance, and how can it be confronted and handled?

Specific tools are offered for the handling of intolerance, and many exercises are provided. The student also does a fair amount of structured research, improving his skills as he discovers ever more about this important problem.

The student will need access to the internet, a globe and an atlas (or internet atlas).  11 lessons.

A self-contained course, to be done in under 30 hours.

Concepts covered in this course include:

• Defining what religion is
• Defining what religious freedom is
• Defining the beliefs of many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Confucianism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism
• Schisms within major religions defined
• Why religion is not discussed in polite society
• Defining religious intolerance
• "Holy Wars" - Crusades and Jihads
• A history of religious intolerance
• Ways intolerance can be stopped
• What is being done today about intolerance
• The U.N. Declaration of the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief