Tapestry of Faith: Love Connects Us: A Program on Living in Unitarian Universalist Covenant for Grades 4-5

Activity 2: Story - Discovering Truth through Science and Religion

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Read the story several times so you will be comfortable sharing it.

Description of Activity

Tell or read the story to participants.

After the story, invite the group to be silent for a moment to think about it.

Begin a discussion by asking the children to recap the story in their own words. What they recall indicates what they found most meaningful or memorable.

Lead a discussion using questions such as:

  • Why do you think Joseph Priestley continued his search for truth even after he lost everything and had to flee to another country?
  • Why didn't Joseph Priestley see a conflict between religion and science when others did?
  • What is the difference between religion and science?
  • What is similar between religion and science?
  • How do you use religion and science to help you search for the truth?
  • How does our Unitarian Universalist faith encourage us to use both faith and science to discover answers to our questions?

Including All Participants

Provide a hard copy of the story for hearing impaired participants so they can read along as you tell the story.