You answer two questions about
Christianity in this exam. The first
question is about:
This PowerPoint tells you what you
need to know. The final slide also has
some suggested revision activities.
There are four key areas for this
question:
160 million people died in wars in the Twentieth Century. Most Christians
believe that war is a bad thing.
However, there are some exceptions:
 HOLY WAR
These are wars to protect a religion. For example the Crusades were wars
by Christians against Muslims in the Middle Ages.
Most modern Christians would not support Holy War.
 JUST WAR
Some Christians think that some war can be ‘just’ [good]. These ideas
developed over 100s of years from different people of different religions
including Thomas Aquianas, Hugo Grotius and Cicero.
Just Wars must follow certain rules.
 JUST WAR
Just Wars must follow certain rules, which have Latin names
Jus ad bellum
You must have good reasons for fighting a war
You must have no other options
Jus in bello
You must fight it well – don’t use over the top force, don’t kill civilians
[people who aren’t soldiers]
Jus post bellum
You must end the war fairly and try to get peace
You must make sure that the punishment is fair
Many people see the Second World War as a ‘just war’
Most Christians are against violence but some are COMPLETELY against
violence. They are called Pacifists.
The Bible shows that Jesus was against violence – he said “live by the
sword, die by the sword”
Jesus taught ‘agape’ – selfless love . He told people to “love thy neighbour”
But the Bible also shows that Jesus got angry – he knocked over the
tables of the money lenders and whipped them out of the temple
Even Pacifists sometimes use violence. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a
Christian Pacifist in Nazi Germany who tried to blow up Hitler.
Christian Pacifists who refused to fight for the British Army in the World
Wars are called Conscientious Objectors. Many were ‘Quakers’ – a group
of Christians who are pacifists.
Christians believe that they should have 4 good characteristics, these are
called the 4 Cardinal Virtues. They are:
prudence – carefulness
temperance – self control
fortitude – strength
justice –treating people fairly
Jesus taught that people should forgive lots of time. He suggested
“seventy times seven”.
Jesus told the Parable of the Prodigal Son where a young man left his
family, wasted his father’s money, but was still welcomed home and
forgiven.
Jesus also made friends with people who had done things wrong but were
sorry about it, for example ex-prostitutes and thieves. When a woman was
about to be stoned to death for cheating on her husband he told the
crowd “he who is without sin cast the first stone”
Most Christians accept that there are times when people need to be
punished for their crimes.
The Old Testament of the Bible has very strict punishments including an
“eye for an eye”. Some Christians, especially in other countries (eg the
USA) support Capital Punishment – this means killing people who murder.
Most Christians believe there should be punishments including prison. This
is for 4 reasons
Deterrence – to put people off committing crime
Protection – to stop people from committing more cries
Retribution – to show the public that people have been punished
Reformation – to make the criminals change and be better
Some Christians visit prisons to help prisoners and to try to make sure
they are treated properly. A famous example was Elizabeth Fry who
worked 100 years ago to stop the mistreatment of prisoners.
Social injustice means unfairness in the world (e.g. racism, sexism)
Social justice means fairness in the world (e.g. no racism, no sexism)
Different Christians respond to social injustice in different ways:
Some pray for change
Some protest peacefully, for example Martin Luther King who protested
against racism in the USA in the 1950s and 60s.
Some help Christian charities. They believe that everyone is made in God’s
image, so everyone should help each other. Some examples of Christian
charities are:
- Amnesty International
- Salvation Army
- Christian Aid
- Cafod
Some Christians think social injustice is so bad that you can fight against
it, including using violence. These ideas are called ‘Liberation Theology’.
Liberation means freedom, theology means studying God and religion.
Liberation Theology is mainly in South America and Asia.
It says that social injustice is so wrong that Jesus would want Christians
to fight against it.
Two famous Christian priests who supported Liberation Theology were
Torres and Romero. Both were shot and killed.
Most Christians in the UK do not support Liberation Theology. They would
see Torres’ and Romero’s deaths as evidence of Jesus’ statement “live by
the sword, die by the sword”
READ through the PowerPoint. As you do, SEARCH the internet
for pictures to help you remember the examples and ADD them
into the slides.
PLAY the PowerPoint through. The titles and pictures will appear
before the words. See how much of the writing you can
REMEMBER. You can then bring up the writing to CHECK. Try to
REPEAT this several times until you are remembering more of the
writing.
Look at the QUESTIONS that have been asked about this in
previous exams. The questions are listed on the Word document
next to where you found this PowerPoint. CHECK you know what all
the words mean. PLAN your answers to some of the questions. You
can also WRITE practice answers and show them to your teacher.