Rights and Responsibilities
Christianity Only
Key Words
Bible
Church
Conscience
The
Decalogue
Democratic
Processes
Electoral
Processes
The Golden
Rule
Human Rights
Political Party
Pressure
Group
Situation
Ethics
Social Change
The holy book of Christians
The community of Christians (with a small c it means place of
worship)
An inner feeling of the rightness or wrongness of an action
The ten commandments
The way in which all citizens take part in government (usually
through elections)
The way in which voting is organised
The teaching of Jesus that you should treat others as they would
like them to treat you
The rights and freedoms to which everyone is entitled
A group which tries to be elected into power on the basis of its
policies (e.g labour, conservative)
A group formed to influence government policy on a particular
issue
The idea that Christians should base their moral decisions on
what is the most loving thing to do
The way in which society has changed and is changing (and also
the possibilities for future change
LEARN THESE WORDS!!!!!!
THE BIBLE AS A BASIS FOR MAKING MORAL DECISIONS
The Main Point
Moral decisions are when you have to decide what is the right thing or the wrong thing to do. A simple
example would be should you tell a teacher that your best friend has cheated on their GCSE exam. Most people
need help when they are making a moral decision
Why many Christians use only the Bible when
making a moral decision
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They believe that the Bible is the word of God
and therefore its Gods guidance to humans
on how to live their life
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The Bible contains Gods teachings on how
Christians should behave. The Decalogue for
example gives clear guidance on issues such as
murder, treating parents and stealing
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The Bible contains the teachings of Jesus on
how to live your life such as ‘love your
neighbour’. Christians believe that Jesus is the
Son of God and they must follow his
teachings
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The Bible contains letters from Jesus’ leading
disciples on how a Christian should behave
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The Bible tells us what Jesus would have done
in certain situations. The woman who
committed adultery Jesus forgave.
Why some Christians do not think that the Bible is
the most important guide for making a moral
decision
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Some Christians believe that it was humans that
wrote the Bible and not God and that it was
inspired by God, therefore the attitudes need to be
changed
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Some Christians believe that the Church tells them
how to behave in the modern world much better
than the Bible
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Some Christians would use their conscience
instead of the Bible
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Some Christians think there are always unique
situations and would apply situation ethics to a
moral dilemma instead of the Bible
The Authority of the Church as a Basis for Making Moral
Decisions
Although the Bible is seen as the best guide for some Christians, there are many that think it is outdated
and needs interpreting for life in today’s world. Many people believe that the church can do this because:
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The Church is the body of Christ – Jesus working in today’s world – so it must have the same
authority
God speaks to the world today through the Church
The Church is guided by God in making decisions on today’s moral issues
Following the guidance of the Church stops Christians from being confused about what to do
It is a community of Christians that can support you to make the right decision
The role of the conscience as a guide in making moral
decisions
Main Points
All humans have a conscience which makes them feel guilty if they do things that are wrong. Some
Christians believe that they should follow the guidance of the church and the Bible but if their conscience tells
them differently they should follow that instead
Why some Christians believe that they should follow
their conscience
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They believe that the voice of the
conscience seems to be the same as the
voice of God and therefore Christians
should follow it
The church says that Christians should
follow their conscience as if it were the
voice from God
St Paul and St Thomas Aquinas said that
Christians should use their conscience as
the final part of the decision making process
The Bible often needs to be interpreted, the
teachings of the Church come through the
priest etch but it is the conscience that
speaks directly to the people and should be
followed
Why some Christians think you should not always follow your
conscience
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Some people have heard the voice of God telling them
to do bad things. If people can be mistaken about the
voice of God 9through mental illness) then they could
be mistaken about the conscience
If Christians follow the Bible instead then they are doing
what Christians are meant to do
If Christians follow the teachings of the Church instead
then they are doing what other Christians think is right
If everyone followed their conscience rather than laws
there would be chaos and nobody would know what
sort of behaviour to expect from each other
Situation Ethics as a guide for making moral decisions
Main Points
What is situation ethics?
Many Christians who think that the conscience is much more important than the Bible or the Church when
making a moral decision should follow situation ethics (doing the most loving thing). Situation Ethics began in the
1960’s by an American Christian thinker called Joseph Fletcher who believed that the Bible was outdated for a lot
of its rules and teachings and although it was a good thing to follow as a guide, there were some situations where
you couldn’t follow the rules in the Bible. He called these unique situations. For example, in the Bible it says that
stealing is wrong, however if you lived next door to someone who had nuclear weapons then you would want to
steal them to protect other people. Fletcher said that instead of looking in the Bible to find the answer to your
problem you should apply Jesus’ teaching of ‘love your neighbour’ and do the most loving thing in a situation. He
believed that every situation should be treated as a unique situation.
Why some Christians use situation ethics as a guide for
making moral decisions
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Jesus seemed to follow situation ethics because
he over ruled what the old testament said if he
thought it was un loving – He forgave the
woman who committed adultery and healed on
the Sabbath day
They think that Christians should only do what
produces good results, such as stealing the
nuclear weapons
Jesus said the greatest commandment was to
‘love your neighbour’ and this means that
Christians should always do the most loving
thing
They believe that Christianity is the religion of
live and so Christians should make their moral
decisions based on love and not laws
A Catholic who
would follow the
teaching of the
Church may find
they don’t agree on
their teachings
about
contraception and
not supplying
condoms to LEDCs
to help to combat
aids. They might
use situation ethics
instead
Some Christians might use
the Bible for issues like
stealing because it is
straight forward to use,
however the Bible says
nothing about
contraception or civil
partnerships so they may
have to look to the Church
Why some Christians think situation ethics is wrong
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They believe that the Bible is God’s word to
Christians about how to live and so it should be the
basis for moral decisions to be made
They believe that they should follow the ten
commandments rather than relying on their own
ideas
Morality shouldn’t be flexible it should be fixed
otherwise anything goes
They think that the Church knows better than the
individual Christian
They claim you can never be sure of the facts or
the consequences and so it is better to follow the
Bible
Why some Christians
use a variety of
authorities when
making moral
decisions
A Christian who
used situation
ethics might
decide the issue is
to complicated
and the safest
thing to do would
be follow the
Bible
A Christian who usually followed their
conscience might turn to the authority of
the Bible or the Church id what their
conscience was telling them to do went
against the teachings of their religion. A
good example would be their conscience
telling them to kill doctors who perform
abortions.
Human Rights in the UK
Main Points
In 1998, the Human Rights Act was passed giving UK citizens the rights given to EU citizens in the
European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Your main human rights are:
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The right to life – this means the law must protect you from being killed
Freedom from torture or degraded treatment
Freedom from slavery and forced labour
The right to liberty – this means that people are free to do anything that is not against the law
The right to a fair trial
The right to respect for private and family life
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion – nobody can persecute you for your beliefs
Freedom of expression – This means people can say what they think as long as it does not break
other laws
The right to meet with others and discuss their views
The right to marry or form a civil partnership
The right to own property
The right to an education
The right to take part in elections
If any of these rights and freedoms are abused then you have a right to go to court even if the abuse was
from a police officer. Cleary having human rights means that you should and have a duty to respect the
rights of others.
You may be asked to argue for and against human rights
To argue for you should use reasons such as:
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Without human rights such as the right to liberty and a fair trial you could find yourself living in a
dictatorship
Without freedom of thought and freedom of expression then ethnic minorities and minority
religions could be banned
Without the right to take part in elections there would be no democracy
To argue against, you could use reasons such as:
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People abuse human rights laws for example prisoners claiming punishment goes against their
human rights
In a democracy you don’t need special human rights because people can vote for what they want
You ought to be able to torture terrorists to find out where they have planted bombs
Why Human Rights are important to Christians
Christians think that human rights are important
because:
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The right to life is a basic human right as
Christians think all life is holy and belongs to God
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Christians believe that we are all made from God
and so we are all one family. We should all be
treated fairly
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Freedom of thought and expression are essential
parts of being a Christian. Christians must have
the right to share their beliefs with others and to
worship in their festivals
It is also an essential human right for Christians
not to be discriminated against for example
employers cannot refuse to employ someone
because they are Christian
But some Christians think that human rights can cause
problems because:
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Many Christians are against civil partnerships
as they believe it goes against Gods will in the
Bible
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Some Christians are against the right for
homosexuals to raise a family as they believe
children should be brought up by a mother
and father
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There would be problems in the Catholic
church id human rights laws were to argue for
women to become catholic priests
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Some Christians are against marrying
someone of a different faith
Why it is important to take part in electoral and
democratic processes
What are electoral and democratic processes?
The UK is a democracy and this means that every UK citizen over the age of 18 has the right to vote for:
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MP’s
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Local counsellors
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MEP’S (Members of European Parliament)
Every UK citizen over the age of 18 is entitled to be a candidate and to try and change policies on local
government, local council and EU
It is important to take part in electoral and democratic processes because:
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You pay income tax on wages and clothes and so it is important to have some control over this
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Local council sets the price of your council tax so it is important to have a say on this
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Taking part in electoral processes gives you a chance to affect new laws that may be passed
(teachers striking over pensions)
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The national government is in charge of NHS, schools, benefits and prisons and voting gives you a
say on how its run
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Local councils are responsible for bin collections, libraries and leisure activities and these are
important issues for you to have your say on
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Your ancestors fought to give you the right to vote so you should use it
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If people in the UK didn’t use their votes then smaller parties who you didn’t want to get in to
power would do
Christian Teachings on moral duties and responsibilities
Most Christians think that you should take part in electoral and democratic processes but you should be
guided by Christian teachings such as:
The Christian teaching
Why Christians should use this:
The Golden Rule ‘The teaching of Jesus
that you should treat others the way
you wish to be treated’
Christians should use this when voting. For example if a political party
wanted to send all asylum seekers back to where they a from then a
Christian could think ‘what would I want people to do to me’
The Parable of the Sheep and the
Goats – At the end of the world Jesus
will judge you all on how you have
lived your life. If you have ‘fed the
hungry, clothed the naked and visited
the sick then you will have eternal life’
if not then you will go to hell
This parable shows that is the duty of Christians to help the poor and
suffering by taking part in politics. For example, if a party ‘s policy was to
cut off benefits to the jobless who refused jobs then a Christian would
have to think about helping those people as Jesus taught that we should
help others in need
Am I my brothers keeper? – In Genesis,
Cain is jealous of his brother Abel and
murders him. When God asks Cain
where Abel is, Cain replies ‘am I my
brothers keeper?’ God then punishes
Cain because he created humans to be
their brothers keepers and to look
after each other
This shows Christians that they should love one another, we should help
others and have pity on those in need as it is our duty to look after
everyone
The nature of genetic engineering and cloning
Genetic engineering in medical issues is using techniques of gene development to find cures or prevention
of diseases and disabilities in humans (think My Sisters Keeper and Sarah in Emmerdale. Most genetic
research has been based on: germline gene therapy, which allows cells to transmit information from one
generation to the next to be changed and pre implantation genetic diagnosis, which removes defective
genes and embryos
Stem Cell Research
More recently, cloning processes have been used to grow healthy cells to replace diseased cells. This
involves creating stem cells from embryos produced in IVF but not used or from adult bone marrow or
blood
Non religious arguments in favour of genetic
engineering
Non religious arguments against genetic engineering
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It offers the prospect of cures for currently
deadly diseases
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There is too little information about the long
term consequences
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It is being done in other countries and is
available to those rich enough to travel
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It has effects which can’t be changed. If
anything went wrong it would be permanent
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Cloning using animal eggs does not involve any
loss of human life
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It places too much power in the hands of
scientists
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Genetic research is closely monitored by the
law but has vast potential benefits
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It treats the human body no different from
plants
Different Christian attitudes to genetic engineering and
cloning
Some Christians support genetic
engineering because:
Some Christians agree with genetic
research as long as it does not
involve the use of embryos because:
Some Christians are against al
genetic research because:
Jesus showed that Christians should do
all they can to cure diseases
Life begins at conception and so
killing is wrong
Finding gene cures is no different to
finding drug cures
Killing an embryo is killing a human
life
There is a difference between creating
cells and creating people
Thou shalt not kill
It is trying to play God which is a
great sin
Embryos have been produced by non
Christian means
It is wrong to make the earth perfect,
only heaven is perfect
Embryos are not foetuses until 14 days
They believe that God creates the
genetic make-up of a person at
conception and people have no right
to interfere with this