RE GCSE
Marriage and the family
Mrs Strange
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Marriage and the family
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Marriage
Divorce and remarriage
Family life and upbringing
Love, sex and relationships
Key words for marriage and the
family
• Cohabitation: living together without marriage
• Civil ceremony: marriage recognized by law but without
religious involvement
• In-laws: relations gained on marriage
• Wedding: a marriage service
• Registry office: place where births, marriages and deaths
are registered
• Marriage: the legal union of a husband and wife
• Divorce: official separation/dissolving of marriage
Cohabitation – for and against
• Enables a couple to know
each other before
committing to marriage
• Chance to see if sexually
compatible
• If things go wrong split
without divorce
• A couple can always
marry if they decide to
have children
• Encourages a casual
attitude to relationships
• Can know if compatible
without living together
• If too easy to break up
couples will separate
over differences which
could be patched up
• Children need a stable
home with two parents –
best achieved through
marriage
Christian ideas about marriage: the
wedding service
• The Christian wedding service combines legal
and religious aspects. This marriage takes place
in the sight of God and is intended to be
permanent. The vows the couple take stress
their faithfulness to each other through every
possible experience of life.
• The Roman Catholic service ends with a Nuptial
Mass.
• The wedding service and the Bible both stress
that marriage is forever. Some churches will
remarry divorced people but most will not.
Importance of marriage and the
vows
• Marriage is important for
Christians because:
• It is a gift from God and
he intended men and
women to live together
• Men and women should
help and support one
another and be faithful
• It is for bringing up
children
I take you, ...,
to be my wife [or
husband].
to have and to hold
from this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part,
according to God's holy
law;
and this is my solemn
vow.
Muslim beliefs on marriage
• Important to the prophets including
Muhammed
• Normal duty of every human being
• Qur’an advocates equality in marriage and
a Muslim woman keeps her own name
along with property she may own
• A husband must provide his wife with a
good standard of living
Arranged Marriage
This is a selection of marriage partner,
often arranged by the parents. Sometimes
adverts are used in Muslim magazines.
Love is expected to come after the
marriage, not before. Both partners must
agree to the marriage but most trust their
parents to make the right choice for them.
Arranged marriages
• The west make fun of the Islamic way of marriage in
particular arranged marriage, yet the irony is that
statistically arranged marriages prove to be more
successful and lasting than romantic types of courtship.
• This is because people are blinded by the physical
attraction and thus do not choose the compatible partner.
• Love blinds people to potential problems in the
relationship. There is an Arabic saying: which says "the
mirror of love is blind, it makes zucchini into okra".
Arranged marriages on the other hand, are based not on
physical attraction or romantic notions but rather on
critical evaluation of the compatibility of the couple.
• This is why they often prove successful.
Key words linked to Islamic religion and marriage
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Mahr: dowry of money or jewellery for the bride
Polygamy: more than one marriage allowed
Imam: leader of prayers in a mosque
Nikah: marriage contract
Khul:divorce at the request of the wife
Mosque: religious centre for prayers
Hadith: traditions relating to Muhammed
Allah: God
Qur’an: Muslim religious book
Muslim Weddings
• Two sets of parents fix a contract which includes
a dowry
• Marriage can take place at a mosque or the
bride’s home
• Two witnesses must be present
• It is a social ceremony but prayers seeking
Allah’s blessing will be said for the couple and
their families
• The next day a feast is given by the bridegroom
• Muslim men are allowed to marry more than one
wife but it is rare. It may happen if the first wife
cannot have children. Polygamy is unlawful in
Britain and Tunisia.
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DIVORCE
Divorce: reasons for
• Most people agree with divorce if there is
no love left and may cause suffering to
partners and children
• Adultery
• Physical violence
• Mental cruelty
• abandonment
Key words for divorce
• Divorce: legal ending of a marriage
• Adultery: when a husband or wife is unfaithful
• Desertion: when a spouse leaves the marital
home
• Remarriage: person who has been divorced or
widowed gets remarried
• Mediation: talking to both sides to aid
communication
• Unreasonable behaviour: behaviour which one
cannot put up with
• Annulment: Catholic Church declaration that
marriage did not exist
Divorce and its effects
• Divorce is the procedure which brings a legal ending to a marriage.
It is granted for several reasons including:
• Adultery, desertion and unreasonable behaviour or if they both
agree after living apart.
• Can divorce after one year if irretrievably broken down (and lived
apart for 2 years)
• The divorce rate is almost one in two in Great Britain.
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Number of single parent families increased
Social problems can result
Children and adults can suffer stress at losing partner/parent
Financially worse off
Some children suffer at school with results
Christian attitudes to divorce
The Church of
England do
accept divorce
although it will
not usually
remarry divorced
people. They
remarry in a civil
ceremony and
may have a
blessing
The Roman
Catholic
Church
believe
marriage
vows cannot
be broken.
However an
annulment
can be
granted in
extreme
cases.
Non-conformist
churches allow
divorced people to
remarry in church
but ministers can
refuse if they feel it
isn’t right. They
usually forgive and
see it as a new
start.
Islamic divorce
• A man must state his intention to divorce on three
separate occasions with a month in between
• The couple must live together but sleep separately
for 3 months to ensure the wife is not pregnant – also
gives a better chance for reconciliation
• Husband must provide for his wife and child until she
remarries.
• If the woman wants a divorce she must repay the
mahr (dowry) and she gets nothing from her husband
apart from child support
• If either partner ceases to be a Muslim the marriage
is regarded as ended.
• Divorce rate is growing amongst British Muslims.
Remarriage & Cohabitation
• In 1981 the Church of England allowed people to marry
again after a divorce and many other Churches now
follow this position. Remarriage is forbidden in the
Roman Catholic Church (unless an annulment has been
granted) because divorce is not permitted.
• Cohabitation
• The Roman Catholic Church is totally opposed to people
cohabiting (living together without being married).
Sexual intercourse outside marriage is a very serious sin
and these people cannot receive communion in the
church.
• Some Protestant churches accept cohabitation although
they would always encourage people to marry in church.
THE FAMILY
What is a family?
Extended family
Usually consists of three
generations living together or
very close to each other. This
form of family life is reflected in
various holy books and is a
traditional family arrangement
Nuclear family
Modern Western family made up of
just parents and children living
together. There is contact with
other members but often
spasmodic
One parent family
Only one parent living with
and bringing up a child or
children due to divorce,
separation , death or being an
unmarried parent
Reconstituted family
When two sets of children
become one family after their
parents become a couple
Importance of the family
• Gain a sense of self or identity from our
family – likeness, names, values
• Teaches us social behaviour to prepare us
for life
• Provides with fist experience of bonding –
parents and siblings
• Family life is the basic way that society
looks after vulnerable members – young
and old
4 features of a Christian upbringing
• You would be baptised and taught about God from an
early age. Your parents would probably teach you
prayers and ensure that the promises made at the
baptism were kept.
• You would probably go to Sunday School where you
would learn more about God and how he made and
looks after you. You would say prayers to God thanking
him for looking after you. It would seem natural to you to
believe in God.
• You would be taken to church by your parents especially
at Christmas and Easter. At church you would hear
people talking about God and assuming that God exists.
• You might attend a church school where these teachings
would be confirmed. Also at school there would be RE
lessons which are compulsory and assemblies where
prayers might be said.
Christian events in lifetime
• Daily: prayers, saying grace at mealtimes, RE lessons, assemblies
- gives knowledge and values God.
• Weekly: influenced by TV programmes, church on the Sabbath,
Sunday Schools where more teaching and knowledge is available.
Our lives may also be influenced by Sunday opening hours which
restrict shop hours so Christians have time to pray/ recognise it as a
special day.
• Annually: our school holidays of Christmas and Easter are based
around Christian holidays. Celebration of these events
commercially by giving of presents reflecting their religious meaning
i.e. presents for the birth of Jesus and eggs at Easter to celebrate
rebirth of Jesus (rising from the dead).
• Lifetime occasions: Christening to remind us that Jesus was
baptized and we now make promises to keep the Christian faith.
Wedding ceremonies show a commitment to a person and the belief
of bringing families up in a stable environment. Funerals usually
have a church service with prayers and hymns prior to the burial or
cremation. This also confirms the belief in God and the care he will
continue to give to a person through life and death.
Muslim religious upbringing
If you were Muslim:
• The first words you would hear after your
birth would be ‘Allah is great’
• Your family would pray five times a day
• At Ramadan the whole family would stop
eating and drinking during daylight hours
• You would go to a madrasah (mosque
school) to learn Arabic and the Qur’an
• It would seem natural to you to believe in
God.
SEX AND CONTRACEPTION
Christian attitudes to love and sex
• Love is a warm affection for, or a close attachment to, another
person.
• Sex is often used to mean sexual intercourse.
• Christian teaching is generally that sexual intercourse is wrong
unless it happens within a marriage. God intended men and women
to live together as married couples - not to cohabit.
• As well as saying that sexual relationships should only take place
within marriage, traditional Christian teaching is also very opposed
to homosexuality. A growing number of Christians are beginning to
accept that for some people homosexual relationships are not going
against God's wishes. Although many Christians still regard
homosexual activity as a sin, it is widely felt that individuals in
homosexual relationships should not be discriminated against or
excluded from Christian communities.
Contraception and Christianity
• Christian couples say their choice on
contraception should be by using their
conscience, teachings of the Bible etc –
’responsible parenthood’
• In 1930 the depression saw poverty on a great
scale with children suffering so the Protestant
Churches changed their minds about
contraception. They thought it was better to have
less children and bring them up well.
• Roman Catholic Church recommend no artificial
means of contraception. They allow the rhythm
method (based on a woman’s fertile period)
Muslim attitudes towards sex
• Islam teaches that sex is a natural part of
human life. The sex drive is God given.
• Sex must be part of marriage. Sex outside
marriage is absolutely forbidden in the
Qur’an.
• Muslims should marry and have sex to
produce children, for their physical
satisfaction and to build a loving
relationship between husband and wife.
Muslim attitudes towards contraception
• Contraception is allowed to space child
bearing
• Non permanent methods such as
condoms, cap, IUD and oral
contraceptives are allowed
• Female sterilization is allowed only under
medical opinion that a woman’s life would
be seriously affected by pregnancy.
• Vasectomy is strictly forbidden
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