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Archive for October, 2010

Year 11: Medical Ethics Homework

18 Oct

Here’s your homework due on 8th November on Medical Ethics. Please leave a comment or email me if you have any questions!

  • (a) What is meant by ‘abortion’? [1]
  • (b) What is meant by the terms ‘pro choice’ and ‘pro life’? [2]
  • (c) Give three reasons to explain why Christians believe that life is sacred. [3]
  • (d) Explain Christian attitudes to suicide. [6]
  • (e) ‘People in great pain should be allowed to die if they want to.’
    Discuss this statement. You should include different, supported points of view and a personal viewpoint. You must refer to Christianity in your answer. [12]

Good luck!

 
 

Social injustice: Oscar Romero

18 Oct

Just in case you missed any notes here is the PowerPoint on Oscar Romero.

If you want to know more about Liberation Theology check out the BBC Religion website.

 

Human Relationships essay exemplar

07 Oct

Below is the work of one student who recently completed the Human Relationships revision question. Let’s look at it:

Part D: Explain what Christians believe about the purpose of marriage

Christians believe that the purpose of marriage is to bond a man and a woman together in the eyes of the church forever. They believe that it is a holy union that should not be taken upon lightly and is only for people who are in love and are truly committed to each other for the rest of their lives. This is shown in the marriage ceremony because they promise to stay together forever in their vows.

Note that she makes a good point about the purpose of marriage (directly related to the question) and then expands on it to clarify what she means.

They also believe that marriage is to create families. Roman Catholics especially believe that sex should not happen outside a marriage and so when a couple is married they are able to create children. This is shown in the Bible when in Luke when it says that “when a man leaves his family and is joined to a woman they shall become one flesh”.

Another clear point, with some explanation. She could perhaps have made explicit what might be meant by “one flesh”. Note the use of a quote to back up her argument though.

Christians also believe that marriage is a way to show their love and gratitude to God. It is a way to spread God’s love and to demonstrate the way in which his perfect design has caused two people to find each other and want to dedicate their lives to each other.

Textbook. Well-developed. See, you don’t have to write masses!

Part E: “Women should always obey their husbands”. Discuss

Britain is a traditionally Christian country but as time has gone on there has been more opposition about the views on a man and woman’s role in marriage within Christian dominions.

Christians such as Roman Catholics normally take a more traditional view on marriage saying that a man should be the head of the household and a woman should stay at home and be helpful towards their husband’s career. This view comes from reading the bible quite literally. They use the verse “It is not good for man to be alone, I shall make a helper for him” (Genesis). This quote is fairly self-explanatory but shows that God felt that the woman was made to help her husband to provide for the family by being there for him and his career. For instance if he needed to move to another place for his job she should be willing to go with him.

Roman Catholics also reference Genesis according to the story of Adam and Eve. Because God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge but they did anyway they were banished from the Garden of Eden. Catholics feel that because Eve was the first to disobey God and convince Adam to do the same she isn’t as wise as he was. They think that if a woman is left in charge she may make the wrong decisions so man should be in charge of the household.

A well-explained view of what “traditional Christians” believe, backed up with references to the Bible.

Other more modern Christians take a very different view on how the roles of men and women differ. A lot of modern Christians say that because the Bible was written a long time ago a lot of it is no longer valid. They say that because women now have better and more equal rights they should be allowed to do whatever they want. Quotes such as in Genesis that say that man needs a helper should be interpreted differently and mean more that women should be helpful to their husbands but it should work the other way around as well.

They also argue against the point of Eve disobeying God first because the point out that Adam was also unwise in being so easily convinced to disobey God. He was also weak minded which means that even though Eve was the first to eat from the tree he may not have chosen any different had it of been him in her situation.

Looking at the issue from another angle… Nice work. Note that she also offers an alternative interpretation of the Genesis story – good analysis!

Both Roman Catholics and more modern Christians like C of E Christians say that men and women should respect one another and treat each other like equals. This is because the Bible says that “there is no man nor women for you are all one in Jesus Christ” (Galatians). This shows that whether you take a more traditional view or a modern take on Christianity and the Bible God wants us all to be treated equally by each other.

Acknowledging similarities. She could develop this by discussing the nature of equality. What does the concept actually mean?

I think that modern Christians have a better view on how women should be to their husbands. I think that a long time ago when women did not have rights the quote from the Bible about women being subject to their husband may have been true. However now that we live in a modern time the Bible has to be interpreted differently. I think that it is very important for both the man and the woman in a marriage to respect each other and to treat each other as equals because we are all God’s children and should be able to have the same opportunities. If a woman wants to work and a man wants to stay at home with the children who is to say that because of some very old words that they cannot do that.

A decent summary and conclusion. She brings in some new ideas and explains them. Again, just for fun she could have gone into the concept of equality in a bit more detail, but this is good as it is…

Hope this helps! Feel free to leave a comment if you think you could develop this further…

 

Year 9 RPE Homework: Is it ever right to kill?

05 Oct

Hi 9s,

As promised here’s a load of information to get you started on the homework, the title of which was:

Killing is never acceptable because it goes against the will of God

Your task is to respond to this statement in a way that shows me that you’re aware of the ethical issues involved.

Suggested structure:

This is a possible outline for the essay. You don’t have to follow it, but if not make sure you include all of the points…

  • Introduction: The purpose of the introduction is to make clear to the reader what the essay is going to be about. Assume they know nothing about the topic. It should include:

    1. An explanation saying what the statement is trying to say. You basically need to put the statement in your own words so you are clear about what it means, ie. the reason killing is wrong is that it goes against what God wants us to do. (“The key statement above is trying to express the idea that…”)
    2. Thinking about some key terms: killing and will of God. Make it clear what you mean by these terms. Give some examples of different types of killing (war, self-defence, meat for food, hunting, murder etc) and explain them. (“Some key terms in the statement are… They mean that…”)
    3. Explain that there is a difference between absolute and relative truth. Give examples.
    4. Finally, you might like to state the conclusion you will come to. You don’t have to explain it here, but it helps if the reader knows where you are going. This means you need to PLAN! Before you write your introduction you need to know what your conclusion will be… Make sure you have thought about this before you start writing. Possible conclusions could be that you disagree with the statement, that you agree with the statement, or perhaps you think it is a relative truth.
  • Section One: Arguments For the Statement: The first paragraph should explain why (religious) people might agree with the statement. You need to put these ideas across for the reader. However, for level 6 you need some analysis. Make sure you think about the pros and cons of the arguments you are putting across. Are these good reasons for agreeing with the statement? If so, why? If not, why not? Look at the resources section below for extra information.
  • Section Two: Arguments against the Statement: Now you can explain why people might disagree with the idea that killing is wrong because it goes against the will of God. Possible arguments are given in the resources section. Again, for level 6 you’ll need to analyse these. Are these good reasons for disagreeing with the statement? If so, why? If not, why not? What’s the evidence?
  • Conclusion: This part is essential for level 7. Once you have done your level 6 analysis in sections one and two you need to draw it all together into a conclusion. This means that, given all your analysis, is that statement true or false (or something else). You need to show that you have enough evidence to back up your argument, including not only why your opinion is good but why the other option is not so good. Leave a comment if you want to think about level 8…

NOTE: The key thing to remember the whole way through is that the concept of “killing” is broad. You cannot talk about murder in the same way as killing animals for food. You will need to treat different ideas of killing in different ways.

Resources:

  • Reasons why people might agree with the statement: Quotes from Holy Books
    • Buddhism: ‘Refrain from destroying living creatures’ (5 Precepts) – Note that Buddhists do NOT believe in God
    • Christianity: ‘Do not murder’ (10 Commandments)
    • Hinduism: ‘He who commits murder must be considered as the worst offender’ (Laws of Manu)
    • Islam: ‘Do not take life, which Allah made sacred’ (Quran)
    • Judaism: ‘Do not murder’ (10 Commandments)
  • Reasons why people might disagree with the statement:
    • People have plenty of reasons to believe killing is wrong without needing God to tell them
    • Religious people have often fought “Holy Wars” (crusades, 9/11) in the name of God
    • The religious texts rarely talk about killing animals as being wrong so it cannot be true the ALL killing is wrong.
    • There may be some situations in which taking human life is regarded as acceptable. (War, self-defence etc?)
  • Here’s the sheet of case studies about different examples of killing. You may want to use them
  • If you’re really stuck I have put together a writing frame that may help you by giving some sentence starters.

Good luck! Please leave a comment if you have any questions!

I’ve spent about an hour typing all this up for you – please pay me back by producing some excellent work… It is due NEXT WEEK (12th or 13th October). It will NOT be good enough to turn up next week with an excuse.

 
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Year 7 essay guidance

05 Oct

If any of you want to think about the essay at home then here’s a copy of the handout that we looked at in lesson.

 
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GCSE Marking Grid

04 Oct

Hi 10s and 11s,

Here is the marking grid for Part D and E answers. This shows what you need to achieve to get certain marks. You might find it helpful to compare your own answers to what you need for top marks…

 
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Posted in GCSE, RPE

 

Year 11 Homework: Belief about Deity

04 Oct

Hi 11s,

Your homework is to refresh your memory of the Belief about Deity topic by doing a past exam question…

(a) What does the term ‘holy’ mean? [1]
(b) Describe (with examples) two types of miracles Jesus performed.[2]
(c) How do Christians believe they can know what God is like? [3]
(d) Explain what Christians believe about the nature of God. [6]
(e) ‘If miracles were true, they would happen all the time. [12]

It’s due 2 weeks today (Monday 18th Oct).

Please email me any questions or leave a comment!

 
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Posted in Homework