Rights and Responsibilities Religion and Society Paper

Rights and Responsibilities - Keywords Bible – the holy book of Christians Decalogue – The Ten Commandments Church – the community of Christians church – Christian place of worship Conscience – an inner feeling of the rightness or wrongness of an action Situation Ethics – the idea that Christians should base moral decisions on what is the most loving thing to do Human Rights – the rights and freedoms to which everyone is entitled Democratic Processes – the ways in which all citizens can take part in government (usually through elections) Electoral Processes – the ways in which voting is organised Political Party – a group which tries to be elected into power on its policies (e.g. Labour, Conservative) Pressure Group – a group formed to influence government policy on a particular issue Golden Rule – the teaching from Jesus that you should treat others as you would like them to treat you Social Change – the way in which society has changed and is changing (and the possibilities for future change) Genetic Engineering – the deliberate modification of the characters of an organism by the manipulation of the genetic material

See this unit in 2 parts… Part 1 – How Christians make moral decisions (arguments for and against each method) Part 2 – Some miscellaneous material – human rights, democracy and genetic engineering/cloning

NO (although all Christians would accept it has some authority) Using the Bible YES – use only the Bible NO (although all Christians would accept it has some authority) Believe it is the word of God – God’s guidance so has absolute authority Contains God’s teachings on behaviour (e.g. Decalogue) Contains Jesus’ teachings (e.g. Sermon on the Mount) Records details of Jesus’ life – follow his example. Bible was written by humans and inspired by God Attitudes reflect social situation at the time Use Church to tell them what Bible means today Use their own conscience

Reasons to use the Church Bible needs explaining to be used in life today and only the Church can do this The Church is the Body of Christ - same authority as Christ God speaks to the world today through the Church The Church is guided by God in making decisions on today’s moral issues No confusion about what to do – can be sure they are doing the right thing (Arguments against using the Church would be the arguments for using one of the other methods)

Using the Conscience YES NO Believe the conscience is the voice of God telling them what they should/should not do Church says Christians should follow their conscience St Paul and St Thomas Aquinas – Christians should use their conscience as the final part of moral decision-making Teachings of Bible and Church not directly from God, but conscience is God speaking directly to people. People have been mistaken – Yorkshire Ripper claimed God told him to kill prostitutes. If they follow the Bible instead – they are doing what all Christians agree is the Christian thing to do If they follow the Church instead – they know other Christians will think what they do is right Life would be chaotic –society needs agreement on right and wrong.

Situation Ethics Joseph Fletcher Rules can be broken if it is the most loving thing to do – “love thy neighbour”

Using Situation Ethics YES NO Jesus sometimes over-ruled the Old Testament when it seemed more loving – e.g. healing a man on the Sabbath Wrong to ignore consequences of actions - we should only do what produces good results Jesus said the only laws are to love God and ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ Christianity is a religion of love and forgiveness “He without sin, cast the first stone” – Jesus (When a woman was being stoned for adultery) God would not have given laws in Bible if they weren’t meant to be followed Should follow agreement from Christians rather than own ideas Church knows better than individuals Can never know all of the circumstances

Human Rights After the horrors of WWII the world was in agreement that such things should never be allowed to happen again 1948 – many countries across the world signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – a promise to respect human rights 1950 – many European countries signed The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – Enforceable by members of European countries in the European Court of Human Rights 1998 – The UK signed the Human Rights Act – Enforceable by UK citizens in British Courts.

Examples of Human Rights Right to education Right to vote Right to Marry (and civil partnerships) Freedom from Torture Right to Life Freedom of Expression Right to family life

Christian Views on Human Rights FOR (all Christians) Why Human Rights can cause problems for Christians Sanctity of Life – life is special and should be treated as such "So God created man in His own image...." – God created us all equally Parable of the Sheep and Goats – treat everyone as if they were Jesus – wouldn’t abuse Jesus’ human rights ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus’ – we are all equal ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ – the loving thing to do is respect human rights Many Christians against civil partnerships and gay marriage Some Christians against the right to marry someone from a different faith Some Christians against the right of gay couples to raise a family Catholic Church – no women priests

Democracy Our Rights (over 18) Why People Should Vote Vote for MPs, Local Councillors, MEPs Be a candidate Join/form a political party Join/form a pressure group Meet with MP, councillor or MEP Why People Should Vote Government sets the rate of taxes (e.g. income tax and VAT) – voting gives you control on how much you pay Government can pass new laws which will affect your life Government responsible for many services – e.g. police, NHS, schools – voting gives you a say on how they are run Our ancestors have fought for our democratic rights so we should use them Countries which do not have these rights often treat their citizens badly. If we don’t all use our right a small number may elect a government which took away our rights and treated us badly.

Christian Teachings and Democracy Golden Rule – “Do to others what you would have them do to you” Christians should look at policies of candidates and work out if the policies would affect people the way they would want to be affected Parable of the Sheep and Goats – Jesus taught it was the duty of Christians to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and help those in prison. These teachings should affect how a Christian votes Am I my brother’s keeper? – God created people to be their brother’s keeper (i.e. look after each other) The duty to look after everyone should be Christian’s main principle in democracy

Genetic Engineering and Cloning Genetic engineering – modifying malfunctioning cells – to cure genetic illnesses Stem cell research – uses cloning processes to grow healthy cells to replace malfunctioning ones and cure disease Uses cells from embryos left over from IVF or from adult bone marrow/blood

Christian Views on Genetic Engineering and Cloning YES YES – But not using embryos Mainly Liberal Protestants Jesus = healer Stewardship – have a duty to make the earth a better place Creating cells and creating people is different – creating people by science is wrong (taking over God’s role), creating cells is working with God Embryos - not potential human life until they are 14 days old “When you enter a town…heal the sick who are there…” Mainly Catholics Same 1st 3 reasons as above for agreeing with genetic engineering Disagree with use of embryos because: Life begins at conception Killing an embryo is killing human life (Decalogue, Sanctity of Life) Embryos are produced by IVF – something which Catholic Church disagrees with NO to all “Made in the image of God” Sanctity of Life Wrong to try and make the earth perfect – only heaven is perfect.