1. Rights and Responsibilities
Religion and Society Paper

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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.

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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.