Relationships and Families

• Christians believe that marriage is a sacred union between two people, reflecting the relationship between God and his church.
• Adultery is the act of having sex with someone who is not your husband or wife, outside of marriage.
• Gender prejudice is holding biased opinions about people based on their gender.
• Artificial contraception refers to methods of preventing pregnancy such as condoms, the pill, and the coil.
• Heterosexual is sexual attraction to the opposite gender.
• Cohabitation is living and starting a family with someone who you are not married to.
• Homosexual is sexual attraction to the same gender.
• Divorce is the legal ending of a marriage.
• Marriage is a legal and religious ceremony joining two people together in love.
• Family planning is using a woman’s natural cycle of fertility to try and avoid pregnancy.
• Procreation is bringing babies into the world.
• Nuclear Family is a family with a mother, father and children, which some Christians argue is the ideal.
• Extended Family is a family where grandparents and other relatives are involved.
• Single Parent Family is a family where one parent brings up the child.
• Procreation is the purpose of the family to have and bring up children.
• Stability is the purpose of the family to provide a secure, stable environment for children.
• Faith is the purpose of the family to bring up children as good Christians.
• Gender equality means that men and women should be equal and given the same rights and opportunities as each other.
• In the UK, women can face gender prejudice and discrimination where they are not treated equally.
• The Catholic Church argues that women have a special role as mothers and they do not allow women to be priests.
• The Church of England has allowed women priests since 1994.
• Gender discrimination is acting against people based on their gender.
• Remarriage is marrying someone else after divorce.
• The Roman Catholic church teaches that sex between people of the same gender is ‘disordered’ and argues that homosexual relationships are banned by the Bible.
• Liberal Christians teach that Jesus wanted people to love each other and show mercy and that we should be accepting of homosexuals.
• Gay marriage is banned in the Catholic Church and Church of England.
• God tells Adam and Eve, the first couple, to "be fruitful and multiply" which encourages them to have children.
• The Catholic Church argues that all sexual acts inside marriage must be open to procreation (having babies) and that a baby is a gift from God.
• The Church of England argues that contraception should be allowed so that couples can take time and consider if they want to have children.
• Marriage is a religious and legal ceremony in which two people make vows (promises) in front of their friends and family and, if in a church, in front of God.
• Divorce is the legal break-up of a marriage and is legal in the UK.
• Many Christians do not like divorce as it is seen to break the promises made in a marriage.
• The Catholic Church does not support divorce and believes that sex after divorce is a form of adultery, and you cannot get remarried in a Catholic Church once you have been divorced.
• Jesus says "if a man divorces his wife and marries another, he involves her in adultery" (Matthew - 5:32).
• The Church of England accepts divorce, especially if it is for reasons of abuse, but you have to receive special permission to get remarried in a church.
• The Church of England might see divorce as a merciful option.
• “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman” – Leviticus 18:22
• Adultery means the act of having sex with someone who is not your husband or wife and is prohibited by the Bible.
• Artificial contraception means using something to stop yourself from getting pregnant, this could be a condom, the pill or a device like the coil.
• Family planning means using the natural cycle of fertility which women go through to predict when a woman would be least fertile, it is much less effective than artificial contraception.