Religion and Life

• Abortion is the removal of a foetus from the womb to end a pregnancy before the child is born.
• Pro-life:

  abortion is murder

  life begins at conception

  all life is sacred

  all life has potential

  the foetus must have someone speaking for it

  the life of the foetus is just as or sometimes more important than the mother’s
• Pro-choice:

  some foetuses are so damaged that it would be cruel to birth them

  acceptable if the mother’s life is at risk

  if it were illegal, women would find dangerous ways to have one anyway

  it’s a woman’s right to choose

  acceptable when rape occurs
• The catholic church does not believe in abortion because:

  they believe in sanctity of life (life is a gift from god, it is sacred)

  several bible passages emphasise sanctity of life

  abortion is a sin with no exceptions

  life begins at conception

  popes have spoken out against abortion
• The Church of England sometimes allow abortion because:

  acceptable if it is the ‘lesser of two sins’

  acceptable if it is the most loving thing to do ’love thy neighbour’

  there are no official teachings of when life begins in the bible
• In the UK, you can have an abortion if:

  the mother has poor mental health and having a child will worsen it

  the baby is younger than 24 weeks

  the mother already has multiple children and having children will affect the ones she already has

  the baby’s quality of life will be poor as a result of being damaged or disabled
• Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending someone’s life because they are in pain or have a poor quality of life.
• Voluntary euthanasia is where the person wants to end their own life
• Passive euthanasia involves allowing someone to die naturally but speeding up their death through medical intervention such as turning off machines keeping them alive
• Active euthanasia involves directly causing death by administering lethal drugs
• Involuntary euthanasia is when a person is killed against their will.

  Non voluntary euthanasia is when the person is too ill to provide consent, but death is thought to be the most loving thing.
• For euthanasia:

  should be the person’s choice

  it is expensive to keep someone alive if there is no cure for their illness

  friends and family would be spared the pain of seeing their loved ones suffer

  society allows for animals to be put down, why not humans?
• Against euthanasia:

  would weaken society’s respect for the terminally ill and would devalue human life

  some people may unexpectedly recover

  people may feel pressured to die by friends and family

  would undermine doctors and nurses commitment to saving lives
• Church of England beliefs about euthanasia:

  it is wrong but there are exceptions, like if it is the most loving thing to do ’love thy neighbour’

  they believe every life is sacred and it’s not our decision to end someone’s life- sanctity of life

  no human has the authority to end someone‘s life
• Catholic beliefs about euthanasia:

  life is a gift from God and should not be prematurely shortened- sanctity of life

  they allow dying people to refuse treatment to extend their life

  no human has the authority to end someone’s life
• Christianity and Euthanasia quote:

  ’Your body is a temple of the holy spirit’

  This means if you destroyed your body, you are destroying a part of God or the holy spirit
• Heaven is:

  a place of peace, joy and freedom from pain

  a chance to be with your friends and family

  the goal of heaven is the most important thing

  beyond the clouds where God sits on a huge throne
• Hell is:

  a place of suffering

  originally designed for satan and his demons

  a place without God

  pictured as a fiery pit below God
• The parable of the sheep and goats state that heaven is a reward for both faith and actions.
• Literalist/ fundamentalists/ creationists take the Genesis story literally and reject any scientific theories.
• Non-literalists don’t take the Genesis story literally and believe that it is a myth, but it provides important information. They can also believe that, for example, God created the Big Bang or evolution. They believe the world was created over 6 periods of time, not 6 24hours.
• Literalists and non-literalists both believe that:

  God created the world

  He made the world good

  It wasn’t an accident

  It was made for a purpose
• Many Christians believe God made the universe ex nihilo (from nothing)
• Dominion is to rule, control or to have power over something
• Stewardship is the belief that humans have the responsibility to look after the environment on behalf of God.
• God described the world, when he finished creating it, as GOOD.
• Environmental problems:

  climate change

  pollution

  deforestation
• Environmental solutions:

  reduce, reuse, recycle

  using public transport or walking
• Animal experimentation is the use of animals for medical research and product testing. This contrasts stewardship and dominion.
• Christians may support animal experimentation if it helps to save human lives, like for medical research. However, they oppose it when it is used for cosmetics etc.
• Christians believe that humans are superior to animals because we have a soul and were made in God’s image. “God created man-kind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”
• Christians are not prohibited to eat meat because they believe that God created animals for humans to eat. ‘Everything that lives and moves will be food for you’
• Some Christians believe that animal experimentation is never acceptable because they believe in stewardship and using animals is not acting on their duty to look after the world.