Relationships and Families

• Nuclear family


  The most common type of family - consisting of two parents and one or more child(ren) all living in the same house
• Extended family


  A family structure consisting of a number of adults and children who are related living in the same home, including relatives like cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents
• Reconstituted family


  A family structure made up of a mix of step-parents and step-children, formed when divorced adults remarry or live in a co-habiting relationship
• Single parent family


  A family where one parent raises one or more children alone, as a result of increasing divorce rates in modern Britain
• Childless family


  A married or co-habiting couple who are either unable to have children naturally or decide not to have children, often including same-sex couples
• Roles


  The position, status or function of a person in society, as well as the characteristics and social behaviour expected of them
• Responsibilities


  Actions/duties you are expected to carry out
• Family member roles and responsibilities

  • Caring for children
  • Caring for other family members, e.g. looking after elderly relatives
  • Maintaining the family home
  • Earning money to support the family
• Both women and men aim to provide love, comfort, protection and support for each other and for any children. Both have a role to play in the education of children to become responsible adults and future parents. They should show mutual support of each other. Men and women are both important role models for children.
• In the past, Christianity, Islam and Judaism all held a very traditional view of the role of women and men in family life, with the man responsible for providing for the family through work and the mother responsible for domestic life.
• These traditional views are changing, and women and men are now often regarded as much more of a partnership in family life with shared responsibilities.
• It is now much more common for women to go on working when they get married and have a family, and increasing numbers of men are taking on the role of 'house-husband' while their wives or partners go out to work.
• In 2015 it became possible for men and women to share parental leave. Parents can decide who takes leave to care for the baby, rather than it automatically being the mother.
• For many religious believers, those who share in their faith are regarded as an extended family. Christians use the phrase, 'People of God' for all Christians, and Muslims use the word 'ummah' for the worldwide community of Islam.
• Pope Francis: 'It is very important to reaffirm the family, which remains the essential cell of society and the Church. Young people, who are the face of the Church's future, women, who play a fundamental role in passing on the faith and who are a daily source of strength in a society that carries this faith forward and renews it.'
• Commitment


  A sense of dedication and obligation to someone or something
• The traditional teaching of Christianity, Islam and Judaism has been that marriage is the basis of family life. Marriage is regarded as God-given, the best basis for creating an environment into which children should be born, and a lifelong commitment.
• A wedding ceremony is an important rite of passage in many religious traditions. It is a celebration that recognises the importance of marriage and it includes ritual and symbolism, which often reflect the purposes of marriage.
• Christian attitudes to marriage

  Marriage is a gift given to humanity by God - a sacrament in the Christian wedding service. The vows exchanged between a bride and groom in a Christian wedding ceremony reflect this.
• Muslim attitudes to marriage

  In the Qur'an there are a number of references to the importance of marriage and how it is the basis of family life. All Muslims are encouraged to marry in order to have a companion and, although divorce is permitted, the ideal is that marriage is for life.
• The Muslim wedding ceremony, known as the nikah, is a simple marriage ceremony in which a man and woman declare their commitment to one another as husband and wife.
• Temporary unannounced marriage (Nikah Mut'ah)


  A form of marriage practised by some Shi'a Muslims that lasts only for a limited period of time, with a formal contract specifying the terms including the length of the marriage and any rules of behaviour.
• Sunni Muslims and other Shi'a groups say that temporary unannounced marriage is completely wrong, as it is simply a means of having sex before marriage, which is not permitted in Islam.
• Cohabitation


  To live together in a sexual relationship, without being married, or in a civil partnership
• According to the teachings of Islam, it is always wrong for a couple to live together in a sexual relationship without first being married.
• Although Christian doctrines have traditionally prohibited cohabitation, there has been an increasingly more tolerant line taken in some denominations towards couples who cohabit, where it is part of a committed relationship, although marriage is still seen as the ideal.
• Cohabitation


  Where two people who are not married live in a romantic partnership which may involve an intimate and sexual relationship
• Cohabitation options


  • Some couples choose to cohabit and never marry
  • Some couples will marry after a period of cohabitation
• Muslim attitudes to cohabitation

  • According to the teachings of Islam it is always wrong
  • Muslims believe that for a couple to live together in a sexual relationship they must first be married
• Christian attitudes to cohabitation

  • Traditionally prohibited cohabitation
  • Increasingly more tolerant line taken in some denominations towards couples who cohabit
  • Liberal Anglicans accept cohabitation where it is part of a committed relationship, but still believe marriage is the ideal
  • Some denominations disagree with cohabitation as they believe it devalues the special and sacred nature of sex, which should only take place within marriage
  • The Catholic Church and more conservative Anglicans do not accept cohabitation and expect a couple to not have sex before marriage
  • Some Baptist Churches may refuse to marry a couple who are cohabiting
• Adultery


  Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse
• In Britain the vast majority of people disapprove of adultery on moral and social grounds and the law recognises adultery as a justifiable reason for the granting of a divorce
• Christianity, Islam and Judaism all consider adultery a great sin
• Adultery is clearly forbidden in the Ten Commandments
• Christian attitudes to adultery

  • Marriage is sexually exclusive and should not be shared with anyone else
  • The Ten Commandments forbid adultery
  • Marriage is a sacrament-a gift from God- and adultery goes against this
  • Committing adultery destroys the special relationship between a husband and wife
  • Committing adultery can harm the family unit and cause the partner to feel cheated and betrayed
• Muslim attitudes to adultery

  • Sex outside of marriage is generally strongly disapproved of
  • Marriage is a life-long union based on trust, morality and devotion
  • Adultery is seen as harmful to society, so against the unity and peace of the ummah (brotherhood)
  • Adultery is seen as a form of theft of the worst possible sort
  • The Qur'an teaches that adultery is wrong
• Bigamy


  Entering into a marriage with someone while still being legally married to another person
• Divorce


  To legally end a marriage
• Separation


  When a couple's married relationship breaks down and they decide to live apart
• For some Catholics who are separated, they are expected not to cohabit with anyone else and if they do this they are not allowed to receive Holy Communion during mass