RE Paper 1

• Sanctity of life


  The belief that human life is special and should be cared for
• Most people, religious or not, would accept that human life is special and should be cared for
• Imago Dei


  The belief that human beings are uniquely a reflection of God's personhood, and are rational, free and moral
• Catholics believe each person is unique because God made them
• The creation of humans was unlike the rest of creation because they were made in a unique way and in the image of God
• The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and that everyone has a right to life which should be protected and valued at every stage
• St Catherine of Siena: 'Her dignity is that of her creation, seeing that she is the image of God, and this has been given her by grace, and not as her due'
• St Catherine of Siena: 'In that same mirror of the goodness of God, the soul knows her own indignity, which is the consequence of her own fault'
• St Catherine of Siena: 'What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by Love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good'
• For Jews, God is creator, he alone gives and takes life
• Genesis (the first book of the Torah) teaches that humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and life is precious
• In the Tenakh there are references to a relationship with God even before birth (Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1)
• The Ten Commandments, believed to have been given to Moses, also forbid the taking of a life