RE paper 1

• Six articles that unite Sunni Muslims


  • Unites all Sunni Muslims
  • Helps them understand their religion
  • Supports them
  • Tells then how to live their lives
• Six articles of faith for Sunnis


  • Tawhid - there is only one god Allah
  • Malaikah - believe in angels
  • Believe in the Quran
  • Nubuwwah - belief in Allahs prophets
  • Belief in the day of judgement
  • Predestination - Allah knows and decides everything important
• Five pillars of Sunni Islam


  • Shahadah - declaration of faith
  • Salah - prayer
  • Zakah - giving 2.5% of their wealth to charity
  • Sawm - fasting
  • Hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca
• Salah


  Prayer at Fajr - before sunrise, Zuhr - after midday, Asr - late afternoon, Maghrib - after sunset, Isha - between sunset and midnight, in mosques with men and women separate, involves bowing and kneeling, ritual washing, prayer towards Mecca, Jummah - Friday prayer men go to but women don't, strengthens their relationship with god, shows their faith
• Hajj


  Pilgrimage to Mecca that everyone tries to complete once in their lives, dresses in white, circles the Ka'aba 7 times, walks between the hills, prays and asks for forgiveness, throws pebbles at the three Jamarat, sacrifices a sheep, sense of unity, shows self discipline, bring Muslims together
• Five roots of Shia Islam


  • Tawhid - there is only one god Allah
  • Belief in divine justice
  • Believe in prophets
  • Authority of Inman
  • Belief in the day of resurrection
• Five pillars of Shia Islam + Jihad


  • Shahadah - declaration of faith
  • Salah - prayer
  • Zakah - giving 2.5% of their wealth to charity
  • Sawm - fasting
  • Hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca
  • Jihad
• Nature of god


  • Omnipotence - all powerful
  • Beneficence - all good
  • Mercy - kind and forgives people
  • Transcendent - above everything and has no equal
  • Justice - judges people fairly
  • Immanent - being present and involved in the world
• Quran


  Revelation and authority, Torah, psalms, gospel, scrolls of Ibrahim
• Imamate


  Accepting the Docterine and the authority of 12 official imans, they have the right to lead the religion after the death of Muhammad
• Key Muslim festivals


  • Id-ul-adha - end of Ramadan, day of thanksgiving to Allah, inclusive for everyone, prayer and giving gifts, brings everyone together
  • Id-ul-fitr - commemoration sacrifice marking the end of hajj, remember Ibrahims sacrifice of his son for Allah, reminder of Allah blessings, shows the importance to submit to Allah
  • Ashura - for Shia Muslims, commemorate the death of Hussein in battle, wear black and act out the death, remembers the suffering the Shia community experienced as they ere persecuted
• Christian beliefs about the nature of God

  • Omnibenelevent - "God is love", God gave us his only son to die to save us
  • Just - "He os a god of justice", He is fair and treats everyone equally
  • Omnipotence - All powerful, He created the whole world in 7 days
• Problems of evil and suffering

  • Evidential problems of evil - raises questions about the nature of god, how can someone be omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenelevent whilst suffering and evil still exist
  • Logical problem of evil - inconstant triad, God can't be omnipotent and omnibenelevent he can only be one, evil and suffering does exist, if God was all living there wouldn't be suffering because he cares about everyone, if he was all powerful he could stop natural evil
• Christian responses to the problem of evil


  • Adam and Eve disobeying God bought about original sin, we are all there descendants so are all born with original sin, sin causes evil and suffering, "When Adam sinned, sin entered the world"
  • Free will - moral evil is caused by us, God took the risk of giving us free will
  • Sin is needed - the world isn't meant to be perfect, without sin we wouldn't have the chance to do good deeds to help us go to heaven
• Christian views on creation

  • Literalists - believe the exact words of the bible, rejects anything that isn't said in the bible
  • Liberalists - Genesis is metaphorical, science and religion can explain creation together, Bible - god created the world, Science - big bang theory
• The father

  Powerful created of the world
• Importance of Trinity

  • Central belief
  • Shows Jesus is the incarnation of god
  • Teaches Christian's god is present in the world
  • Sense of comfort and strength
  • Helps them know how to communicate
• "In the beginning god created the heaven and the earth"
• Creation

  1. Day 1 - light

  2. Day 2 - sky

  3. Day 3 - land

  4. Day 4 - sun, moon, stars

  5. Day 5 - sea and flying creatures

  6. Day 6 - land animals and humans

  7. Day 7 - rested
• Literalists

  • Believe the exact words of the bible
  • Rejects anything that isn't said in the bible
• Afterlife

  • "No more death, mourning or crying"
  • "The righteous will have eternal life"
  • "My kingdom is not of this world"
• Afterlife

  • 1. Spiritual place
  • 2. Physical place
• Physical place


  • A place that we actually go to after we die
  • Hell is "fiery lake of burning sulphur"
• Avoid sin

  God judges us and bad people go to hell and good people go to heaven
• Hope and comfort

  Death is not the end and they will live on worth their loved ones
• Incarnation of Jesus

  • His became flesh - embodiment of god as Jesus
  • "The word became flesh" - God came to the world through his son to save humanity
  • "Surely he was the son of god"
  • "Whoever down not honour the son does not honour the father"
• Ascension

  • Goes back to heaven 40 days after the resurrection
  • "He as taken up to heaven"
• Importance of Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension

  • Evidence Jesus was gods son
  • Demonstrated life after death
  • How Christian's are saved by original sin and saved humanity
  • Christian's who sin can be saved and have hope for life after death and heaven as Jesus did
• Celebrates Jesus saving us

  • Remember the crucifixion
  • Pray
  • Follow Jesus
  • Hope and thankfulness
• Original sin

  • When Adam and Eve ate the apple
  • Everyone is born sinful as we are all relatives of Adam and Eve
  • This can be removed through baptism
• Salvation

  • Being saved
  • Jesus death and resurrection bought salvation for Christianity
  • We need to be saved to go to heaven
  • "The land of god who takes away sins of the world" - Jesus is sinless and is the only one who can pay for our sins
  • Law - follow gods laws (10 commandments) "the righteous will have eternal life"
  • Grace - salvation is a gift from god as we can't save ourselves
  • Criticisms - u need to perform good deeds, gods gifts aren't enough to get us to heaven
  • Spirit - Holy Spirit is a teacher gifted from god
• Role of Jesus in salvation

  • He is essential in salvation
  • He dies on the cross
• Dies on the cross

  • He restored the right relationship between human and god
  • Salvation though grace - god gave his son for humanity
• Worship

  • Liturgical
  • Non liturgical
  • Private
  • Informal
• Non liturgical


  • Less formal service that is not scripted and doesn't follow any pattern and uses improvisation
  • E.g. Methodism
• Private


  • Spending time alone reading the bible, reflecting and praying
  • E.g. anyone can worship like this
• "Is anyone among you suffering? Let them pray"
• Baptism


  • You are welcomed into church
  • Water symbolises the washing away of sins
  • Infant baptism - removes original sin from new borns and welcomes them into church by their parents choice
  • Believers baptism - removes any sins committed before you are baptised by your choice
  • Quakers reject baptism and don't support any rituals
• Holy communion / Mass / Eucharist


  • Celebrates Jesus sacrifice and resurrection
  • Gives thanks to god
  • Initiates at the last supper
  • Recreated at every Sunday service
  • Bread and wine
  • "I am living bread"
  • Catholics - bread and wine literally become Jesus body and blood
  • Protestants - bread and wine are symbolic of Jesus body and blood
  • Quakers don't practice or observe the Eucharist instead try and find the sacred of all life
• Pilgrimages


  • Lourdes France
  • Iona Scotland