RELIGIOUS STUDIES-PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS

• Christianity teaches that the Church should be the foundation of family life.
• God made male and female to complete each other and procreate.
• all humans are equal,
• family can include--> nuclear, stepfamily, same-sex parents
• "Honour your mother and father" {Exodus 20:12}
• Three main purposes of a christian family are

  • to provide a secure environment for family through marriage
  • to procreate
  • to raise children in the christian faith
• "Love one another just as I have loved you" {John 13:34}
• "Be fruitful and multiply"
• Raising children in the christian faith may include:

  baptism, holy communion, confirmation and bible reading
• A christian wedding takes place in a church
• the priest reads a moralising lecture
• the priest asks about the responsibilities of marriage
• the couples make vows to each other
• the rings are blessed and exchanged
• the priest declares the presence of the holy spirit
• the couple signs the marriage register
• marriage is a gift from God and a covenant between God and the couple
• "therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh"
• polygamy(have more than 1 partner) is illegal in UK
• "I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."
• The Roman Catholic church does not accept divorce as the believe that in the eyes of god the couple are still married
• However the RC church allows an annulment which is considering that the marriage was never valid in the first place. ( due to adultery, forced marriage or grown out of love)
• Civil partnerships can be undertaken by same-sex couples following the law enacted in 2005
• Some churches accept and welcome same-sex couples for example the United Reformed Church, which will conduct same-sex weddings.
• Quakers and the United Reformed Church, have conducted same-sex weddings since the new legislation  came into effect in 2013.
• 'We affirm the love of God for all people' wandsworth preparative meeting 1989
• “But if they can’t control themselves, they should get married, because it’s better to marry than to burn with passion,” (1 Corinthians 7:9)
• some christians believe that sex should only take place within marriage so that the teaching of procreation and a strong foundation to family is followed
• “So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
• In 2014 Pope Francis said “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?”
• cohabitation is acceptable where there is faithfulness, loyalty and commitment 
• “Do not commit adultery” Exodus 20:14
• children are a gift from God therefore contraception should not be used
• But for Adam no suitable helper was found
• Women should keep silent in the churches
• Egalitarianism--> men and women are created as equals with equal oppurtunities
• Complementarianism--> men and women are created for different roles in life
• Nicene creed teaches that god is understood through jehovah's force (god the father and son)
• The eastern orthodox church believes that the holy spirit is only from the father
• orthodox church believes that the god the father is the main source of all things