Year 11 religious studies

Types of Churches
1. Protestantism
  1. Protestants believe that nothing should distract you from worshiping God.
  2. Usually have plain churches
  3. Do not have a Pope
    1. This relates to the fact that they believe that everyone is equal in the eyes of God.
  4. They pray directly to God
  5. Protestants usually use the Bible as a means for infallible guidance.
  6. They believe that people are equal in the eyes of God.
2. Catholicism
  1. Usually have decorative churches
  2. They have a Pope
    1. This relates to the fact that they believe that certain people can be 'chosen' by God.
  3. Believe that certain people can be 'chosen' by God
  4. Mainly uses the Church as a means of guidance
    1. Catholics use the Pope, who interprets the Bible, to provide them with guidance on moral decisions.
Religious upbringing
1. Why may living with a religious family cause you to...
  1. Believe in God
    1. Sunday schools will teach you about the Bible every week.
    2. Your parents may teach you to...
      1. Pray
      2. Read the Bible
      3. Obey the Decalogue
      4. Take part in ceremonies (i.e. baptism, communion, etc.)
    3. Religious schools will have an impact on your upbringing since everyone in the school is religious like you.
  2. Disbelieve in God
    1. Not going to a religious school will expose you to different religions and therefore make you question your own religion.
Religious experiences
1. Examples
  1. Conversion
    1. The conversion from Saul to Paul.
  2. Prayer
    1. Praying for a relative to get better.
  3. Miracle
    1. The resurrection of Jesus.
  4. Numinous
    1. Isaiah's numinous experience.
2. Why religious experiences may cause you to believe in God
  1. If you pray for a family relative or a friend to get better and it happens, you may be left thinking that God listened to your prayer and answered it which may cause you to believe that He exists.
  2. If you were to have a numinous experience, you would feel the presence of God. After that, it may be hard for you to ever deny God's existence again.
  3. Due to the fact that a natural law that you have believed most of your life would have been broken, miracles may cause you to believe in God because there would have been no other explanation for what could have naturally made the event happen. The only explanation that there could be would be God.
The argument of Design
1. Laws of science: A reason why people think that the universe has been created is because the universe works according to specific rules and laws. An example of this is the law of gravity.
2. The beauty of Nature: Many people believe that because the world is so beautiful, it couldn't have been made simply by chance.
3. William Paley made an analogy of a watch to the Earth. The argument went along these lines: "If you come across a watch in an uninhabited place, you could not say that it was put there by chance. The complexity of its mechanism would make you say it had a designer. The universe is a far more complex mechanism than a watch, and so, if a watch needs a watchmaker, the universe needs a universe maker. As the only being that could design the universe would be God, it follows that God must exist."
  1. For
    1. The only possible creator of something as beautiful and complex as the world would be God.
    2. Therefore the appearance of design in the world proves that God does exist.
    3. Without order, benefit, purpose of sustainability... Something can't exist - these things need a creator.
  2. Against
    1. Paley's argument ignores the lack of design in the universe (i.e. volcanoes, earthquekes, etc).
    2. All the evidence of design can be explained by science without needing to even think of God.
    3. The argument only proves that the universe has a creator, not God. The designer could be many Gods, an evil creator, a God who used this universe as a trial run - to the create a better one.
  3. This is also know as the teleological argument
Causation
1. The idea of causation is that everything links back to one, originating cause.
2. For
  1. You can't just keep going back forever - there must be some form of 'uncaused cause'.
  2. There has to be something rather than nothing
3. Against
  1. If everything needs a creator - then who created God?
  2. Science shows everything without a need for God in the equation.
4. Scientific explanations
  1. The Big Bang theory
    1. Scientists believe that energy existed before the big bang and that it was the result of a collision of this energy form. The big bang happened 15 billion years ago and as everything started to cool down, everything started to form such as planets and even life.
  2. Mr Cunnane's cup analogy
    1. This analogy basically states that if you leave a cup of coffee unattended, some mould will start to grow. When you think about it in detail - the mould growing in the coffee is like the starting point of universe, because when the conditions changed the became more suitable for life to form such as plants, bacteria, etc.
  3. Evolution
    1. Scientists also believe that humans didn't come from monkeys but they do in fact have a common ancestor. Over millions of years, there were gradual changes and eventually human life came into play. Also, survival of the fittest was going on and this means that several life forms were competing to survive, and the human gene was the fittest. This was devised by Charles Darwin.
The Problem of Evil
1. A theodicy is the way in which Christians respond to the problem of evil and suffering - and why it exists in this world.
  1. One theodicy is that suffering is preparation for Heaven and that we need to suffer in order to 'make our soul'.
    1. However, if Heaven is an all-good place, why would we need to suffer in order to prepare us for it unless there is suffering in Heaven as well.
  2. The Freewill Defense is a theodicy that states that humans are free to do what they want and it is their action which cause suffering.
2. Moral evils include: Rape, torture, murder, theft, war and hatred.
3. Natural evils include: Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, diseases and droughts.
4. Suffering is believed to be God's plan for us.
5. Most Christians pray for the safety of others as a good use of their Freewill.

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Year 11 religious studies

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