Religious Studies

Assessment

The course consists of three components, each with equal weighting and examined at the end of Year 13. Philosophy of Religion – Arguments for God’s existence, such as the teleological, cosmological, and ontological arguments. – The problem of evil and religious responses to this. – Religious experience and challenges to the objectivity and authenticity of these experiences. – Psychological theories of religion, including the ideas of Freud and Jung. – Miracles and whether we have good reasons to believe they have occurred. RELIGION AND ETHICS – Religious and non-religious ethical theories, such as Utilitarianism, Natural Law, and Egoism. – Application of ethical theories to contemporary issues, such as animal experimentation, the use of nuclear weapons for deterrence, and capital punishment. – Whether human beings have free will or not, and what this means for moral responsibility. – What do words like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ mean and are there such things as objective moral values? STUDY OF ONE RELIGION: CHRISTIANITY – Beliefs about the nature of God. – The person of Jesus: was he the Son of God or a social revolutionary? – Feminist theology – whether God is male and whether men and women are equal in Christianity. – How social issues such as science, immigration, and wealth have affected Christian thought. – The response of the Church to poverty and injustice.