Religion & life
The origins of the universe and of life, the environment and animal rights, abortion, euthanasia, and beliefs about death and the afterlife.
Learn
Religion & life, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Explain religious and scientific accounts of the origins of the universe and of life
The Genesis account has God creating the universe deliberately and calling it good; the Qur'an describes Allah creating the heavens and the earth and every living thing from water. Science offers the Big Bang around 13.8 billion years ago and evolution by natural selection. Examiners want you to know that most believers see no contradiction - many read Genesis as revealing WHO and WHY rather than reporting HOW, while creationists take the account literally. Set the two out fairly, then say which relationship between them you are arguing for.
Explain religious teachings about stewardship, dominion and the environment
Stewardship is the idea that the earth belongs to God and humans look after it on trust - "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof". Dominion, from Genesis, gives humans authority over creation; the debate is whether that means rule for our own benefit or responsibility for its care. Islam uses khalifah, the same idea of trusteeship, and holds that Allah will ask how the trust was kept. Apply both to a live issue - pollution, climate change, use of fossil fuels - because the exam question almost always asks what believers should DO.
Explain religious attitudes to animals and the use of animals by humans
The range runs from animals as part of creation to be treated kindly, through permitted use for food (with rules on slaughter - halal in Islam, and the Christian view that all foods are clean), to disputed uses: animal experimentation for medicine, factory farming, hunting for sport. Christian and Muslim teaching generally allows use but condemns cruelty and waste, so the sharpest arguments are about where necessary use ends and cruelty begins. Naming the use in question and the teaching that bears on it is what separates a developed answer from a general one.
Explain the sanctity of life and religious attitudes to abortion
Sanctity of life means life is holy because God gives it - the psalmist speaks of being knitted together in the womb, and the Qur'an forbids taking a life except by right. Applied to abortion, that leads many believers to oppose it, though most traditions allow it where the mother's life is at risk, and some Christians weigh quality of life and compassion alongside sanctity. Know the UK legal position in outline (lawful under the Abortion Act 1967 within limits) and keep the religious argument distinct from the legal one - the question is usually about what believers think, not what the law says.
Explain religious attitudes to euthanasia and to death and the afterlife
Euthanasia divides on the same ground: sanctity of life says only God should choose the moment of death, while compassion and quality of life lead a minority to accept assisted dying in extreme suffering. Hospice care, founded largely on Christian conviction, is the usual religious answer - relieve the pain rather than end the life. Beliefs about the afterlife shape the whole theme: Christians look to resurrection and judgement, Muslims to akhirah and the Day of Judgement, and both mean death is not the end, which is why how a person dies matters religiously as well as medically.
Evaluate a religion-and-life statement with two sides and a conclusion
A typical 12-marker: "It is wrong to use animals in medical research." FOR: animals are part of God's creation, cruelty is condemned, and stewardship means care not exploitation. AGAINST: humans have dominion, saving human life is a higher duty, and traditions permit the use of animals for genuine need. Anchor each side in a named teaching, weigh them, and conclude with a judgement that follows from the argument you have actually made - remember that the 12-mark question is marked wholly for AO2, so unexplained knowledge earns nothing here.
Practice
Try a Religion & life question
A GCSE-style original task from this topic. Sketch a quick plan of your own before you open what a strong answer covers.
State what is meant by the term ‘stewardship’. [1 mark]
Show what a strong answer covers
The marking points an examiner looks for. Not a model answer - a checklist to plan against.
- AO1: defines the term accurately - the belief that humans have a duty to look after the world on God’s behalf