Hello, eager young minds!

Hello, eager young minds!
This blog contains various articles and stuff to help you achieve a decent grade in your RS GCSE.

There is a box over there on the side with all the labels for various posts, key terms such as 'Just War'. So when you want to look at a specific key term you can click on those to find all the relevant posts. You then read these posts to enhance your knowledge and understanding of that topic. It really is that simple!

I very much look forward to checking the stats for this blog to discover that literally none of you have bothered to read any of it.

Monday 23 October 2017

'This land is just dirt': a rooftop view of Jerusalem



Interesting article about religious tensions in Jerusalem with lovely photos!  Not essential for the course but it wouldn't kill you to know more than you're expected to, would it? :)


Thursday 5 October 2017

Terminally ill man loses high court fight to end his life




A man who fears being entombed in his own body as he suffers the effects of motor neurone disease has lost his high court fight to enable doctors to help him to end his own life.


Three judges ruled against Noel Conway, a 67-year-old retired lecturer, who argued that the law on assisted dying should be changed to allow him a “peaceful and dignified” death.


'Tinder for polygamists': Indonesian firm angers with app for multiple marriages



A new Tinder-like dating app for wannabe polygamists is courting controversy in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, where such unions are legal but largely seen as taboo.


The application, which has been downloaded 50,000 times since its release this May, is marketed as an online platform to match male and female users ready to be part of a “big family”.

Saturday 23 September 2017

Abortion should not be a crime, say Britain's childbirth doctors


Britain’s childbirth doctors have urged ministers to scrap laws dating to Victorian times that could see a woman jailed for life for having an abortion.


Monday 18 September 2017

Tuesday 4 July 2017

Revision videos - Existence of God





There are some excellent videos on YouTube, if you can find them amongst the narcissism, idiocy and cats, the ones listed below are very useful for a greater understanding of some of the arguments for the existence of God that we looked at in the ‘Life and Death’ unit.  Why not watch them and make yourself clevererer!


Anselm and the Argument for God: Crash Course Philosophy #9



Aquinas and the Cosmological Arguments: Crash Course Philosophy #1




Intelligent Design: Crash Course Philosophy #11




The Problem of Evil: Crash Course Philosophy #13


Wednesday 14 June 2017

REVISION VIDEOS - ETHICAL ISSUES - BBC Matters of Life and Death










A compilation of six short documentary films exploring the rights and wrongs of some of life's biggest questions. These films present real-life stories captured as beautiful and engaging short documentary portraits, drawn from the personal experiences of individuals.

They provide students with personal perspectives on important issues in religion, morality and ethics, based on major themes explored in Key Stage 4, National 4/5 and Higher religious studies and ethics lessons.

Topics include:
- Abortion
- Assisted suicide
- Death penalty
- Animal testing
- Saviour siblings
- Just War

Tuesday 13 June 2017

Model and Leeds United footballer win fight for humanist wedding



A footballer and a model have won their court battle to have their humanist wedding recognised as legal in a ruling that effectively changes the law in Northern Ireland.


Sunday 4 June 2017

Footballer and model seek legal humanist wedding




A footballer and a model are mounting a court challenge to have their upcoming humanist wedding recognised as legal, arguing that they are being denied the rights given to religious couples.

Laura Lacole is marrying the Leeds United and Republic of Ireland midfielder Eunan O’Kane in Northern Ireland next month. The couple, both humanists, want a ceremony that reflects their beliefs, but the only legal options available to them are a religious or civil service.


READ HERE

Friday 5 May 2017

Past papers for GCSE 2017

These links take you to past papers for both exams.  The format is generally the same, so you can also write your own questions by keeping the format and changing the key term, for example a question like ‘explain the teachings on suffering from two religious traditions’ you keep the question format and swap the word ‘suffering’ for ‘equality’ or ‘justice’ or ‘divorce’ or ‘afterlife’ or ‘funerals’ or whatever. This formula can be applied to other questions to, so you can create as many practice questions as you like.  

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2

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4


Tuesday 25 April 2017

Resurrection did not happen, say quarter of Christians





A quarter of people who describe themselves as Christians in Great Britain do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, a survey commissioned by the BBC suggests.
However, almost one in 10 people of no religion say they do believe the Easter story, but it has "some content that should not be taken literally".
A fifth of non-religious people believe in life after death, the poll suggests.



Amnesty criticises 'rogue state' China as global death penalty toll falls




Amnesty International has sharply criticised China for continuing to conceal the number of people it sentences to death, as the human rights group reported a fall in executions globally last year. 
The number of executions around the world fell by more than a third to 1,032 across 23 countries in 2016, compared with 1,634 in 25 countries in 2015. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan were the top executioners.
It is estimated that China executes thousands of people, but Beijing does not release statistics and considers the number of death sentences to be a state secret.



Terminally ill former lecturer wins right to fight assisted dying ban



A terminally ill former lecturer has won the right to challenge the legal ban on assisted dying in the hope that he can end his life at home surrounded by his family.
Noel Conway, 67, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in November 2014. His condition is incurable and he is not expected to live beyond 12 months.

Monday 24 April 2017

Faith still a potent presence in UK politics




Faith remains a potent presence at the highest level of UK politics despite a growing proportion of the country’s population defining themselves as non-religious, according to the author of a new book examining the faith of prominent politicians.


Nick Spencer, research director of the Theos thinktank and the lead author of The Mighty and the Almighty: How Political Leaders Do God, uses the example that all but one of Britain’s six prime ministers in the past four decades have been practising Christians to make his point.

READ HERE

Thursday 6 April 2017

'I feel so guilty': Muslim women discuss removing their hijab at work – video




Following the ruling by the European court of justice to allow employers to ban religious symbols in the workplace, three Muslim women in Spain, The Netherlands and the UK talk about their experiences of looking for work while wearing a hijab. They discuss the pressures they have felt, the changes some of them have had to make, be it a complete removal of the scarf or adapting their headgear, and reflect on the complexity of their decision


Monday 27 March 2017

Terminally ill men to hear if assisted dying ban will be reviewed




Two terminally ill men are expecting to hear this week whether they will be granted permission for a judicial review of the ban on assisted dying which, they say, prevents them from ending their lives without protracted pain.

Wednesday 22 March 2017

Jesus's tomb unveiled after $4m restoration


The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the heart of the Christian quarter of the walled Old City, covers the assumed site of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection. It is a huge attraction for pilgrims and tourists from all over the world, many weeping and clutching precious mementos or photographs of loved ones and forming long queues for the shrine.


Tuesday 21 March 2017

Monday 20 March 2017

‘I want my late husband’s children’: the fight for posthumous conception


Three widows have been brought together through their battle for the right to have their partners’ children. But should it be a decision for the courts?

Tuesday 14 March 2017

Muslim Peace Fellowship


Muslim Peace Fellowship  (Ansâr as-Salâm), founded in 1994, was the first Muslim organization specifically devoted to the theory and practice of Islamic nonviolence. We understand unarmed struggle in pursuit of wise, just, and compassionate social transformation to be the original and enduring genius of the Prophetic jihad. Part membership group, part think tank, and part movement builder, MPF is a gathering of peace and justice-oriented Muslims of all backgrounds who are dedicated to making the beauty of Islam evident in the world.

Friday 3 March 2017

Banksy opens hotel on Bethlehem barrier wall


There is unlikely to be much room for last-minute travellers at Bethlehem’s latest inn. The Walled Off Hotel might sound utilitarian, even bleak: 10 rooms nestled against the controversial barrier wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories.



Monday 27 February 2017

Martin and the Bus Boycott in comic form!



Are you the kind of funky hipster who wants to write a great PEE paragraph on MLK and the Bus Boycott but prefers to get their knowledge from a comic rather than a proper book or other superior source of knowledge?  You are?!  Then you, my friend, are going to L-O-V-E this comic about that very topic!  It looks like it was made in the Stone Age but the history buffs among you will know that is impossible because the Boycott was a 20th Century event!



Friday 17 February 2017

HACKSAW RIDGE (2016)







HACKSAW RIDGE is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss [Andrew Garfield] who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, HIS CHRISTIAN FAITH TAUGHT HIM THAT killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Doss was the first conscientious objector to ever earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Thursday 16 February 2017

Revision videos


Be aware that these revision videos relate to a different exam board and concentrate on Christianity but they are well made and cover a lot of the same topics as your exam board.  So, feel free to watch them!

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Church of England votes against gay marriage report




Members of the Church of England's ruling body have voted not to "take note" of a controversial report on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

The report by the House of Bishops called for a "culture of welcome and support" for gay Christians.
But it maintained that marriage in church should only be between a man and a woman, and services should not be held to bless same-sex relationships.

The motion was defeated by the House of Clergy, following hours of debate.

The House of Bishops voted overwhelmingly (43-1) in favour of the report, and the House of Laity backed it by 106 votes to 83.

But to win approval the report had to win backing in all three houses and the Clergy rejected it by 100 votes to 93, with two abstentions.


Bishops will now have to produce a new report on the issue.

Monday 13 February 2017

Heal Me in the Name of Jesus









Heal Me in the Name of Jesus

An Australian Healer claims that he can cure people of their disabilities through Jesus. Emily Yates, a wheelchair user, attends a UK session to investigate.


Monday 6 February 2017

Angels in Islam



Classy studio, natty dresser, ferns and a desk that looks half finished, this guy has the lot:


Thursday 26 January 2017

OFFICIAL REVISION GUIDES FOR 2017 EXAMS can be purchased from these links



THIS ONE

AND THIS ONE!

CLICK THESE LINKS FOR THE AMAZON PAGES FOR THE TWO OFFICIAL REVISION GUIDES PRODUCED FOR THE 2017 GCSE EXAMS.  

WARNING!  THESE BOOKS WILL ONLY BE OF USE TO CURRENT YEAR 11s TAKING THEIR FINAL EXAMS IN 2017.

Friday 20 January 2017

Donald Trump goes to Church and the Pastor is a good example of Christian conflict between Catholics and Protestants.



Before the inauguration ceremony, Trump and his family are due to attend a private service at St John’s church in Washington, at which controversial pastor Robert Jeffress is expected to preach, writes Harriet Sherwood.

Jeffress is the Southern Baptist leader of a 12,000-member megachurch in Dallas, a regular Fox News contributor and a strong supporter of Trump during the election campaign.

He has described Islam as an “evil religion” that “promotes paedophilia” and has said the Roman Catholic church is a “counterfeit religion” which represents the “genius of Satan”.

He has accused Obama of paving the way of the Antichrist by his support for same sex marriage, and that gay people lead a “miserable lifestyle” that is predisposed to “depression, or suicide, or alcoholism.”


Jeffress tweeted on Thursday that he was “Honored to deliver sermon ‘When God Chooses a Leader’ for Trump/Pence private family service at St. John’s Church before‪#Inauguration.”








READ HERE

Tuesday 17 January 2017

C of E archbishops call on Christians to repent for Reformation split




It unleashed an orgy of death and destruction across Europe. In England alone, more than 800 monasteries, abbeys, nunneries and friaries were seized, libraries were destroyed, manuscripts lost, treasures stripped and works of art appropriated. Thousands of people were hung, drawn and quartered, or burnt at the stake for their religious beliefs.


Five hundred years after the Reformation, the religious revolution that swept across Europe, the leaders of the Church of England - itself created in the decades of upheaval - have called on Christians to repent for the divisions, persecution and death.

Thursday 12 January 2017

Christian Persecution - Past and Present

For the new GCSE you need to know about how Christians have been persecuted in the past and present.  Here are some resources to help you!




















Friday 6 January 2017

5 Steps to Tyranny

A documentary explaining why OBEYING AUTHORITY IS NOT ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA BUT IT IS OFTEN VERY DIFFICULT TO AVOID.  Mentions stuff like Milgram's Obedience experiment and the Stanford Prison experiment.






How religion has clashed with secular society


Ten examples of how religion has come into conflict with the rules of secular society.