New Blogs

I have begun using Edublogs to host a new hub of RE blogs. There is a general blog, then specific blogs for each year group. Click on the appropriate links below to visit the new blogs. Obviously all the information and ideas found here will remain!

Our RE "hub" - This is where general information will go. You can also find links to all the other blogs here.

Year 7 RE Blog - For information about the Year 7 course, for good work and a place where you can comment on the work of others.

Year 8 RE Blog - Specifically for Year 8s - there are already a variety of tasks and student comments on this blog.

Year 9 RE Blog - Does what it says on the tin. For Year 9s.

GCSE RS Blog - Year 10s and 11s share a blog, for all things GCSE related, including the mark scheme and links to the specification.

AS RS Blog - For anything to do with the AS course.

A2 RS Blog - For all things A2 related.

Theology and Imagination Blog - This blog is a bit different. I'm sure you all realise that TV, films, books, art etc all gain their inspiration from religious, theological, spiritual, moral and ethical issues! Here's the place to discuss the works of art and media projects to consider what we can learn from them.

I hope that you will find these new blogs easy to use, and that we will get more people taking part in the blogging adventure.

Global Warming

Just found this interesting article on the BBC that I thought I'd share with you. It tells how Evangelical Protestant Christians in America have different points of view on Global Warming - could be useful for an essay on Environmental Ethics in the A2 exam.

A2 Revision Notes

Here are the notes from the A2 Revision session.

Some more A2 photos

1. Critically assess the view that Natural Law is of no use when discussing sexual ethics.

2 Evaluate the claim that conscience is the voice of God.

3 ‘God knows the ethical decisions we will make.’ Discuss.

4 To what extent is it true to claim that people have an individual sense of moral responsibility for the environment?

Video and Audio: Embryo Research

There have been a lot of relevant, controversial and interesting articles in the news recently relating to Embryo Research and other Genetic Engineering issues, all of which are of particular interest to the A Level students. There are many informative videos on the BBC Video and Audio search on Embryo site. One of the most recent issues is whether embryos should be allowed to be screened for a breast cancer gene, in order to protect future children. Is this a good idea, saving future lives from the heartache caused by cancer, or does it diminish the personhood of all those with, or those who may be diagnosed in the future as having, cancer? What would Natural Law have to say about this? Or Act or Rule Utilitarianism?

A2 Ethics Exam - What you need to know!

A reminder of what you need to know for the A2 Ethics exam.

Free Will and Determinism
- Hard determinism (Calvin, Augustine, Spinoza)
- Soft determinism
- Libertarianism (Hume, Aquinas)

Conscience
- Aquinas
- Joseph Butler
- Freud

Christian Ethics
- Sources of Roman Catholic ethics (Aquinas' Natural Law, Virtue Ethics, Scripture: esp. Ten Commandments, Sermon on the Mount)
- Protestant Christian ethics (Relativist: Gospel applied to social ethics through love: Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Ramsey, Joseph Fletcher; Absolutist: Robertson McQuilkin, Lewis B. Smedes; liberal Christians / Evangelical Christians: different views on sexuality, abortion etc)
- The purpose of ethical behaviour (to live life the way God wants; in imitation of Christ; in order to enter Heaven; repentance and a desire to do good)
- deontological or teleological?

Environmental Ethics
- preservation of species, conservation of habitats, depeletion of biodiversity and natural resources, ozone layer, effects of pollution
- how our actions affect future well-being of human life
- Criticism of religious approaches to environmental ethics
- Defence of religious approaches to environmental ethics
- Deep ecology and some criticism

Sex and Relationships
- Christian approaches to sexuality (celibacy; marriage; reproduction; contraception; Natural Law; love)
- Other approaches to sexuality (libertarian and contractarian ethic; feminist approaches)
- Christianity and homosexuality

War, Peace and Justice
- "Holy Wars" (crusades, jihad)
- Just War (explained by Thomas Aquinas) (Geneva and Hague Conventions)
- Pacifism (Buddhism, Quakers etc)
- Realism (Reinhold Niebuhr)

CAFOD Big Deal Homework Help

Another great site that will help you in loads of ways, with RE, Geography, Citizenship ... Click on the Big Deal Homework Help link and find out about CAFOD, Debt, HIV and AIDS, Trade, Fairtrade Fortnight, Conflict, Aid, Emergencies, the Environment ...

That Religious Studies Website

I've found another useful website. That Religious Studies Website has lots of articles on different topics that may be relevant to GCSE students and A Level students.

Vegetarianism or Happy Pigs

(Image from bbc.co.uk - website below)

I read this interesting article about a man who was a vegetarian but now farms his own pigs, which he eats.

Tom Welch, the farmer, said that his reasons for being a farmer were ethical farming ones - he believes it is wrong to keep animals in poor conditions, and that there is no clear link between the meat we buy in the supermarkets and the animal it came from.

One comment by a reader at the end struck me:
"Tom Welch has clearly never been a true vegetarian. His reasons for being so were out of concern for animal welfare during farming. But the true reason for being vegetarian is that you believe it is morally and logically wrong to kill other creatures in order to eat their flesh when it is possible to live off grains, pulses, fruit, vegetables, and nuts."
- Neil, County Antrim

Is there are "true reason" for being a vegetarian? What do you think? Should people be vegetarians? If so, why? Are some reasons better than others?

First Test Tube Baby has her own baby

Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, has given birth to her first child (conceived naturally).

A Level students should be aware of this case, as part of the "right to a child" debate.

BNP Ballerina

'BNP Ballerina' returns to stage
Clink on the link above to read more about the English National Ballet dancer, Simone Clarke, who has admitted to being a member of the BNP. There have been protests outside the London Coliseum demanding that she should be sacked, since the ENB is a publically-funded organisation which receives £6million from the Arts Council each year, which requires recipients to be "aware of how their work contributes to race equality and promoting good race relations".

I first heard of this situation duing a conversation about free speech, and the difference between absolutism and relativism in the UK today. The person who mentioned this news was explaining that he thought that absolute views were out of date nowadays, and that he felt that relative morality was therefore a better position to take. In relation to this story, he believed that since the BNP is a legal political party, that in a democracy one should be able to state your political views freely, without feeling that people were going to campaign for your dismissal from a job.

However, the second person in the discussion said that he felt that any position being expressed in public by someone receiving money from the Arts Council, should express a position that was "for" life, not against it, which he feels the BNP is. My own position (I had not read the article so was not at that time in full possession of the facts) was that perhaps Joseph Fletcher's stance, in his Situation Ethics, that "love" was to be the marker by which one makes their decisions, was a positive one that could be embraced in this situation.

What do you think? Freedom of speech? Public money? Absolute views for/against the BNP? Relative morality ... are all positions equally valid, or are some invalid?

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have all had a very happy new year, and that you all work hard and are well rewarded for that work in 2007!

Special thoughts go to those in Years 12 and 13 who are studying for their exams which are in just 12 days time. I hope your revision is going well, and that you've got your heads around Meta-Ethics, Natural Law and Relative Morality. We'll cover Virtue Ethics next week. Very quickly.

I've also been thinking of my Year 11s, since I've been marking your exam scripts. I'm sure you're looking forward to getting them back, and learning how to improve.

Happy New Year!