RS - Morals and Ethics

A moral code is a list of what someone believes to be right and wrong. People use different sources to help with moral guidance:

- Sacred texts such as the Bible can be used for moral guidance because it shows the views of God to help you know what to do.

- Jesus and muhammad are teachers that religious people look up to, looking at their lives and actions, to help guide them on the correct path.

- Your conscience is the voice in your head that many people turn to for guidance. Religious people believe it is the voice of God and we should listen to what it is telling us. 

- The church is another place religious people may turn to for guidance to look up to religious leaders and find religious traditions. Religious leaders are respected and trusted so influence religious people during religious teachings at the church. 

Human rights are the rights and freedoms to which everyone is entitled. The Universale Declaration of Human Rights was created by the UN in 1948 amd states that all human beings are born free and equal. 

Christians strongly support human rights because it is based on a belief 'human dignity' which states all human life is valuble and people are created in the image of God so should all be accepted. Everyone is free to think and choose how to behave. 

The government provides all UK citizens with free healthcare, free education up till the age of 18 and support to find a job and a home. The government also works to reduce social injustice.

Democracy is a society that enables everyone to vote for representatives to run the country for a number of years. The democratic process is:

Voting - UK citizens can vote for representatives to run the country 

Protesting - you can protest for or against a government decision

Pressure groups - they try to ingluence government decisions on different issues

Political parties - groups believing in the same policies that try to get elected into goverment so they can make decisions best for the country based on their beliefs

The golden rule - Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Christians believe that they have the responsibility to care for others and that they should 'love your neighbour as yourself' Jesus taught that helping others is the same as helping him. Jesus also believes that on judgement day everyone will be judged into good and bad, if you have helped others you will be put into 'good.'

Religious ideas about the environment is known as Stewardship:

- christians believe the earth is Gods creation so we have the responsibility to care for it and have no right to abuse his creation                                                               - christians also believe should try to balance taking care of the earth                       - christianity teaches that driving species to extinction will end up harming us too     - christian organsations such as CAFOD and christian aid are putting pressure on governments to think about thier responsibility of looking after the earth.

Artificial insemination - sperm from the husband is injected into the wifes womb Donor insemination - sperm from the sperm bank is put in a womans womb   IVF - eggs are fertilised in a test tube and injected into the mothers womb           Egg donation - where eggs from a different woman are used as part of IVF         Surrogacy - where a different woman bears the child for a couple 

Chritians believe it is ok for science to help couples to concieve as long as the process doesn't involve anyone else. This makes surrogacy and artificial insemination by donor unacceptable to most christians. Roman catholics believe IVF is wrong because some embryos are disgarded. 

Muslims believe scientific methods are allowed only if they can't concieve naturally. Artificial insemination and IVF are allowed as long as both sperm and eggs are from the same couple. Some Muslims believe egg donation is allowed as long as the woman is Muslim however sperm donation is not permited. 

Transplant surgery is used to save a persons life by replacing a faulty organ with a healthy one from a donor. Some can be living donors but others are dead. 

Christians believe they have a duty to care for others and donating an organ to save a life is an act of love and charity. However some christians believe the human body is sacred and should not be tampered with. 

Muslims believe the human body is sacred and we should respect it. Some also believe the human body belongs to Allah and we have no right to give parts away. However some believe that you should always choose the lesser of two evils.

Genetic engineering - manipulating genes

Cloning - producing offspring genetically identical to the parent

These technologies have the ability to solve many problems such as treating disease. However christians and muslims have views on it:

- Some christians believe cloning is wrong because it involves destroying many embryos which goes against the sanctity of life

- Other christians believe a clone might not have a soul

- Many christians believe that all creation belongs to God so by creating new organisms ourselves is going against God.