Religion and Society - The authority of the Church

What is meant by the Church?

The Christian Church is NOT a building made of stone.  It's the people who worship in the place. The Christian Church is made up of the clergy, the trained priests, and the laity who are ordinary worshippers. 

How does the priest know what is right?

• A priest will have spent several years in training.
• They will have studied the bible and learnt how the Church has interpreted certain passages.

This enables priests to help members of their community if they ask for advice about a moral problem. 

How does the Church decide what is right?

Lots of issues have been discussed and prayed over for centuries, which has led Church leaders an understanding about how God intends his followers to behave. These teachings have become part of the Christian traditions priests learn about. 

More recent moral issues (the rights and wrongs of fertility treatment), are prayed about by leaders in the Church. Christians believe that God guides present-day Church leaders to reach the correct verdict and teachings about the moral issues in hand which are…