Religious Education (Edexcel) - Matters of Life and Death

KEY WORDS

Sanctity of Life - the belief that all life is holy and belongs to God.

Abortion - the removal of a foetus from the womb before it can survive.

Quality of Life - the belief that life must have some benefits to be worth living.

Euthenasia - the painless killing of someone dying from a painful disease.

Assisted Suicide - providing a seriously ill person with the means to commit suicide.

Non-voluntary Euthenasia - ending someone's life painlessly when they are unable to ask but you have a good reason for thinking they would want you to do so. 

Voluntary Euthenasia - ending life painlessly when someone in great pain asks for death.

Near Death Experience - when someone about to die has an out of body experience.

Paranormal - unexplained things which are thought to have had spiritual causes e.g, ghosts, mediums.

Reincarnation - the belief that, after death, souls are reborn in a new body.

Resurrection - the belief that, after death, the body stays in the ground until the end of the earth, when it is raised.

Immortality of the Soul - the idea that the soul lives on after the death of the body.

The Sanctity of Life

• The bible says God created humans in his own image.
• The 10 Commandments say that 'Thou shalt not murder'
• We should preserve life not destroy it.
• All life is holy and belongs to God, so it would be an offence towards God to commit murder.

People believe life starts at different times. Some believe life starts…