S17 E3: The One About GCSE AQA Theme A - Relationships and Family

In this series I am doing a deep dive into AQA Paper 2: Themes.  I have done an overview of Paper 2 so if you haven't listened to that one you might want to do that first.

In this episode I will briefly go through all the key content for Theme A Relationships and Family and apply it to 4, 6 and 12-mark questions. 

The three focus topics for this unit are;

Contraception.
Sexual relationships before marriage.
Same sex relationships.

But we will also look at; 
Human sexuality including: heterosexual 
Sexual relationships outside of marriage.
Family planning.
The nature and purpose of marriage.
Same-sex marriage and cohabitation.
Divorce, including reasons for divorce, and remarrying.
Ethical arguments related to divorce, including those based on the sanctity of marriage vows and compassion.
The nature of families, including:
the role of parents and children
extended families and the nuclear family.
The purpose of families, including:
procreation
stability and the protection of children
educating children in a faith.
Contemporary family issues including:
same-sex parents
polygamy.
The roles of men and women.
Gender equality.
Gender prejudice and discrimination, including examples.

4-markers

Explain two different beliefs in contemporary British society about the use of artificial contraception within marriage. In your answer you should refer to the main religious tradition of Great Britain and one or more other religious traditions.
Some Christians believe that it is wrong because it a human preventing life being created
This is because they believe only God should be able to create or prevent life
However, other Christians believe that it is acceptable because it prevents unwanted children
Family planning is seen as a loving action to ensure every child is able to be cared for in a family.

6-markers

Explain two religious beliefs about the role of parents in a religious family. Refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in your answer
Christians believe that one role is to bring their child up in the faith
This means they will take them to Church, teach them how to pray and read the Bible
This is because of the Bible where it says ‘teach your child the way they should go and they will not stray from it’
This quote shows that the hope for parents is that their children will make their own commitment when they are older.
Another role is to provide stability for their family
They can do this by working hard at their relationship to ensure they stay together.

12-marker

‘Divorce is never right.’

Transcript

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This episode of the Army Podcast is sponsored by Reimagining Education, an organization dedicated to making learning inspiring, relevant, and future focused. Just like this podcast, they're passionate about exploring life's big questions and helping both students and teachers thrive. Find out more at reimaginingeducation.uk. A huge thank you to Reimagining Education for supporting the podcast.

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Welcome to the R.E. Podcast, the first dedicated RE podcast for students and teachers. My name is Louisa Jane Smith and this is the RE Podcast.

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The podcast for those of you who think RE is boring, which it is, and I'll prove it to you. In the last episode, I did an overview of paper two. So if you haven't listened to that one, you might want to do that before listening to this one, but you don't have to. In these next episodes, I'm going to break down each theme in paper two and go through some key content and how to apply those to four and six mark questions. In this episode, I'm going to cover theme A, Marriage in the Family. Just a reminder that if you are a teacher, you only need to teach four out of the six themes. And if you are a student, you would have been taught four themes, so only have to answer four themes in the exam. However, your exam paper will have all six themes in. This means you have to cross out the two themes you are not doing as soon as you get into the exam. Check with your teacher which themes you are doing, and if you're not doing theme A, don't listen to this episode. If you are doing theme A, feel free to keep listening. So for each topic in theme A in paper 2, you need to know two similar and two different beliefs and to quote about each of the topics. And the reason for this is that if you are able to do that, you will be prepared for any one, four, or six mark question on the exam paper. Plus, you'll be giving yourself some great foundational knowledge to help approach a 12-mark question. So all of these episodes are going to be structured around that format to help you prepare for the different styles of question on the paper. So the spec says theme A, relationships and families, students should study religious teachings and religious, philosophical and ethical arguments relating to the issues that follow and their impact and influence in the modern world. They should be aware of different perspectives in contemporary British society on all of these issues. Right, now remember if you listened to the last episode on paper 2, I said that there were three topics in each unit where you must be able to explain different beliefs with reference to the main religious tradition in Britain, i.e. Christianity, and one or more other religious traditions. Well, for theme A, these are contraception, sexual relationships before marriage, and same-sex relationships. So let's start with those. Contraception are any precautions taken to prevent pregnancy and to protect against contracting or transmitting STIs, sexually transmitted infections. This word should not be confused with conception, which is when an egg is fertilized. Consception, when an egg is fertilized. Contraception is against the egg being fertilized. Con means not. So contraception means not or against conception. These methods can be natural or artificial, and it's really important that you know the difference between them because religions often have different beliefs about each one. Natural methods are things like the rhythm method where you track the rhythm of your menstrual cycle and don't have sex when you are ovulating, or the withdrawal method when the man removes his penis from the vagina before ejaculation. These methods are more widely accepted by some traditional Christians, but are only around 70% successful in preventing pregnancies and much less effective in preventing STIs. Artificial contraception are things that humans make, like the pill or condoms. The morning after pill is not considered contraception as it doesn't prevent an egg from being fertilized by sperm. It prevents the fertilized egg from surviving, so is considered an abortion. The condom also prevents STIs, but the contraceptive pill does not. Most Christians support contraception as it allows couples to enjoy sex for pleasure, which is one of the purposes of sex, and they can do this before they are ready to have children. Plus, it allows them to plan their family around their capacity so as not to have more children than they can afford. It is therefore seen as a loving action to prevent children who cannot be cared for. This is based on the belief of compassion, which is sympathy and concern for the suffering of others. Too many children could cause suffering. Also, it is a loving action to prevent the spread of STIs. However, the official teaching of the Catholic Church is that contraception is wrong because only God should have control over life and death. As God gives life, any child created is part of God's plan. As such, contraception is going against this as it prevents life. Furthermore, the purpose of sex in the Catholic Church is to procreate, and contraception prevents this. A good verse to use is be fruitful and multiply. This is God's first instruction to Adam and Eve and is the basis of arguments against contraception, as you can't obey this command when using contraception. In the Human IV tie of 1968, which is an official document of the Catholic Church, it says every sexual act should have the possibility of creating new life. However, most Catholics will allow natural methods of contraception as it is in keeping with how God has made humans and still allows the possibility of conception. Now let's look at sexual relationships before marriage. This means to have sex with someone before you have married them. Most Christians are against this because the Bible gives the order in which things should happen. In Genesis it says, a man should leave his mother and father, be united with his wife, and the two become one. So you have to leave your parents, become united to your wife, i.e. get married, and then become one, which is an analogy for sex, as sex marries you in the eyes of God, so joins two people together as one. As such, most Christians believe God gave marriage as the only place for sex. Furthermore, if the purpose of sex is procreation, i.e., making babies, and the only place for children is within marriage, therefore sex should be within marriage. However, other Christians say that Adam and Eve didn't actually have a wedding, so technically aren't married. As such, many Christians believe you can have sex with someone if you are not married, as long as you are planning on getting married at some point. Other liberal Christians believe that sex is something that God gave humans to enjoy, and it is okay to enjoy that with someone you are not married to. They will look at Songs of Solomon, which is a book of poetry in the Bible, which they believe is about two lovers enjoying sex together. Other Christians think this book is symbolic of God's love for the church. Also, in the modern world, sex before marriage is more socially acceptable. So Bible verses need to be interpreted for the modern world. The third thing you have to know about from the tradition of Christianity is same-sex relationships. This means a relationship between two men or two women. For traditional Christians, this is against their beliefs and their interpretation of the Bible. For example, God made Adam and Eve and said this was very good. As such, heterosexual relationships are the only ones that God thinks are acceptable. Furthermore, they look at verses like homosexuality is an abomination and therefore think that same-sex relationships are as well. Plus, if a Christian believes that the purpose of relationships is to procreate, same-sex couples cannot do this naturally, so it is against God's natural order. However, other Christians say that human rights gives people the right to have any consenting relationship, and this includes same-sex ones. As such, they support same-sex relationships. Furthermore, some heterosexual couples cannot have children naturally, which doesn't make their relationship wrong. Furthermore, they look at the original language of the Bible verses which have been translated as homosexuality. And the original word used was molestation but has been mistranslated over time. The word homosexuality did not come into the human language until the 18th or 19th century, so it is not a word that would have been used at the time the Bible was written. They also believe that just because the first two named humans were heterosexual doesn't mean all people should be this. They think being gay is natural and how God has made some people. Also, the Bible says to love their neighbour and not judge anyone, so will fully accept same-sex relationships as an expression of that teaching. This is also based on the belief in compassion, which is sympathy and concern for the suffering of others. Not accepting same-sex relationships can cause discrimination and suffering of others. If we now move down the specification, the next section is called sex, marriage and divorce, and it starts with human sexuality, including heterosexual and same-sex relationships. Human sexuality is how humans express their sexual desires. Most Christians believe that God made humans as sexual, but they have different ideas about how this should be expressed. Most Christians believe sex should be between a man and a woman within marriage. Some Christians think this should be only for the purpose of procreation. Others think it can be used to unite two people together. Some Christians believe sex can be between two people of the same sex, and that can happen before marriage, as we have already seen. When talking about sexuality, we can use three verses. Be fruitful and multiply to show the purpose of sex as procreation. To become one to show the purpose of sex as uniting two people, and homosexuality is an abomination to show that sex should be between a man and a woman. And we've already looked at same-sex relationships in our previous section. The next bullet point is sexual relationships before and outside of marriage. We've already done sex before marriage, so let's look at sex outside of marriage. This is also known as adultery, so having sex with someone else other than your husband and wife. Most Christians believe this is wrong because one of the wedding vows, promises Christians make to God during a wedding, is forsaking all others. So sex outside marriage breaks one of these sacred vows. Furthermore, do not commit adultery is one of the Ten Commandments. So this would be a great quote to use. Also, once you have sex with someone, you have become married to them in the eyes of God. And we have already looked at the quote that says two become one flesh. It is also not a loving action. Something to be aware of is that you cannot argue at all that sex outside of the marriage is acceptable, as it simply isn't. However, you can argue that it is forgivable. For this, you would use the story in the Bible of the woman caught in the act of adultery. At the time of Jesus, this carried a capital punishment penalty. A woman would be stoned to death. However, Jesus said, Whoever is without sin should cast the first stone, and then said to the woman, Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. So he still called it a sin, but didn't judge her for it, and didn't think humans should punish her for it. This is also based on the belief in compassion, which is sympathy and concern for the suffering of others. Christians should understand that people make mistakes or could be escaping from an abusive relationship into the arms of someone else and therefore be compassionate towards them and not judge them. The next section on the specification is contraception and family planning. We've already looked at contraception in detail, and I mentioned family planning, but just to expand a little bit more on this, family planning is planning when to have a family and how big a family to have by the use of birth control practices and contraception. Most Christians believe it is right to plan for a family because God told humans to multiply. Furthermore, they think they should decide how many children they should have depending on the number they can afford to care for. This is based on the belief in compassion, sympathy, and concern for the suffering of others. And family planning prevents unwanted children, so prevents suffering. However, some think that they should allow God to decide how many children they have, so they put their faith in God when it comes to family planning. Some Christians cannot have children, and many Christians feel you should not put pressure on people to multiply. So for this topic, we can use the quote, love your neighbour, to encourage people to be compassionate in deciding how many children they have and not to judge those who can't have any. And the verse be fruitful and multiply can support beliefs that you shouldn't restrict how many children you have. If we think about the next bullet point on the specification, it is the nature and purpose of marriage. The nature of marriage for most Christians is between one man and one woman for life. They use the story of Adam and Eve to support this. Marriage vows are sacred promises Christians make to God during the wedding ceremony. They say, I, name, take you, name, to be my wife, husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death us do part, according to God's holy law. I promise to love and comfort you, honour and keep you, and forsaking all others, I will be yours alone as long as we both shall live. The marriage vows give a really good sense of the nature of marriage, so it should be loving, exclusive, and committed. They include the vow till death us do part, showing that marriage can only end if one partner dies. However, other Christians think marriage should last as long as both partners are keeping to their marriage vows. So if someone isn't loving or isn't cherishing the other or has sex outside marriage, it is okay for that marriage to end. So we've just done the nature of marriage, so what marriage should be like. Now we're going to look at the purpose of marriage. Some Christians think the purpose of marriage is to have children because of that verse, be fruitful and multiply. Other people think the purpose of marriage is to join two people together in love with God, where two become one. The marriage vows also teach about the purpose of marriage, which is to have and to hold, i.e. to have sex. The next point on the spec is same-sex marriage. This is where two people of the same sex get married, so two men or two women. Many Christians use arguments against homosexuality and same-sex relationships as an argument against same-sex marriage, i.e., if homosexuality is an abomination, then it follows logically, therefore, that same-sex marriage is also wrong. Also, in the Bible, it says that a man should be united to his wife. So that would suggest that a man should not be united to another man. However, the Catholic Church will now bless same-sex couples even though they won't marry them. And there are some Christian denominations that support same-sex marriages as they believe it is a compassionate action and based on human rights. They think as long as the marriage is based on biblical values like love and commitment, then gender doesn't matter. There is also a verse in the Bible that says, There is no male, there is no female, we are all one in Christ. This verse is used to argue that gender doesn't matter in Christianity, that all Christians are equal in Jesus. Next up is cohabitation. This means a couple living together without being married or in a civil partnership. For most Christians, this is wrong, as it would lead to a sexual relationship, which we have already argued is against many religious teachings. So we can use that line of argument here. However, some Christians think it is good to cohabit to live together before you get married to test you are compatible before making a legal and sacred lifelong commitment to get married. This does not have to include a sexual relationship, so doesn't go against the teaching of the church that sex should only be for marriage, although most Christians think the temptation would be too strong, so advise against cohabitation. Any Christian who accepts sex before marriage with somebody that you are planning on marry would also accept cohabitation. Particularly in the modern days where this might be logistically necessary. Okay, let's move on to divorce and reasons for divorce. Divorce is the legal ending of a marriage. Some Christians think divorce is wrong because of the sanctity of marriage vows. Let me unpack this phrase and let you know what they say. Vows are promises made during a marriage ceremony. The sanctity of marriage vows mean they are sacred, i.e., you are making them to God and therefore they are binding. We will look at the sanctity of life in theme B. This means that life is sacred and given by God, so you cannot end life. In the same way, marriage vows are sacred and you can't break them. The sacred marriage vows say, till death us do part. You have promised God to stay married until death. This means a marriage can only end when one or the other spouse dies, not through divorce. At the end of the marriage ceremony, it says, What God has joined together, let no person separate. And this is a direct quote from Jesus, which some Christians believe means you cannot divorce as God has united you together. However, Jesus also said, anyone who divorces his wife except for immorality and remarries commits adultery. So many Christians, therefore, think it is okay to get divorced if your spouse has had an affair. So adultery would be an acceptable reason for divorce. More liberal Christians base their views on compassion and say there are other acceptable reasons for divorce. For example, abuse or neglect. If we think about the nature of marriage based on the wedding vows, you make sacred promises to love and cherish someone. So if a spouse is not loving and does not cherish their spouse and is actually abusive, it would be the loving and compassionate belief to allow them to divorce. Furthermore, if the purpose of the family is to protect children, which we will see it is in a minute, ending an abusive marriage is one way of doing this. In the Church of England, you are allowed to get divorced, but in the Catholic Church you are not. This will link to the stability of the family that we will also talk about in a bit. Divorce is considered particularly wrong if you have children, as it is seen to remove stability from the family unit. However, the Catholic Church does allow annulments, which is a statement that the marriage was not valid, so it can be dissolved without a divorce. So, for example, if the marriage was not consummated, i.e., the couple had not had sex, which joins them together in the eyes of God, they are not technically married, so can have an annulment, but they would then need to get a legal divorce from the state. Let's link this to the idea of remarriage. Now, this is a very misunderstood term. Remarriage is marriage for the second time after divorce ended an earlier marriage. This means that if your spouse dies and you get married to someone else, this is not remarriage. Remarriage only happens after a divorce. Remarriage is not allowed in the Catholic Church, because even if you have legally ended your marriage, you are still married in the eyes of the Church, so can't marry a second person. However, the Church of England do allow remarriage because they believe that divorce is sometimes the compassionate thing for a couple and they have the right to marry someone else afterwards. The next section on the spec is families and gender equality. And the first bullet point under that heading is the nature of families, including the role of parents and children, extended families, and the nuclear family. So let's have a look at the nature of families. We know that in society families look different. So we may have a nuclear family with two parents or one or more children. However, the parents could be same-sex parents or opposite sex parents. The children could be biological or adopted. A family might not include children at all. Or there could be a blended family where two people have got married and bought children from previous relationships. Many Christians believe that as long as you love the people in your family, it doesn't matter what it looks like. However, other Christians think that heterosexual nuclear families are the traditional one that God intended people to have. Different Christians have different beliefs about the nature of the family depending on their views on homosexuality, divorce, and remarriage. Let's now think about the role of parents. So there are two main roles. One, to educate children in the faith, and two, to protect them. A big misconception is that the role of parents is to procreate. This isn't correct because you have to procreate before you are actually parents. If we think about the role of parents, you have to have already procreated to be parents. The role of parents is the role someone has once the child is born, which is to educate children in the faith and to protect them. The Bible says educate your children in the way they should go and they will not stray from it. The Bible also says, spare the rod, spoil the child, which is essentially saying that if you don't punish your children, they will grow up spoilt. So one of the roles of parents is to discipline their children to ensure they grow up good citizens. The role of children is to honour their mother and father. This is one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible. It also re-emphasizes the fact that parents should be male and female. The commandment means that children should obey their parents and respect them and live in a way that honours their parents. The other role of children is to learn about the faith and love God. If we think of Jesus' teaching to love God and love your neighbour as yourself, then we can see that the role of children is to love God, love others, and love themselves. This then links to the nature of families to support extended families. If nuclear families are the parents and any children, the extended families include other members of the family, like grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. The Bible is very clear on this, but if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. It is therefore absolutely vital that families look after each other, otherwise you can't call yourself a Christian. The next bullet point is the purpose of families, including procreation, stability, the protection of children, and educating children in a faith. There is some crossover here with the roles of parents and children, so you can use similar information. The purpose of a family is one, procreation, so having children. Remember, a family can consist of just a couple, so their purpose is to procreate. And we can link this to the Bible verse, be fruitful and multiply. Once they have children, the purpose of the family is to provide a stable and protective unit for these children. This means providing for them practically, so food, water, shelter, etc. Jesus once said, who, if their child asked for some bread, would give them a stone. But providing stability and protection can mean the parents should not get divorced. However, some Christians think that providing protection and stability can be best achieved through divorce if the marriage is unstable or violent. The next section is contemporary family issues, including same-sex parents and polygamy. If we consider same-sex parents, we know that some Christians will bring their beliefs about homosexuality and same-sex relationships to this topic. If homosexuality is an abomination, then same-sex parents is also against Christian teaching. They would say that this isn't a stable family because there isn't a male and a female and they cannot teach the faith as they are teaching them something which they believe the Bible says is wrong. However, other Christians think that if the same-sex couple provide a stable, protective family for a child and teaches them about Christianity, then this is acceptable. They also believe that compassion means that they should allow all loving parents to have their own children, regardless of biological sex. This is also because of verses like, there is no gender, we are all one in Christ. As such, gender shouldn't be a factor in deciding who should be allowed to have children. Some Christians think that same-sex couples can adopt, but should not use the egg, sperm, or womb of donors, as this is bringing more people into their relationship, which is wrong. Teachings like love your neighbour and do not judge cause most Christians to accept same-sex parents even if they don't agree with it. Okay, polygamy. This is the practice of having multiple spouses, so multiple wives or husbands. All the verses about marriage are in the singular. A man should take his wife, and the two become one. So, as such, most Christians are against polygamy on biblical grounds. While many Old Testament prophets did have more than one wife, so Abraham, David, Solomon, all had many wives, polygamy is illegal in the UK. So most Christians would disagree with it on these grounds. Finally, in Theme, we have the roles of men and women, gender equality, gender prejudice, and discrimination, including examples. Okay, so I'm going to teach you two concepts. One of these is complementarianism. So some Christians are complementarianists. This means men and women were made differently with different roles that were designed to complement each other. Often this means that men are given roles of leadership in the home, as God has given them skills to be able to perform this role more naturally. And women are given nurturing roles in the family to match their natural skills. Women carry the baby in their womb and can feed them from their own bodies, so therefore they should do most of the childcare too. They will base this belief in verses like the man is the head of the household. They also think that as Adam was made first and given Eve as a helper, plus in the fall, Eve was told she must submit to her husband. Therefore, the Bible is clear that men and women have different but complementary roles, and that women are subservient to men. However, other Christians think that God gives different roles to different people, and this is not based on your gender. They look at verses like there is no male, there is no female, you are all one in Christ, and therefore think men and women have equal roles. This is called egalitarianism, so a belief in equality. Either the man or woman can provide childcare, look after the house, or work, depending on their individual skills, contexts and preferences. They look to the person of Jesus who often challenged the social norms around women and allowed women to be his close followers and learn from his teachings. They therefore believe in gender equality, which means a belief that all genders have equal status and value. So discrimination against any gender is wrong. They think this is the most loving and compassionate belief and allows each human to work to their own God-given strengths. They think complementarianism leads to gender prejudice and discrimination. Gender prejudice is negative thoughts, feelings, or beliefs about a person or group based on their sex or gender. And gender discrimination is acting on these prejudices against someone because of their gender identity. This is commonly associated with beliefs about the differing status of men and women, that men are a higher status than women. Some Christians think that treating men and women differently and not believing that women should work or that men should stay at home is based on prejudice and leads to discrimination. Other Christians do not see this as discrimination, they see it as natural in the same way that only women can bear children. Women have important roles in caring for and supporting men. A good Bible verse to use in this debate is Eve being created as Adam's helper. Traditionally, Christians have believed this means women have to serve men and have lower status. However, the original Hebrew word for helper in the Bible in Genesis describing Eve is Aza, so EZER, Aza, which signifies a strong, vital support, rescue or power, not a subordinate assistant. It's the same word used for God as Israel's helper, implying a powerful saving counterpart. It means strength, aid or rescuer, suggesting an equal partner rather than a servant. This would support an egalitarian belief rather than a complementarian one. Let's focus on some four and six mark question examples now. For your four mark questions, remember these will always be asking you about two similar or two different beliefs about something. This can be anything from the theme A spec that we've just gone through. So that means we need to know two similar beliefs and two different beliefs for each topic. Let's take the question explain two different beliefs in contemporary British society about the use of artificial contraception within marriage. In your answer, you should refer to the main religious tradition of Great Britain and one or more other religious traditions. Now, this is probably the most complicated question on the paper. So we need to kind of break it down a little bit because there's a lot in here we have to notice. We can notice that it is about contraception, which is one of the topics you have to answer from a modern Christian perspective. You will also notice that it is two different beliefs, and it is also specifically about artificial contraception, not natural contraception, and it is about within marriage. So it's two different beliefs in the modern world about the use of artificial contraception within marriage, and we have to mention Christianity. And remember, to get four out of four, we have to write two fully developed points. So here's a model answer. Some Christians believe that it is wrong because it is a human preventing life from being created. One mark for a simple explanation of a relevant belief. This is because they believe only God should be able to create or prevent life. A second mark for developing that point. However, other Christians believe it is acceptable because it prevents unwanted children. A third mark for a second simple explanation of a different belief. Family planning is seen as a loving action to ensure every child is able to be cared for in a family. So this would get four out of four. Notice there are no full sentences, and this is particularly important for these really long questions. You do not need to write in full sentences to get full marks. I've explicitly mentioned the main religious tradition of Great Britain, which is Christianity, by saying some Christians and other Christians, and the points are relevant to artificial contraception within marriage. In terms of six mark questions, then these form a similar structure to your four mark questions. Except to get that fifth mark, you need to be able to include a quote with its source, and for your sixth mark, you need to apply the quote to the question. We're going to go through one so you can see what it might look like. The question is: explain two religious beliefs about the role of parents in a religious family. Refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in your answer. Christians believe that one role is to bring children up in the faith. This means they will take them to church, teach them how to pray and read the Bible. This is because of the Bible verse where it says, Teach your children the way they should go and they will not stray from it. This quote shows that the hope for parents is that their children will make their own commitment when they are older. So here you have a key role explained, bring the children up in the faith. It's fully developed with examples. There is a quote with the source, the Bible, and the quote is applied to the question. If you include the quote but forget to say where it comes from, unfortunately you won't get the mark. So it's really important to remember this. To get our fifth and sixth mark, we need a fully developed explanation of a second role. So another role is to provide stability for their family. They can do this by working hard at their relationship to ensure they stay together. So that would get the fifth and sixth mark. So you've got a model answer there, six out of six. Let's think of a 12 marker that you could get for theme A. Divorce is never right. Our different points of view are going to be that divorce is never right and divorce is sometimes right. To argue that divorce is never right, we need to look at the sanctity of marriage vows. So marriage vows are sacred, so a Christian believes you can't break them. The sacred marriage vow says, till death us do part. Christians have promised God to stay married until death. This means a marriage can only end when one or other spouse dies, not through divorce. Therefore, divorce is always wrong. At the end of the marriage ceremony, it says, What God has joined together, let no person separate. And this is a direct quote from Jesus, which some Christians think means that you cannot divorce as God has united you together. Furthermore, Christians believe that the role of the family is to provide stability, and divorce destabilizes the family and society and puts more pressure on resources. This is a strong argument as it is based on the Bible, was reinforced by Jesus, and is the official teaching of the church. It is also a strong argument because the married couple have made serious vows to God, so it would be wrong to break them. It is also a strong argument because it is the one held by most Christians worldwide. So this is a teaching of the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church is the biggest Christian denomination. However, the law currently allows no-fault divorces. This means anyone can end a marriage legally for any reason. If we have a human right to love, get married, and have a family as we want, we should logically have the right to not be married. Often married couples drift apart or grow apart, and everyone would be happier if they were not forced to stay together. This is a strong argument as it creates happiness, is the legal recommendation and is based on human rights, the agreed global standard for what humans should be allowed. However, Jesus also said, anyone who divorces his wife except for immorality and remarries commits adultery. So many Christians think it is therefore sometimes acceptable to get divorced if your spouse has had an affair. So adultery would be an acceptable reason for divorce and mean that it is not always wrong. More liberal Christians base their views on compassion and say there are other acceptable reasons for divorce, for example, abuse or neglect. Taking into consideration the nature of marriage based on the wedding vows, you make sacred promises to love and cherish. So if someone is not loving and cherishing their spouse and is actually abusive, it would be the loving and compassionate belief to allow them to divorce. Furthermore, one of the purposes of the family is to protect children. Ending an abusive marriage is one way of doing this. This is a strong argument because it is based on the teachings of Jesus in the Bible and is supported by the established church. In the Church of England, you are now allowed to get divorced. It also adheres to society's norms around accepting divorce on compassionate grounds. However, the Catholic Church does allow annulments, which is a statement that the marriage was not valid, so it can be dissolved without a divorce. This means that a marriage can end without divorce. So therefore, divorce is still wrong, but you can still be compassionate to people's situations using annulments. In conclusion, I think the strongest argument is to argue against the statement, because this is consistent with the recognized authority in Christianity, the Bible and the Church of England. The Bible is not absolute about divorce, whereas the statement is, Jesus allowed divorce for adultery. As such, there is a biblical basis for divorce. It is also consistent with the ethics based on love in the Bible. As such, divorce is not always wrong. It is sometimes acceptable, particularly if someone has broken a sacred marriage vow and their partner needs to be shown love and compassion. Hopefully that gives you a little bit of a grounding of theme A as well as how to apply the content to four, six, and twelve mark questions. Next, we are going to stay with paper two, but focus on theme B, religion and life. I will again be focusing on making sure you can confidently explain two key beliefs, quotes for each topic in the theme, and make sure that you are prepared to answer any four, six or twelve mark questions too. This podcast is supported by reimaginingeducation at reimaginingeducation.uk. My name is Louisa Jane Smith and this has been the RE podcast. The podcast for those of you who think RE is boring, which it is. I've just proved it to you. But I hope it helps you to get a better grade in paper 2. Thank you so much for listening to me for the life out of you.