Religion, Human Rights & Social Justice Flashcards
What are human rights?
Freedom from discrimination Freedom from slavery Freedom of speech Freedom of movement Fair trial
Why are human rights important?
Good morals Keep us safe Fairness Equality Avoid conflict
What philosophical issues arise from human rights?
Human rights imply a responsibility to respect others…
…BUT
‘Respect’ means different things to different people
Respect can be easily abused
It’s impossible to show respect to everyone
What are the problems with human rights?
No one can define the word ‘right’
The views on the word are a perspective rather than an agreed definition
They can change over time so aren’t as universal as we think
Many human rights don’t apply to everyone in every country
Having the freedom of religion/belief means…
Not to be forced to change religion/belief
To hold personal thoughts and convictions
To express religion/beliefs freely
Christian responses to human rights
They turn to God in help to think about human rights
Believe humans are important in the eyes of God
Human rights must be taken very seriously
10 Commandments emphasise they should be upheld
Muslim responses to human rights
Muslims believe that justice is important
Taught to be compassionate and merciful
Taught never to kill as it’s a sin against humanity
To kill one person is to kill the whole race
What is equality
Fairness Equal opportunities No discrimination Same human rights Everyone treated with same respect
Britain is a racist country
One in 4 British people admit to being racially prejudiced
Black, Asian and minority ethnic people are twice as likely to be unemployed
Racism is punished inconsistently
More white people in power
Britain isn’t a racist country
Very multi-racial society
Lots of equality legislation-racial discrimination is illegal
Treat all racial discrimination equally
There are racist people but that doesn’t make Britain a racist country
Christian responses to discrimination & prejudice
“You are all one in Christ Jesus” - Galatians 3:28 - we are all equal so should all be treated the same, discrimination not justifiable in Gods eyes
“Let us make man in our own image” - Genesis 1:27 - God made us all and to him we are all equal, there is no reason to discriminate and no one should be judged for who they are
Buddhist responses to discrimination & prejudice
The eightfold path tells buddhists…
To be yourself and focus on things important to you
To have the right balance of determination
To look out for others and not be judgemental
To get to know somebody before judging them
To be truthful to yourself
Christian responses to homosexuality
“Let us make man in our own image” - Genesis 1:27 - God is all genders, sexualities and races, no one ‘type’ of person is more important, God loves everyone
BUT
“Practicing homosexuality” - 1 Timothy - is wrong because sex is for a man and woman who are married
It is possible to achieve genuine gender equality
It may take time but in 200 years there will be equal number of women in parliament
The pay gap between men and women has progressed so will continue to
Views on women’s rights has improved a lot in the last 100 years and will continue to
It isn’t possible to achieve genuine gender equality
There will always be women who need maternity leave so are less likely to be employed as time is needed off work
Paying for childcare is expensive so working to pay this seems stupid when you could stay at home and do it yourself
There are still more men in higher positions than women and in the last 100 years this has remained
