Theme A: Relationships and families Flashcards
Buddhist beliefs about sex
Sex is about desire and craving - both prevent enlightenment
Contraception is allowed to limit family size
Five moral precepts say to avoid sexual morality
Sex before marriage or homosexuality is fine as part of a loving relationship
Christian beliefs about sex
Generally only married couples have sex, only with each other
For many Christians, homosexuality is considered unnatural - people can be gay but without sex
Quakers fully accept homosexuality
Responsible parenthood is encouraged, so contraception is excepted EXCEPT in Catholic church as it stops pregnancy - expected to follow natural methods of contraception as pregnancy should be possible within every act of sex
Bible says ‘Do not commit adultery’, Jesus says that even a lustful look is wrong, so affairs are wrong and a sin
Buddhist symbolism within religious marriage
Marriage is a cultural not religious act, but is seen as a social good
There are some common rituals: The vows - to love each other, be kind and considerate, be faithful
In traditional Eastern Buddhis countries, the wife must perform household duties, be hospitable, protect and invest earnings and the husband must delegate domestic duties and provide gifts to please his wife.
In the west, relations between married couples are very different.
The fact that Buddhism doesn’t have a standard set of rules makes this contrast possible.
Christian symbolism within religious marriage
Marriage is a gift from God and a symbol of Christ’s relationship with the Church.
Vows symbolise the nature of the marriage - full of love and respect, good times and bad times, faithful to each other and life-long
Rings symbolise the everlasting nature of the marriage - that love, like God, is eternal and only death can end this contract ‘till death do us part’
Buddhist attitudes to divorce
Vows are a very serious commitment which should not be broken easily.
Since marriage is seen as keeping society stable, divorce is discouraged.
Sometimes divorce is seen as right if staying married is keeping one/two of the married people suffering as staying together breaks the 5 precepts.
-Keep the 5 precepts
-Be compassionate
-Thoughts, deeds and actions should always be positive because they have a karmic value which shape our next lifetime(s)
Christian attitudes to divorce
Roman Catholics - divorce is always wrong as marriage is a sacrament which cannot be broken ‘till death do us part’
For other Christians, divorce is discouraged but accepted as a last resort. It is sometimes the lesser of two evils and also a necessary evil.
-God hates divorce (Old Testament)
-Whoever divorces…then marries another, it is as if he committed adultery (Jesus)
Buddhist attitudes to gender equality
-If a man denies the possibility of enlightenment of women, then his own enlightenment is impossible (Lotus Sutra)
-The practice of Buddhism is the same for men and women, showing no inequality of demands on either
Christian attitudes to gender equality
-There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ (Galatians)
-So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis)
