Describe Christian beliefs about the use of birth control (contraception) amd explain how the beliefs of Christians might affect their attitudes towards divorce.

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Religion & Human Relationships

Christianity

Practise GCSE questions

  1. Describe Christian beliefs about the use of birth control (contraception).
  2. Explain how the beliefs of Christians might affect their attitudes towards divorce.
  3. ‘People should only have sex if they married to each other’.

Do you agree? Give reasons to support your answer, and show that you have thought about different points of view. You must refer to Christianity in your answer.

Answers

  1. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that artificial contraception, such as the Pill or condoms is wrong. It is acceptable for Roman Catholics to use ‘natural methods’ to plan their families, such as only making love at the times of the month when a woman is at her least fertile, but it is not acceptable to use artificial methods such as the ones previously stated. This is taught because Roman Catholics believe that the main reason why God created sex was so that children could be brought into the world, and they say that using artificial contraception goes against God’s plans.

Some people, however, including some Roman Catholics, disagree with this teaching. They argue that it could sometimes be a good idea for people to use contraception, especially if they do not have enough money to support a large family.

Other Christian Churches, such as the Church of England and the Methodist Church, give very different teachings. They say that using contraception is the responsible thing to do. People should be free to choose when to have children, and how many they want to have, so that every child brought into the world is wanted by its parents. Family planning using contraception is therefore encouraged.

  1. All Christians realise that sometimes marriages do not work, and a married couple might end up making each other unhappy. However, within Christianity, there are very different views about the ways in which Christians should behave if they no longer wish to stay with the person that they married. Christians have come to different conclusions about which are the right teaching to follow.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that married couples may live apart, if that is what they want to do, but they may not divorce. Catholics believe that marriage is a sacrament, it is a sign of something holy and special done by God, and cannot be undone, any more than a baptism or taking part in Mass can be undone. Roman Catholics, therefore, cannot marry a new partner if their first husband or wife is still alive, but sometimes, in serious situations a marriage can be annulled, which means that it is agreed that the marriage bond never really existed, perhaps because one of the partners was forced into the marriage or did not understand what was happening. It is not easy for a Roman Catholic couple to have their marriage annulled, and usually they have to choose between staying married, or divorcing without the agreement and recognition of the Church.

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Other Christian denominations, such as the Church of England, have different ideas. They believe that if the couple sincerely believe that there is no possibility they will ever want to live together again, divorce can be allowed, and both partners are then free to marry other people. If either of them wants to marry a new partner in church after they have been divorced, then it is up to the vicar or minister to decide whether they are taking Christian marriage seriously enough for this to be allowed.

The Christian Churches agree that they should do all ...

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