Outline the Christian teaching and the teaching of one other religion on wealth and poverty.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

WEALTH AND POVERTY- R.E COURSEWORK

In this essay I will be writing about wealth and poverty from the Christian and Islamic point of view.

Christians believe that wealth should be shared and used to help those less fortunate than themselves.

The New Testament teaches that wealth can be dangerous. It says that it is easy to worship wealth and material success instead of God.

Some people believe that there should be no rich people in the world as long as there is poverty in the world.

Christians believe in helping those who are less fortunate, because of religious teachings such as "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, how can the love of God be in him?" They believe that everyone is equal and that we should help each other and share the wealth as it belongs to God.

Most Christians would agree with the statement as the teachings of Jesus say that we should help each other. Jesus said: "The man with two tunics should share with him that has none, and the one who has food must do the same." This would encourage Christians to believe in the statement as it tells how it is wrong to have more than enough of the necessities whilst others do not have the basics. However, the bible also teaches that to have wealth is not a sin, as long as it is used for good. e.g. to donate some of it to the poor. In Islam, Muslims believe that it is wrong to have too much whilst others do not have much. Islam teaches that wealth is something given by god for the benefit of humanity and therefore should be shared. Some people think that no single Muslim should be rich if there are poor people in the world because they believe that the wealth of everyone should be equal.
The poor aren't very fortunate because them not having money is either a test or a punishment from Allah. Allah tests every person in a different way. He tests them on wealth, natural disasters, diseases, wars, and many other difficulties. He wants people to see how much they love him. Muslims believe that they shouldn't worry about how much they give to the poor, because the more you give in charity, the more Allah gives you. Here is an example of a surah from the Quran: "Those who in charity spends of their goods by night and by day, in secret and in public, have their reward with their Lord." (2:274) Giving money to the poor is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is called Zakat. In Islam Muslims also fast in the month of Ramadan. Fasting is also one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims fast to strengthen self-discipline and to have a taste of what poor people have to go through everyday as they have no money, no food and no homes to live in. World development is basically trying to make a world into a better place. The majority of people in developing countries manage on an income of under £70 a year or less. People in richer countries take it for granted that they have a right to food, water, healthcare, education and work. Those in developing countries can take nothing like this for granted. Third World countries struggle to pay foreign debts and heath provision is often drastically reduced. Babies and children die and diseases spread. We should help countries that are in need of food and clothes as they are also a part of this world and should take care of each other. We can all help by giving money to charities or things that we do not need, like clothes. The agency I will be examining is Islamic aid. It is an Islamic charity, which is supported by a lot of Muslims and other people who want to help with how people are suffering in the world. Muslims support this agency by giving money or clothes that they do not need.

Islamic Aid

In this part of my R.E course work I am going to do some research on the charity, Islamic Aid. I have chosen this agency, as I was interested in what they did, as I had never heard of it before.

Islamic Aid does more than feed hungry people. They also work along side families and communities to help their needs.

There are quite a few things that Islamic aid does to help people that are suffering in the world:

They provide water to the people that don’t have clean water to drink. Without clean water, people can ...

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Islamic Aid

In this part of my R.E course work I am going to do some research on the charity, Islamic Aid. I have chosen this agency, as I was interested in what they did, as I had never heard of it before.

Islamic Aid does more than feed hungry people. They also work along side families and communities to help their needs.

There are quite a few things that Islamic aid does to help people that are suffering in the world:

They provide water to the people that don’t have clean water to drink. Without clean water, people can get all sorts of diseases. They help people build and maintain clean water systems – like wells, hand pumps, and tube-wells.

They do this for people so they can have clean, healthy water and to reduce the health risks of water-related diseases.

Apart from helping people for better food, they also educate young people that do not have a chance to go to school. There are over 80 million children in the world that are unable to read and write and want the chance to be a normal kid, just as everybody else.

Islamic aid also helps with healthcare. There are a lot of countries in which there is not proper health care. Islamic aid focus mainly on mothers and children

Apart from all that, they also help if there is an emergency in a country. Islamic aid help with food, shelter, clean water, medical care, seeds and tools.

Islamic relief in a lot of countries where there is a lot of poverty like, Africa, Iraq and Iran. Agencies like these exist so people that need the most help around the world are able to lead as normal lives as they can.

It is an Islamic charity as there are a lot of Islamic countries like, Iraq and Iran where not many charities give money to and the places where it is needed the most, except Africa.

Agencies like Islamic and Christian aid are set up in rich countries because they want people who are leading normal lives and have no problems to realize that there are a lot of people suffering in the world and they should be grateful for what they have and if they can try to help them by giving only a small amount to charity if they can.

The good thing about agencies like Islamic aid is that there is more chance of people receiving things like shelter with money and clothing. A lot of people are also aware about what is going on and want to help charities like Islamic aid or Christian aid.

The disadvantages of having these agencies are that people might not pay money as it is based on an Islamic or Christian charity. They might go and look for a charity of their own religion and not pay for these agencies so they might not get many people at all.

“There should be no rich people in the world as long as there is poverty in the world”

In this part of my course work I an going to cover the arguments for having rich people in the world and the arguments against their being rich people. Bible and the Quran have many teachings on wealth and poverty and it is an issue that has influenced all great religions. E.g. the bible has more teachings on wealth than any other issue.

This shows that religion is not just about how to live your life and what to believe in. it has also shown what god wants us to do to help people that are poor-to share some of our wealth with the people that have nothing.

I am going to write the arguments for having rich people in the world. I am going to start off with the points of having rich people in the world:

God gave us free will and we all have talents. Some people have the gift of making money.

This means that some people have worked hard in their lives to be where they are and deserve everything they have.

It is acceptable to make money; it may be a part of Allah’s plan.

This means that Allah might be testing how you will be spending that wealth. All on yourself – all for yourself or people that are less fortunate.

Sir John Templeton made $400 million and used these profits for helping people. The same is true of the Jack Petchey Award scheme for school children in the East End.

There are a lot of organizations that are coming together to help people all over the world. The money that is made will all be used for helping people that are poor and do not have anything to eat or do not have anywhere to live.

Bob Geldof a rock musician organized a pop concert that gave over 100 million pounds to famine victims in Africa through Live Aid.

Not all famous people use all their fortune. A lot of them give a fair amount to charity and also provide entertainment in order to raise the money that is made to charity. These days there are a lot of charity’s that have been launched y famous people, so the money that is made is given to poor countries that are in need.

Muslims are expected to give Zakat and the more money you make the more you can give

Muslims give money away to charity, as it is part of their religion. Muslims believe, the more you give to charity the more Allah will give you. So the more money you are making, it is because of Allah so you are expected to do something for him and give money to the people who need it the most.

Now as I have looked at the positive things for being rich, here are some of the negative views:

Many rich people use their money to become richer

A lot of people with money use their money to get more and don’t give any into charity and the people who need it the most.

Businesses based in rich countries do little to help poorer countries and their only motive is to make profits

A lot of bigger countries, e.g. USA, only focus on one thing- making money. They compete with other countries to see who can make the most profit and do very little to help other poorer countries, like Africa. They just think up ideas of how much more profit they can make.

Money made tends to be squandered e.g. P. Diddy’s bar bill for ONE NIGHT was over 40,000 pounds. Other rich people own cars that cost more than houses. Drug abuse, plastic surgery, etc.

Famous people with a lot of money usually spend the money on themselves and focus on looking good all the time that they don’t think about how much they are spending and how the money that they are wasting could be used for children that are dying of hunger.

The rich become role models for ordinary people to look up to. This goes against teachings in the Quran and Bible. Envy is the word linked to this

Money makes people forget about what is important to them ad ignore everything else, and focus on being even more famous. People forget about the people who are still supposed to be role models to them like prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and Jesus, who didn’t have much money and lived very simple lives.

I agree with both points. You can be rich and still be a good person or spend all the money on yourself. I believe that the money that you have, you should give atleast some of it into charity, only if it is about 20p from your pocket money. We should remember that every single penny could make a difference to the people who need it.

I don’t believe that every single person goes bad when they get rich, there are a lot of people who give into charity and I think that we should focus on the positive bits on having wealth as a lot of people do care about what I happening in the world but aren’t doing anything about it.