Religion: wealth and poverty coursework

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Christianity and Muslims both teach that wealth is not just something that you did yourself, it also teaches that it’s not just yours. Christianity teaches that wealth is a gift from god, and Muslims teach that all wealth belongs to Allah. Both religions teach that wealth is given to help humanity, so those who have it should share it, and wealth should be used for good purposes and not for earning more money for the wrong purposes. Both religions teach that everyone with wealth should have a good attitude towards it, they should not be greedy and selfish, and above all they should not let their wealth lead them away from worshipping their god. They both teach that wealth should be shared with the poor and not for sharing with other people who are also wealthy. Both religions teach that a wealthy man is no greater than a poor man, and that every human is equal through the eyes of God and Allah.

Christianity teaches; that, a person’s value should be judged on their actions and not on their wealth and possessions. It also teaches that you can only gain money in lawful and moral ways, and true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in fame or power, or in any human achievement. In the bible it quotes that ‘it is much harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of god than it is to fit a camel through an eye of an needle’, and that ‘you should love your neighbour no matter who they are and where they are from’. The bible also quotes ‘god blesses those who come to the aid of the poor, and rebukes those who turn away from them.

Aii

World development is attempting to bring all countries to the developed stage. The developed stage is countries like the U.S.A and the U.K, which are very rich countries, which are industrialised and have a high level of technology. The countries that are attempting to get to the developed stage are developing countries and less developed countries. Developing countries have a lower level of technology, they have more basic living standards, and they have a developing industry. The term developing means that things are generally getting better. Less developed countries are very poor countries, they have little or no technology and there living conditions are poor. The term less developed countries means that things are getting no better, or at least not as fast as they should.

World development is mainly needed in the south of the world. There is a north and south divide. The countries in the north are richer and are developed but the countries in the south are developing or less developed and are poorer. Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are included in the north side because they are richer and developed countries.

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In 1952 a concept came up that the world could be divided into three groups; the first world, second world and, third world. The first world was North America and Western Europe; the second world was Eastern Europe, led by the U.S.S.R and the third world was Africa, Asia and Latin America who were from colonial rule, Religion:

industrially underdeveloped and economically weak but not ‘belonging’ to either East or West.

World development is needed so that every human being in the world has an equal right to education, health care, and income. If all countries could reach the developed stage the world would be a better place to live in for everyone. One of the reasons why it is so hard for all countries to reach the developed stage is due to war and natural disaster. If a war or a natural disaster like an earthquake hits a country it will cost that country a lot of money to fix and it will slow that country down to becoming a developed country.

Aiii Tearfund

Tearfund is a Christian organization, which works worldwide, their logo emphasis this showing the globe.

Tearfund provides essential aid helping people to lead better lives.

Tearfund will consider assisting churches and Christian groups in the following categories: relief and disaster, agricultural development, forestry, health care, water supply improvement, vocational training, job creation, schools, children, meals, social welfare, buildings, skilled personnel, transport, Evangelism and Christian education, scholarships, and tear craft.

When tearfund begins a project to help people they follow ten guidelines: 1) Help the poorest people in the area. 2) Deal with the basis cause of poverty, rather than just help with the symptoms. 3) Be supported by the local people who must want it and who must be committed. 4) Have an ‘integrated’ approach if possible, covering several branches of development. 5) Aim to develop the skills and experience of local people, and not make them dependent on outside help. 6) Give training a high priority, for the benefit of the community. 7) Aim to train local workers to take over posts held by foreign personnel. 8) Be sustainable: ecological sustainable development includes defending and renewing the environment on which the poor defend. 9) Be well managed: small and simple enough for the agency or church to manage-even after outside help has stopped; it must be cost-effective, flexible and regularly monitored. 10) Aim to form good relationship with government and other agencies.

Tearfund help under the title of Christian development. Christian development is people-related rather than technology centred. Tearfund find aims to help people grow physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually, so that the people they help can also help themselves instead of just relying on outside help.

Tearfund believes that ‘Man cannot live by bread alone’ as Jesus once said. True life can be found through faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Tearfund works with Christians who share this conviction, and who accept the bible as God’s word.

A project should work to meet the needs of every person in the community, regardless of their religious beliefs. But it should be supervised by Christians who want to share with others the ‘full life’, which Jesus can give.

Tearfund says ‘ we are taking pains to do what is right’ not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men. (2 Corinthians 8:20-21).

B

‘There should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world’

I do not agree with the above statement because I think that there should be rich people but I think that the rich people should use some of their money to help poor people who are suffering to survive. I do not agree with people that are very rich and waste their money on things that are not needed, when they could be helping people who are desperate for even the smallest amount of money. For example Richard Branson spent millions of pounds on hot air balloons and equipment in aid to fly around the world whilst the countries he was flying over were starving to death, and also what makes it worse is that Richard Branson was not even successful, and did actually just waste all of that money. Another example of this is footballers. Footballers get paid a ridiculous amount of money for just playing football. Footballers earn so much money that it is impossible to spend all of it, but most footballers just leave their spare money sitting in a bank for their whole life and they could be helping a lot of people and charities with the money they earn. I think the queen should do more to help poor people who are suffering and charities because she is very rich and she doesn’t even work for it.

People like princess Diana set good examples for rich people. She didn’t care about the amount of money she had, she just wanted to help people and charities who needed help, in some cases she was even risking her life to help charities, for example she helped the charity SAVE THE CHILDREN. She helped this charity by going onto mine fields and getting rid of mines, and her money helped with this as well. I think that that is a good way for rich people to spend their money.

Rich people shouldn’t spend all their money on other people they should spend some money on themselves and their families, but they should only buy things that they need to live a comfortable life.

All religions basically teach the same thing about wealth and poverty. Christianity teaches that it is all right to be rich as long as you use your wealth to help people who are not so rich, and Muslims teach that wealth is a gift from Allah and it is a test to see if you make the right choices using your wealth and not use your wealth in badways.