The need for world development.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Religion&wealth&poverty

Religious studies

(Short course) syllabus A

3481

Lee careless

Candidate no.

Centre no. 36560

Section A

The need for world development

The world’s distribution of resources and wealth is not fair. Only one quarter of the worlds of the world population uses four fifths of the world resources. Three quarters of the population share one fifth of the world’s resources between them.

An imaginary line called the north and south divide divides the world. This is an easy way of dividing the richer countries from the poorer countries.

Richer countries are the developed countries they have:

More industries so there is less unemployment, electricity a water supply and a sewerage system for most people, a good education for most children through to secondary school, a good health care system and an average life expectancy of 70 years plus.

In poorer countries they don’t have the advantages the richer countries have:

Employment isn’t very high most people are farmers or employed in primary industry, people live in rural areas without electricity, water supply and no sewer system, half the people have little chance of education, there isn’t good access to good health care, so life expectancy is reduced to only 50 years.

There are six basic human needs to survive and give a chance in life

Food
Water
Education
Health
Shelter and clothing
And job

In the poor south many of these needs are not being met. As a result of this one fifth of the worlds population suffer from hunger and malnutrition which kills 35,000 people a day!

Enough food is produced in the world to feed everyone-but sometimes we seem to have the wrong priorities.

There are a number of different why some countries are less developed than others, like:

Unfair trade

Rich countries pay the lowest possible price for goods/crops etc that they from poorer countries e.g.
When you pay £1.00 for bananas, only about 10% goes to the growers and the pickers of the item.
The poorer countries are produce raw materials such as tea leaves and coffee beans etc. these are bought by corporations and manufactured/processed by them, then they are sold on at large profit
Poor countries are forced to grow crops to sell when many of the population is starving because of lack of food
Richer countries control the prices and make most of the profit. Many groups are now campaigning for FAIR TRADE-a fair price for the growers.

Debts

Most LEDC’s have to borrow money from the banks in the richer countries to begin development. But banks charge interest and countries can find themselves paying the money over many years but still be in debt

War

Many LEDC’s are affected by war, war destroys crops, homes, schools, hospitals-people are made homeless because the country is not rich enough to rebuild and replace their losses

Natural disasters

When LEDC’s suffer from natural disasters there is no money in the country to rebuild homes. People lose there home and crops.

Colonialism

In the past, some southern countries were rich and ...

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Debts

Most LEDC’s have to borrow money from the banks in the richer countries to begin development. But banks charge interest and countries can find themselves paying the money over many years but still be in debt

War

Many LEDC’s are affected by war, war destroys crops, homes, schools, hospitals-people are made homeless because the country is not rich enough to rebuild and replace their losses

Natural disasters

When LEDC’s suffer from natural disasters there is no money in the country to rebuild homes. People lose there home and crops.

Colonialism

In the past, some southern countries were rich and powerful. Many of these countries were taken over by richer northern countries as part of their empire. The rich countries profited through the slave trade and by taking the natural resources from these countries for themselves such as gold and diamonds.

Christian aid

Christian aid is a charity which funds and helps projects in the world’s poorest countries; it helps to improve people’s lives. It works in over 60 countries and it helps people regardless of race or religion. Christian aids aims are to:

Help people help themselves so they don’t need to rely on other people to help, to strengthen the poor, tackle the causes of poverty and campaigns for changes.

Christian aid started in 1945 just after the second world war it was started by Christian churches in great Britain and Ireland to follow biblical teachings. It helped European refuges that lost homes and possessions, and then it later began to help the poorer countries in the world.

Christian aid raises money by having Christian aid week in may, it puts adverts in the newspapers and on television, envelopes are delivered to houses for people to donate money, fund raising events through the years at churches, theres is a total annual income of £39,344,000, in 1995 Christian aid 8.6 million pounds.

Local community and church groups send proposals/bids to them for help, like a well etc, Christian aid provides the money and local groups do the work.

10-15% of the funds is spent on emergency aid/short term aid, it brings quick help after a disaster like a war or a natural disaster, it provides things like clothes, food, shelter and medical help.

Christian aids main aim is long-term aid that aims to improve the standard of living quality of life in the future and it helps communities to progress and develop.

The advantages of long-term aid are:

Increases people self-respect
It gives people a sense of dignity
People gain more control over their lives
Gives people an aim in life
They no longer need to rely on others
It helps people provide for their own future
It encourages skills to be passed on to the next generation
It makes people self sufficient
Makes people more independent

It can provide:

Wells
Seeds and equipment for crops
Schools/and an education
Roads

Every one of these will help into the future

Christian teachings on wealth and poverty

Christians believe that money itself is not a bad thing and that it can be used for both good and evil. They also believe it is a gift from god and to be used as god would wish, it can be only made in a lawful and moral way.

They believe that money can make a person greedy selfish and jealous and that these feelings will lead them away from god “you cannot serve both god and money”-Matthew, testament.

Christians believe you should share what you have with others and to help others with it, to even out inequalities because everyone is equal in god’s eyes. Willingly sharing what they have makes a Christian a better person and brings them closer to god.

Christian churches have different views on how to help others here is few:

The Roman Catholic Church says that have a duty to help those who are unfortunate and those who cant help themselves. The Methodist church says that Christians have a duty to help those in need, so they can look after themselves so they don’t need to rely on others. The united reformed church says that people should give 1% of there annual earnings to those in need, because we are all part of gods family and should help each other.

Jesus told many different stories on how people helped those in need and what happened if they didn’t:

The parable of the Good Samaritan

A Samaritan helped a man he didn’t know because he was in need of help. This story tells Christians to help anyone who is in need.

The rich man and Lazarus

A rich man gives Lazarus scraps of food each day. The rich man is punished by going to hell because he didn’t share what he had, he just gave Lazarus what he didn’t want, this story teaches Christians to share their wealth, or possessions with others and treat them with dignity.

Jewish teachings on wealth and poverty

Judaism teaches that wealth is a gift from god and is to be used for the good of you and of others. The Teach makes it quite clear that a Jew can only make money in the correct way. The believe that 10% of a Jews money should be given to charity and it is right to help the poor and put them on a more equal standing. You should give money in a way that preserves a persons self respect and dignity

Jewish views on the dangers of wealth are that materialism can make a persons life a misery and materialism can make a person sin.

There are two main types of charity:

Teak-this means support to the poor as it is believed that all possessions belong to god, there are many occasions when Jews are expected to donate money to charities. This includes certain occasions like before the lighting of the Sabbath candles and the festival of Purim. Jews believe that you should either give anonymously so that the recipient can retain pride and self-esteem. Or by supporting long-term aid-this involves giving to projects which help people to become self-supporting

There is also, gemilut hasadim- this kind action, it is considered important to show compassion towards those who are in difficulties and who need moral support. This can be done by giving up ones time and helping others. The annual 25-hour fast of Yom Kippur promotes compassion through learning what it is like to be starving.

Some Jewish homes have collection like boxes called pushkes in which money is put towards charities. Children are encouraged to give money to charity at an early age to make them think about others and what they can do to help them. Judaism has always steered a middle path between striven after wealth and shunning it

There should be no rich as long as there is poverty

I agree with the quote because if the rich shared there wealth with the poor then there wouldn’t be a divide between rich and poor. I think that Christians and Jews would be both for this quote because their dream is of a equal world and that if they help others they will become better people and closer to god. People in the poorer countries would also be for this quote because it will give them a chance to stand equal in the world and not classed as ‘poor’ .the main people that would be against this quote are richer people who do not want to share because out of greed or because they believe its nothing to do with them. I also think that corporations and companies will be against the quote because they are making profit out of poorer countries and will want to continue making profit. I have learnt over this topic that Christians and Jews have similar views on poverty and ways of trying to rid of it. I don’t think the world will ever be rid of poverty because there will always be someone making money off someone else expense