Religious Influence on Family Life In Britain

by kainatemran (student)

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

By: Kainat Emran 9HESC/9G1

Family life in Britain today.

Family life in Britain has changed immensely in the past 50 years. Marriage has lost its value and divorces have increased. The UK consists of various different types of family’s ranging from the typical happy-go-lucky Nuclear family which consists of two parents and child/children to a Reconstituted family, which involves two people marrying that have already had children previously in life, and are moving on from their ex’s. There is also a single parent family, which as you can guess is made up of a single parent and their child/children, and an extended family which typically contains, parents, children and other relations such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and even cousins.

Religion often impacts the way an individual decides to live their lives. Just by getting married in Islam, it is said that half of your faith (Iman) is completed. This shows how much value marriage holds in Islam, as being a Muslim consists of following various different teachings, and none of those teachings mean you have completed half of your faith except for getting married. It can also be seen as manipulating Muslims through their religion in order to receive reward from God in the afterlife, but the reason behind why marriage is seen as completing half of your faith, is due to the fact that it allows Muslims to have responsibilities in life, and not a care-free and silly life. Some responsibilities marriage comes with are to feed and clothe the wife or to assist the husband etc. A Muslim believer should live in harmony with the Islamic law and it has been reported that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had once said ‘Do not delay in three things; 1) the offering of the obligatory prayer. 2) The offering of the funeral prayer when the deceased’s body is present. 3) The marriage of a woman when her couple is found.’ Many may interpret this quote as being harsh as it takes times to properly get to know someone, and see if they are the one you actually want to spend the rest of your life with, but the reason for why it is said not to delay marriage, is because this will stop one from committing such acts by which would be considered immoral. What I mean by this is that, the longer you would leave the marriage, the more desire you would have for that person, which would increase the chances of sex happening outside of the marriage, as you have left the marriage too long, and if the marriage ceremony was done by then then such a sin would not be committed. Some may say that this impacts why the divorce rates in Britain are increasing. What could be meant by this is that, as the rate of Muslims living in this country has increased, so has the rates of divorce, and this is because of Muslims rushing into marriage witch would inflict that later on in the marriage there would be a bigger possibility of divorce. Marriage is also said to be important is to stop one from homosexual behaviours, as being a homosexual is seen as a sin in Islam. What I mean by this is that, the risk of homosexual behaviour increases when a man fails to marry a woman, so when one marries these results in meaning homosexuality is invariably mitigated. The reason for why family life is important to Muslims is as it gives stability and as I have said responsibilities as when thinking of committing sinful doings you think about the guilt of family, and how your family will be effected, so therefore it is seen as very important in Islam.

In Christianity marriage is just as important as it is in Islam. What I mean by this is that, most of the principles of marriage in Islam are very similar to the principles of marriage in Christianity for example In the Bible (Proverbs 5:15-19) it says ‘The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favour from the LORD.” This quote persuades Christians to get married, and compares having a wife to a ‘treasure’ showing how valued and how important part a wife plays in Christian family life. It also persuades Christians to get married by saying ...

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having a wife will mean pleasing the Lord and having a better life, then they are more likely to marry, rather than co-habit, as marrying brings more reward than co-habiting and it is more or less living the same anyway. What is meant by this is that, the only difference is that if children are conceived in marriage it will be legitimately, rather than illegitimately if co-habiting, as sex before marriage in Christianity is also considered a sin and frowned upon, even though it seen to be more common in recent years. But even though some aspects of Christian family life are similar to Islam, some are not. For example it is acceptable in Islam for a couple to divorce, due to it not working out etc. but in certain sects of Christianity it is seen as adulterous to have married one, then divorced and then marry another, as this quote shows “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” This quote tells us that divorcing and marrying again is a sin, due to the fact that it is possible that this means you have slept with more than one person and are said to be ‘unclean.’ Divorcing in Catholic Christianity also affects others involved in your life, as if someone else decides to marry you, being a divorcee, they are also being adulterous. This impacts family life in Christianity as if you are a strict Catholic Christian, but your marriage isn’t working out as good as you had thought this would mean that you would not be able to divorce and re marry. This is a difference to Islam, as you are allowed to divorce, and men are even aloud to marry up too four wives, and this is still not seen as adulterous. The reason for why divorce may be condoned in Islam, and not in certain sects of Christianity is because in Islam, you are told to get as married as soon as possible to your partner, so if it doesn’t work out due to rushing into the relationship, you are allowed to divorce. But in Christianity you are allowed to wait till you feel the time is right to get married, giving you enough time to make the decision that if the person you are with is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. But even though this is said to be disallowed in certain sects of Christianity, divorce rates are growing still, which could mean that many aren’t taking their religion as seriously as before, or being a Catholic Christian is less popular than before.

In conclusion I think that family life in Britain has changed immensely in the past fifty years. For example, fifty years ago it was almost unheard of to have children outside of marriage, and you would be judged as a bad parent, which would result in secretly getting an abortion so shame wouldn’t be brought upon the family and the illegitimate child wouldn’t be a disgrace to the family too. But nowadays it is almost normal to have children outside of marriage, and it is not considered as big of a deal if you are a single parent or not and there is even parents as young as fourteen, which would have been a definite no in society fifty years ago. This has shown how much more modern society has got and how religion has lost a lot of value, as many do not follow their religion as seriously as before. As well as this there are many more couples who are cohabiting instead of getting married, which would have been frowned upon in the past as well, whether this is due to the current economic state of Britain, and people cannot afford their dream wedding, or if they are not serious enough about the relationship, and don’t want to risk going through a divorce after committing themselves to marriage it is unknown. In my opinion, family life is still important as it was previously, but it is just the way in which the families are living which has changed. What I mean is that, it is still significant for children to have parents, and see their parents, and be with their parents just as it was fifty years ago, but this does not have to mean the parents have to be married like it was typically fifty years ago, as they can be co-habiting. This has changed from previous years due to if it was the same type of circumstance fifty years ago it wouldn’t be supported in society and you would be thought as ‘bad’, ‘irresponsible’ and ‘careless’ parents. I think that family values have not changed; it is just the way in which the family are living that has changed and the family types are more varied then they were fifty years ago.