Religious Education > Key Stage 4 > Marriage and the Family

EDEXCEL GCSE RS                   RELIGION AND LIFE

UNIT TITLE: MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

AIM:  To consider the key issues relating to Marriage and the Family as outlined in the syllabus.  This section is based on a study of Christianity and Islam.

KEY ISSUES AS OUTLINED IN THE SYLLABUS:

• Changing attitudes in the UK to cohabitation and marriage. 
• The purposes of marriage, as expressed in a marriage ceremony, in Christianity and Islam (faithfulness).
• The attitudes of Christianity and Islam to sex outside marriage (pre-marital sex, promiscuity and adultery).
• Changing attitudes to divorce in the UK.
• The attitudes of Christianity and Islam to divorce (including re-marriage), and the reasons for the attitudes.
• The changing nature of family life (nuclear family, extended family, re-constituted family) in the UK.
• The teachings of Christianity and Islam on family life and its importance.
• How churches and Islam help with the upbringing of children and keeping family together. 

TECHNICAL TERMS:

Marriage – where a man and a woman are united legally for the purpose of living together, and, usually, having lawful children

Divorce – legally dissolving a marriage so that the partners are free to marry again

Cohabitation – a man and woman living together without being married

Pre-marital sex – sex before marriage

Promiscuity – having sexual intercourse with several partners and without commitment.  Often called ‘casual sex’.  In the Bible this is called fornication.

Adultery – an act of sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than their marriage partner

Faithfulness – staying with your partner and having sex only with them

Nuclear family – mother, father and children living as a unit

Extended family – grandparents/ aunts/ uncles living as a unit (or living very close and having a lot of contact

Reconstituted family – where two sets of children (step-brothers and sisters) become one family when their divorced parents marry each other.