Trinity Church of England High School

Religious Education > Key Stage 4 >  Peace and Conflict

EDEXCEL GCSE RS                  RELIGION AND SOCIETY

UNIT TITLE:           RELIGION: PEACE AND CONFLICT

AIM:    To consider the key issues relating to peace and conflict as outlined in the syllabus.  Students will need to show awareness of 2 religions, which for our purposes will be Christianity and Islam.

KEY ISSUES AS OUTLINED IN THE SYLLABUS:

• Two areas of the conflict in the world today, including the reasons for the conflict.
• Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
• Differences amongst Christians in their attitudes to war, including pacifism and the just war, and the reasons for them.
• The attitudes to war of Muslims and the reason for them.
• The work of ONE religious person, community or organisation for world peace.
• Religious and non-religious attitudes to bullying.  Causes of conflict between friends and families.
• The teachings of Christianity and Islam on forgiveness and reconciliation.

TECHNICAL TERMS:

Nuclear weapons – weapons based on atomic fission or fusion

Other weapons of mass destruction – non-nuclear weapons which can destroy large areas and/or large numbers of people e.g. chemical weapons

Pacifism – refusing to fight in wars

Just War – a war that is fought for the right reasons and in a right way

World peace – the basic aim of the United Nations to remove the causes of war

Bullying – intimidating or frightening people weaker than yourself

Forgiveness – the act of stopping blaming someone and/or pardoning them for what they have done

Reconciliation – bringing together people who are opposed to each other.