Religious Studies

Course summary

Religious Studies is an A Level really worth considering and makes an excellent combination with science, humanities, and arts subjects. If you would like to sharpen your critical thinking, develop your analysis and evaluative skills, and tease your brain, this course is for you. All students follow the AQA Religious Studies (Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Religion, and Dialogues) course which is assessed by two 3-hour written exams for each component. They will cover the following 2 units: Philosophy of Religion and Ethics: Arguments for the existence of God; Evil and Suffering; Religious Experience; Religious language; miracles and the self, death and the afterlife. The ethical theories of Natural Moral Law, Situation and Virtue Ethics; Issues of human and animal life and death (embryo research; cloning; abortion; euthanasia; capital punishment; the status and rights of animals; blood sports); Meta-Ethics; Free will; conscience and a comparison of the views of Bentham and Kant Study of Religion and Dialogues: Sources of wisdom and authority; God/gods/ultimate reality; self, death, and the afterlife; Good conduct and key moral principles; expression of religious identity; religion and gender, sexuality, science, secularisation, and religious pluralism. This paper also includes a consideration of the dialogues between the philosophy of religion, ethics, and religion. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to develop their understanding of the connections between the two units.