• Awe - the feeling you get when you are in a great cathedral or look up at the stars and feel there is something much greater than you.
• Numincus - very similar feeling to awe.
• Conversion - when your life is changed by giving yourself to God.
• Mystical - gaining direct contact with God through things like visions and trances.
• Miracle - something which seems to break a law of science and makes you think only God could have done it.
• Big Bang - the explosion which scientists believe began the universe.
• Moral evil - actions done by humans which cause suffering.
• Natural evil - things like earthquakes and floods which cause suffering and have nothing to do with humans.
• Benevolent - the belief that God is good/kind.
• Omnipotent - the idea that God is all powerful/can do anything.
• Omniscient - the belief that God knows everything that has happened and what is going to happen.

Religious upbringing and belief in God

If you are brought up by religious parents, then you will believe in God from the beginning of your life.

You will be taken to worship God with your parents; you will be taught to pray to God every day; you will be expected to thank God and remember God's good gifts at various religious festivals; you are likely to go to a school where everyone believes in God and so you are expected to believe in God.

With an upbringing like this, it is natural to believe in God, and you will never even think that God might not exist.

Religious experience and belief in God

Religious experience means the ways in which people come into direct contact with God.

It can be just a feeling you get when you are in a holy building or say your prayers, or even look up at the stars. It can be a more definite feeling of God's presence which makes you much more religious (often called conversion experience).

It can be believing that a miracle has happened e.g. when someone you know is cured of an incurable disease after prayers or something connected with religion.

It can be having a direct experience in which you believe God speaks to you in a dream or a vision or a mysterious experience like a trance.

Any of these experiences are almost certain to make the person who experiences them believe in God.

Experience of the world and belief in God

Some people think the way the world works shows that God must exist:

1. The world seems to be designed - the way the Big Bang worked with the laws of science to produce a universe of order, the way humans grow from a tiny blueprint of DNA etc. If something is designed, it must have a designer. The only possible designer of the universe is God, therefore, they believe, God must exist.
2. Science says everything has a cause or an explanation, therefore the universe itself must have a cause and only God could be the cause of the universe, therefore God must exist.
3. Life seems to have a meaning and purpose and there must be a God to give it meaning.
4. The fact that there are religions which seem to believe a lot of the same things about God shows that God must exist to be discovered by religion.

Evil and Suffering

Many people find it hard to believe in God because there is evil and suffering in the world. If God is good, he ought not to want evil and suffering in his world. If God is all-powerful, he must be able to get rid of evil and suffering. There is evil and suffering in the world therefore God is not good, or God is not all-powerful, or God does not exist.

CHRISTIAN RESPONSES

1. Many Christians respond to the problem by believing that God knows the answer, but we cannot. However, Jesus showed us that God wants us to fight against evil and suffering, so they follow the example of Jesus and pray for those who suffer, and give them practical help wherever possible.
2. Some Christians think that God could not give us free will unless we had the chance to do evil things (being free is part of being made in.Cod's image). Humans have used their free will to do evil things and this has brought suffering into the world. SO evil and suffering are the fault of humans not God.
3. Other Christians believe that this life is a sort of test in which we prepare our souls for heaven. If there was no evil and suffering, then we would not be able to develop as good people, because being good involves helping those who suffer and fighting against evil. If we follow the Christian way, then our souls will become good and God will send us to heaven when we die.

MUSLIM RESPONSES

Most Muslims believe that this life is a test. God created humans to look after the earth and gave them Islam to show them how to do it. However, he gave Satan permission to test people and tempt them to betray Islam. Those who do not give in to Satan will be rewarded when they die by going to heaven for ever.

JEWISH RESPONSES

Judaism has many different responses to the problem of suffering:

• the Tenakh teaches that it can be a punishment from God for sins;
• the Tenakh also teaches that suffering can be a test from God - many rabbis have taught that God gave humans freedom and this life is a test to see whether they will freely follow God's command; if we pass the test, then, after death, we will be in paradise with no more suffering;
• the Tenakh also teaches that suffering can be a way of bringing people to God (e.g. when there is a disaster, people turn to religion);
• the Holocaust has led to many different Jewish ideas on suffering, but the most common one is that suffering cannot be explained, but must be overcome and so Jews try to relieve suffering wherever and whenever they can.

HINDU RESPONSES

Hindus believe suffering is an essential part of life. It is part of the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Some Hindus believe we suffer because of our behaviour in previous lives. Therefore, their response to suffering is to put up with it and follow their dharma as well as possible so that they can achieve salvation (moksha) and not be born again.

Others, e.g. Gandhi, believe that it is our duty to help to relieve and prevent suffering and that by doing so we will build up good karma and achieve rnoksha. Most British Hindus follow this response.

Specimen Examination Answers to Illustrate Level Marking

SIX MARK QUESTION

'Give an outline of Christian teachings on racial harmony'

Level 1 answer

Christians believe racism is wrong because Jesus said so. Christians should not be racists, but 1 think a lot of them are and it is time they stopped. If Christians practised what they preached there wouldn't be any racism.

Level 2 answer

Christians believe racism is wrong because of what the Bible says. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan about a man who was set upon by robbers and only a member of the race he hated would help him. This shows that Jesus did not believe in racism and so Christians ought to treat everyone as their neighbour. St Paul also said that Christians should treat everyone as their brothers. The Pope and lots of other Christian leaders have condemned racism and said that all Christians should treat each other as brothers and sisters.

Level 3 answer (full marks)

Christian teaching on racial harmony is based on what the Bible says and what the Church today says. The Bible says that racism is wrong and that we should treat everyone the same. Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan about this where he shows that loving your neighbour means treating everyone well no matter what their race. There is a story in the Acts of the Apostles of St Peter not wanting non-jews to join the Church and then having a dream where God showed him all the animals of the world to show that God had made everything clean. St Paul said that for Christians there was no such thing as race or sex because we are all one in Christ Jesus.

Christians also follow the teachings of Church leaders. The Pope and all the leaders of the Churches have condemned racism and teach that all races should be treated the same. This can be seen in the statement of the Methodist Church 'Racism is a direct contradiction of the Gospel of Jesus.'

EIGHT MARK QUESTION

'What problems does living in a multi-faith society cause for religious believers?'

Level 1 answer

If you live in a multi-faith society, then there are lots of different people there and you have kebab shops and Indian takeaways. The main problem is likely to be racism because a lot of people don't like having different faiths around them, they might throw bricks through the mosque windows and things like that. 1 suppose a religious problem might be that there are too many religions around and no one knows which one to choose. My best friend is Pakistani and he doesn't have any problems.

Level 2 answer

A multi-faith society is one where there are a lot of different religions in the same society. This can cause a lot of problems for religious believers because it is hard for them to go around trying to convert people. If you have a multi-faith society, then everyone must be free to practise their religion as they want. Another problem is that it might be difficult for young people to make up their minds which religion to follow.

Level 3 answer

A multi-faith society is one where there are a lot of different religions in the same society. This can cause a lot of problems for religious believers. In a multi-faith society, you have to have religious toleration and that means that you can't say your religion is the only true one which a lot of religions like to do. It also means that it is difficult for you to go around trying to convert people because they have the right to believe in their own religion and you do not have the right to try to stop them. This could be another problem because if Christians go around trying to convert Muslims, then Muslims have the right to go around converting Christians and this could lead to hatred and violence.

So really the main problem of a multi-faith society for religious believers is that you have to tolerate all faiths and so you can't go around saying other faiths are wrong and trying to convert them, but most religious believers think their faith is the only true one and they want to go around trying to convert people.

Level 4 answer (full marks)

A multi-faith society is one where there are lots of religions in the same society. This ought not to cause problems for religious believers because all religions claim to believe in religious freedom and toleration. However, most religions think they are the only true faith and believe that God wants them to convert everyone else to their religion, but you are not allowed to do that in a truly multi-faith society because you have to respect each others views.

Another problem is one of identity. If you are brought up in a mono-faith society it is easy to know your religious identity, but if you are brought up in a multi-faith society, you 'will come in contact with all sorts of religious practices and may not know exactly what you should believe in your own religion.'

This leads to what could be the greatest problem. If there are lots of religions around, it means you have to choose one and how do you choose between religions? How do you know whether the Bible is the word of God or the Qur'an? How do you know whether Hindus are right about reincarnation?

So there are lots of problems as well as good things about a multi-faith society.