Back to Wales Religious Studies
Wales · WJECQ&A
Religious StudiesQ&A by dot point
A short Q&A bank for every Wales Religious Studies syllabus dot point. Each question and answer is drawn directly from our worked dot-point page, so you can scan key concepts before opening the long-form answer.
Philosophy of Religion (Units 2 and 5)
- Atheism, the psychology of religion and secularism: types of atheism and the new atheists (Dawkins), Freud and Jung on the origins of religion, and the rise of secular humanism.4Q&A pairs
- The cosmological argument: Aquinas' first three Ways (motion, cause, contingency), the Kalam argument, and the challenges of Hume and Russell.5Q&A pairs
- Miracles: definitions (Aquinas, Hume, Holland, Swinburne), Hume's argument against belief in miracles, and the responses of Swinburne and others.5Q&A pairs
- The ontological argument: Anselm's two forms, Descartes' version, the challenges of Gaunilo and Kant (existence is not a predicate), and Malcolm's modal restatement.5Q&A pairs
- Religious experience: types and definitions (James, Otto, Schleiermacher), mysticism and conversion, the principles of credulity and testimony (Swinburne), and challenges from naturalistic and psychological explanations.4Q&A pairs
- Religious language: the cognitive/non-cognitive debate, verification (Ayer) and falsification (Flew, Hare, Mitchell), and the positive approaches of analogy (Aquinas), symbol (Tillich) and language games (Wittgenstein).4Q&A pairs
- The teleological argument: Aquinas' Fifth Way, Paley's design argument, Tennant's anthropic and aesthetic arguments, and the challenges of Hume, Mill and Darwin.5Q&A pairs
- The problem of evil: the logical and evidential problems, the inconsistent triad (Epicurus, Mackie), and the Augustinian and Irenaean (Hick) theodicies.4Q&A pairs
Religion and Ethics (Units 2 and 4)
- Conscience: Aquinas' rational conscience (synderesis and conscientia), Freud's psychological conscience (the super-ego), and the implications for moral decision-making.6Q&A pairs
- Ethical thought: divine command theory (and the Euthyphro dilemma), virtue theory (Aristotle), and ethical egoism, with their strengths and weaknesses.5Q&A pairs
- Free will and moral responsibility: hard determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism (soft determinism), religious determinism and predestination (the Calvinist view), and the implications for moral responsibility.7Q&A pairs
- Kantian ethics: duty and the good will, the categorical and hypothetical imperatives, the formulations (universal law, ends in themselves, kingdom of ends), and the postulates.5Q&A pairs
- Meta-ethics: ethical naturalism, intuitionism (Moore's naturalistic fallacy), and emotivism (Ayer, Stevenson), with their strengths and weaknesses.5Q&A pairs
- Natural Moral Law: Aquinas' theory, the four tiers of law, the primary and secondary precepts, real and apparent goods, and the doctrine of double effect.4Q&A pairs
- Applied ethics - sexual ethics: premarital and extramarital sex, homosexuality and contraception, and how Natural Law, Situation Ethics, Kantian ethics and utilitarianism apply to them.4Q&A pairs
- Situation Ethics: Fletcher's theory, agape as the only intrinsic good, the four working principles and the six fundamental principles, with strengths and weaknesses.5Q&A pairs
- Utilitarianism: Bentham's act utilitarianism and the hedonic calculus, Mill's qualitative and rule utilitarianism, and the strengths and weaknesses of the theory.5Q&A pairs
A Study of Religion: Christianity (Units 1 and 3)
- Religious concepts: the nature of God (omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, eternal), the Trinity, creation, and beliefs about human nature, sin and salvation.5Q&A pairs
- Religious figures and sacred texts: the person and significance of Jesus (teacher, Son of God, liberator), and the Bible as a source of wisdom and authority, including questions of interpretation.8Q&A pairs
- Religious life: faith and works in salvation, key moral principles (love, the commandments, the example of Jesus), discipleship, vocation, and the role of the Christian community.5Q&A pairs
- Religious practices that shape religious identity: worship (liturgical and non-liturgical), the sacraments (especially baptism and the Eucharist), prayer, festivals, and pilgrimage.5Q&A pairs
- Religious responses to challenges: secularisation and the decline of religious influence, religious pluralism (exclusivism, inclusivism, pluralism), and the relationship between Christianity and science.5Q&A pairs
- Significant social and historical developments in religious thought: liberation theology (Gutierrez) and its preferential option for the poor, and feminist theology (Daly, Ruether) and its challenge to patriarchy.6Q&A pairs