Unit 1 discusses believing in God. It covers religious upbringing, arguing that many people come to believe in God through being brought up in Christian families and communities where parents introduce children to belief and encourage faith development. However, as children grow up, they may question the beliefs they were taught or adopt different views after exposure to other ideas. The unit also examines arguments for and against belief in God from the perspectives of theists, atheists, and agnostics.

1. Unit 1 - Believing in God
Includes:
• Belief and non-belief
• Religious upbringing
• Religious Experience
• The design argument
• The causation argument
• Science vs. Christian ideas of the
beginning
• Unanswered prayers
• The problem of evil and suffering
• Belief in the media

2. Tuesday, 06 December 2011
Belief and non-belief in God
Aims:
Understand and explain what it means to be a
theist, atheist or agnostic
Describe what a theist believes
Explain reasons why an atheist rejects belief in
God
Give your own opinions and the reasons for them

3. People have always tried to understand ultimate questions in
life, such as ‘why are we here?’, ‘What happens when we die?’ and ‘Is
there a God?’. Here are some responses to these questions.
Look at the world around us – it can’t have happened by
Lots of people
accident. It must have been designed by a greater
intelligence – God, perhaps. claim to have
experienced
We can’t possibly know God in their
If God exists, lives. They
whether there is a God or
then why does can’t all be
not – there are some
he allow so wrong.
questions we just can’t
many terrible
answer.
things to
happen? When you
die, you’re
There is no evidence that God exists. just dead –
Science will soon be able to answer all the there is no
ultimate questions. afterlife.

4. • Someone who believes in God is called a
‘theist’
• Someone who does not is called an ‘atheist’
• A person who is not sure and thinks it is
impossible to know for certain if God exists or
not is called an ‘agnostic’.

5. Activities:
1. Look at the speech bubbles carefully.
a) Decide for each one whether it is from a theist, an atheist, or
an agnostic; or whether you cannot tell.
b) Which of the speech bubbles do you agree with? Give your
reasons.
2. This is a famous picture
by Michelangelo, showing
God creating man. Do you
think it is realistic or not?
Say why.
3. God is all-powerful, is there anything he cannot do? Can you
list three possible things that he could not do? To help, one
might be that he cannot create a God greater than himself.

6. Christian beliefs about God
A Christian believes that:
• God created the world
• People can have a relationship with God
• He answers prayers and can perform miracles
• God is omnipotent, omniscient and omni-
benevolent.
• Belief in God gives meaning to life and helps
people to answer difficult questions about
death and suffering.

7. Atheists have different reasons for not
believing in God.
• Some atheists suggest that there is evidence
that God does not exist.
• Others do not believe because, in their
opinion, there is no evidence that he does
exist.
• Richard Dawkins is a famous atheist
who wrote ‘The God Delusion’ and has
presented many TV programmes on
this topic. More ideas here

8. Science explains
how the world
came into The
existence existence
of evil and
There is
suffering in
no
Arguments the world
evidence
an atheist counts
for the
might use against
existence
belief in a
of God
loving and
Events and experiences powerful
that believers say are God.
evidence for the existence
of God are coincidences or
natural events

9. Other views
Agnostics will argue that, since there is no
reliable evidence either in support of God’s
existence or against it, the only reasonable
position to hold is literally ‘not knowing’. An
agnostic may argue that both the atheist and
the theist have made a decision without
sufficient evidence, and that agnosticism is the
only approach we can take until there is more
evidence for, or against, God’s existence.

10. Summary:
• Theists believe in God and claim that
everything is dependent on him for existence
and meaning.
• Christians believe that God is
omnipotent, omniscient and omni-benevolent
• Atheists reject belief in God and claim that
there is no evidence to support the claims
theists make about God
• Agnostics claim that there is not enough
evidence to say whether God exists or not.

11. Tuesday, 06 December
2011
Does our upbringing affect our
beliefs?
Aims:
• Describe ways in which Christian families encourage
children to believe in God
• Describe how religious communities contribute to a
religious upbringing
• Evaluate the importance of a religious upbringing on
coming to believe in God
• Give your own opinion on religious upbringing

12. What is Humanism?
• What did you find out for homework?
• How would you summarise their views?
• Humanists don’t rely on a god for answers –
does this mean that they don’t have a moral
code?
• What would you like to ask about Humanism?
• What do you like about Humanism?

13. • Many people come to believe in God through
the way they are brought up. For
Christians, one of the purposes of marriage is
to have children and to bring them up in a
secure Christian home. Christian parents
introduce their children to belief in God and
encourage their children to develop a
relationship with God because they believe
that this is the way God intended us to live
and that it gives meaning and purpose to life.

14. • Sometimes, as they grow up, it is difficult for
children to continue to accept their family’s
religious beliefs. The children will learn about
other beliefs and ways of life and, at some
point, will need to work out for themselves if
what they have learned while growing up will
be right for them in the future. This can be
difficult for parents to understand. For other
children, the comfort of growing up in a
religious home can help them through
difficulties and give them a secure basis for
adulthood.

16. Discussion:
• ‘Parents should not force their religion onto
their children.’ Do you agree?
• How might Christian parents who attend
church and believe in God avoid bringing up
their children to believe in the same things as
themselves? Is this possible?
• What other things might influence a person as
they get older? Would these things affect their
belief in God?

17. Summary:
• Parents help children to believe in God by
bringing them up in a religious family.
• Parents and their children may share beliefs,
practices and activities together with their
religious community.
• Children will need to make their own choices
about what they believe when they are older.