HSC Studies of Religion Question Thread

[maccasgirl]

Which are your chosen religions for Religion and Peace? We don't seem to have any online, although we do have Christianity and Islam covered in the notes in the "shop" tab - but if time is of the essence, I can try find some online sources for you. Just let me know what traditions!

Sorry I probably should've included that in my first question haha but yeah my topics are Christianity and Islam.

[elysepopplewell]

Sorry I probably should've included that in my first question haha but yeah my topics are Christianity and Islam.

I always found this site useful

[cenzotto]

Hey, thanks for this great forum!

I'm not sure if this question has been asked, but what's the best way to structure a religion and peace essay? Should each body paragraph be driven by peace teachings, or should I focus a paragraph on a variety of teachings and then another on the work of an NGO (for a world peace question)?
Thanks 

[ssarahj]

Hey, thanks for this great forum!

I'm not sure if this question has been asked, but what's the best way to structure a religion and peace essay? Should each body paragraph be driven by peace teachings, or should I focus a paragraph on a variety of teachings and then another on the work of an NGO (for a world peace question)?
Thanks 

Hey cenzotto! I found it WAY easier to have a paragraph on the peace teachings first and then a paragraph on what the religion is actually doing for world peace. Then I would recommend you still refer to the teachings throughout your world peace paragraph, so basically connecting the two things together. This structure would work for inner peace as well. My Trial question was about world peace in two traditions so my structure went:

Introduction
P1 - Christianity peace teachings
P2 - Christianity world peace contributions
P3 - Buddhism peace teachings
P4 - Buddhism world peace contributions
Conclusion

Some people prefer to organise their paragraphs into themes etc. and have the peace teachings in every paragraph, however I found this plain stressful, especially when I am trying to memorise content and then write it out logically under pressure, so do whatever is easiest for you!

Also make sure you have more than one example of contributions to world peace for each religion, just in case you need to beef up your essay a bit more. Hope this helps! 

[cenzotto]

Hey cenzotto! I found it WAY easier to have a paragraph on the peace teachings first and then a paragraph on what the religion is actually doing for world peace. Then I would recommend you still refer to the teachings throughout your world peace paragraph, so basically connecting the two things together. This structure would work for inner peace as well. My Trial question was about world peace in two traditions so my structure went:

Introduction
P1 - Christianity peace teachings
P2 - Christianity world peace contributions
P3 - Buddhism peace teachings
P4 - Buddhism world peace contributions
Conclusion

Some people prefer to organise their paragraphs into themes etc. and have the peace teachings in every paragraph, however I found this plain stressful, especially when I am trying to memorise content and then write it out logically under pressure, so do whatever is easiest for you!

Also make sure you have more than one example of contributions to world peace for each religion, just in case you need to beef up your essay a bit more. Hope this helps! 

Alright sounds good! Thanks for the speedy reply 

[jozzl]

Hey this may be a weird place to ask this but when doing a past paper I came across this question
How does ONE Islamic bioethics, influence the lives of adherents?
can anyone help me out? I understand islamic bioethics but im confused about influencing adherents

[ssarahj]

Hey this may be a weird place to ask this but when doing a past paper I came across this question
How does ONE Islamic bioethics, influence the lives of adherents?
can anyone help me out? I understand islamic bioethics but im confused about influencing adherents

Hey jozzl, this is actually the perfect place to ask this!

So when a question talks about "influencing adherents" its basically asking:
'How does following the bioethical teachings of Islam impact on their lives and how they live in the world?'.

This includes the choices and reasoning they use to navigate bioethical issues like IVF, abortion etc.
For example, say an Islamic person had a terminal illness, was in immense pain and came across euthanasia as an option. According to Islamic ethical teachings the person would be influenced to not partake in euthanasia because Allah is the only one that can determine when a person's life begins and ends.

So when you're answering this you still include all the usual content/quotes, its just reframing your wording to suit the question!

Post back if you need clarification   

[elysepopplewell]

Hey this may be a weird place to ask this but when doing a past paper I came across this question
How does ONE Islamic bioethics, influence the lives of adherents?
can anyone help me out? I understand islamic bioethics but im confused about influencing adherents

Does it ask for a bioethical teaching? Or an example of a bioethical issue? Most likely, it was the first! But let me know if not! So, this is asking you to identify a bioethical teaching in Islam, and then it's asking you how the adherent is guided by this. So, the essential purpose of bioethics in a religion is to provide guidance for the adherent in issues that are ethically conflicting, or ethically involved, at least. It also depends on how many marks it is worth. I'll write the following example with just two marks in mind.

You might say something like this,

The ethical teaching in Islam, *****, assists adherents in making decisions. The adherents look to religious guidance in situations pertaining to bioethics, and are affirmed that **** is.

If they asked for more than two marks, potentially something like 6 marks, I'd be bringing in an application of the ethics. So, I'd be saying:
-This is the ethical teaching
-This is why ethical teachings are important for adherents.
-This is where it might be applied in an ethical situation: IVF, perhaps. Relate directly to adherent.

Hopefully this helps! Remember: the main purpose is to talk about how adherents are influenced by bioethics (their reasoning, actions, decisions)

Definitely depends on the exact wording of the question and the mark allocation

Edit: Sorry! Didn't mean to step on your toes Sarah...I had this in front of me for half an hour as I ate dinner and didn't post soon enough

[jozzl]

Hey jozzl, this is actually the perfect place to ask this!

So when a question talks about "influencing adherents" its basically asking:
'How does following the bioethical teachings of Islam impact on their lives and how they live in the world?'.

This includes the choices and reasoning they use to navigate bioethical issues like IVF, abortion etc.
For example, say an Islamic person had a terminal illness, was in immense pain and came across euthanasia as an option. According to Islamic ethical teachings the person would be influenced to not partake in euthanasia because Allah is the only one that can determine when a person's life begins and ends.

So when you're answering this you still include all the usual content/quotes, its just reframing your wording to suit the question!

Post back if you need clarification   

Thank you I have done a similar question like this for Christanity and I looked over your notes and wrote a response I was just worried about it sounding wordy bc the sample response for sexual ethics was and sounded off. Regardless! You helped thank you

[jozzl]

Does it ask for a bioethical teaching? Or an example of a bioethical issue? Most likely, it was the first! But let me know if not!

Yes it was the first, the question just asked for the previous ethical issue you spoke about in the question before this one, which was Islamic Bioethics. It was a 5 marker so I did address euthanisa and organ donation, would it be best that i talk about two in an exam or one extensively?

I also had dinner and looked back at how I answered this question if I was writing about Christianity and it made a lot more sense to me, Thank you for your help and Sarah's too!

[elysepopplewell]

Yes it was the first, the question just asked for the previous ethical issue you spoke about in the question before this one, which was Islamic Bioethics. It was a 5 marker so I did address euthanisa and organ donation, would it be best that i talk about two in an exam or one extensively?

I also had dinner and looked back at how I answered this question if I was writing about Christianity and it made a lot more sense to me, Thank you for your help and Sarah's too!

For a five marker, I wouldn't be talking about a particular example extensively, so to say, but definitely in some kind of depth. And for a five marker, I think I'd stick to just the one ethical issue to apply the bioethical teaching too - unless I finished writing it and thought that it was a bit wobbly, so I'd go back and add in the second ethical issue - more so to reinstate my point than anything else!

[biancadunn_]

how did you guys revise for religion?

http://mcq.bostes.nsw.edu.au/course/higher-school-certificate/studies-of-religion/

As well as what Jamon has suggested, I use this to practice multiple choice questions!!

[jamonwindeyer]

http://mcq.bostes.nsw.edu.au/course/higher-school-certificate/studies-of-religion/

As well as what Jamon has suggested, I use this to practice multiple choice questions!!

Great resource!! thanks for contributing that Bianca!

[jozzl]

Sorry to ask yet another question but should i prepare both my Christianity and Islamic answers for all answers. I usually do Islam for bioethics because Im not great with it for Christanity and I'm not really confident with the significant person for Islam but I know it really well for Christianity. Is it better than I know both well or stick to this method?

[jamonwindeyer]

Sorry to ask yet another question but should i prepare both my Christianity and Islamic answers for all answers. I usually do Islam for bioethics because Im not great with it for Christanity and I'm not really confident with the significant person for Islam but I know it really well for Christianity. Is it better than I know both well or stick to this method?

Hey! It is best to know both well. Consider this situation; you get a bioethics question in the short answers, so you use Islam for short answers. But then your essay question asks you to blend aspects of all three! Your paragraph on Christian bioethics would then be lacking. For this reason, know everything well!

That said, you can know one better than the other if you want to. I prepared for Islam more thoroughly than I did for Christianity, because I knew I would use Islam for my essay