RSB7Matters of Life and Death: the Universe, Human Life and the Natural World

This section is about the origin of the universe. Where human life came from (evolution) is a different spec point, later in this topic.

• The Big Bang theory: scientists think the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago from an extremely hot, dense state, and has been expanding and cooling ever since. Evidence includes galaxies moving away from each other and faint radiation left over from the early universe.
• Georges Lemaître (1894–1966) was a Belgian Catholic priest and physicist. In 1927 he proposed that the universe is expanding, and in 1931 that it began from a single “primeval atom”. This idea became the Big Bang theory.
• Lemaître saw no conflict between his science and his faith: for him, science studies how the universe works, and the Bible teaches about God and why there is a universe at all.
• Response 1: the two fit together. Most Christians, including the Catholic Church and the Church of England, accept the Big Bang. They say God caused it and keeps the universe in being. Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”) is about who created, not the physics.
• Response 2: the Big Bang points to God. Some Christians argue that a universe with a beginning needs a cause outside itself, and that cause is God. The fine order of the universe suggests a designer.
• Response 3: reject it. Some Christians who read Genesis literally (often called creationists) believe God made everything in six days, a few thousand years ago, so they reject the Big Bang.
• Non-religious view: many atheists accept the Big Bang as the best explanation and see no need for a creator to cause it.

Three Christian responses to the Big Bang

Big Bang theory

The scientific theory that the universe began about 13.8 billion years ago from a hot, dense state and has been expanding ever since.

Creationist

Someone who believes God created the universe and life as Genesis describes, usually reading it literally.

Literal

Reading a text as an exact, factual account.

A commodity is something that can be bought, sold and used up for profit. Pearson uses the word in questions without explaining it.

• The universe has value because God made it. At the end of creation, “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31, World English Bible, British Edition).
• It belongs to God, not to humans: “The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness” (Psalm 24:1). Humans are tenants, not owners.
• The commodity view: some people treat land, forests, oceans and even space as resources to own, sell and use up as humans wish, for profit or comfort.
• Genesis 1:28 tells humans to “subdue” the earth and “have dominion” over living things. In the past some people read this as permission to use nature however they liked.
• Genesis 2:15 says God put the man in the garden of Eden “to cultivate and keep it”. Most Christians today read the two chapters together: dominion means responsible rule, like a good king caring for his people, not exploitation.
• Christian responses to the commodity view: the universe is a gift to be shared, including with the poor and future generations; it has value in itself, not only as a resource; using it up greedily is a failure of stewardship. Many Christians accept using resources, but fairly and sustainably.

Commodity, dominion and stewardship

Commodity

Something that can be bought, sold or used up, especially for profit.

Dominion

Authority or rule over creation, given to humans by God (Genesis 1:28).

Stewardship

The duty to look after the world on God’s behalf (Genesis 2:15).

Sanctity of life is the belief that human life is holy (sacred) because it comes from God. It is the starting point for Christian views on abortion and euthanasia.

• Made in God’s image: “God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, World English Bible, British Edition). No other creature is described this way.
• Given life by God: God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
• Genesis 3: even after Adam and Eve disobey, God goes on caring for them and makes them clothing (3:21). Many Christians see this as showing that human life keeps its value even when people do wrong.
• Known before birth: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13); God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5).
• The body is God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16–17), and the commandment says “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
• Why it matters today: it shapes Christian views on abortion and euthanasia, on capital punishment, and on caring for people who are ill, disabled or elderly. Every life has equal value, whatever its condition.
• Different interpretations: most Christians hold that only God should end a human life. Some liberal Christians balance this with quality of life and compassion in hard cases (see the next topic).

Sanctity of life

The belief that human life is holy because it is created and given by God.

Image of God (imago Dei)

The belief that humans are made to reflect God, for example in reason, love, creativity and moral sense.

This section is about the origins of human life, not the universe.

• Evolution: Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) argued that living things change over many generations by natural selection. Humans and other apes share common ancestors; humans did not “evolve from monkeys”.
• Survival of the fittest: the phrase was coined by Herbert Spencer and later used by Darwin. “Fittest” means best suited to the environment, not strongest. Those best suited survive and pass on their features.
• Non-religious explanation of origins: many atheists and Humanists see evolution as a complete explanation of how humans came to exist, with no need for a creator or a soul.
• Non-religious explanation of value: human life is valuable because of what humans are and can do: think, feel, love, choose and relate to others. Humanists UK describes living ethically on the basis of reason, empathy and concern for others.
• So, for many non-religious people, value doesn’t depend on God: each person matters because this one life is all they have, and because of their relationships and wellbeing.
• A misuse to avoid: in the past some people wrongly used “survival of the fittest” to claim that some groups of humans were worth less. Christians and Humanists both reject this.

Evolution

The process by which living things change over many generations.

Natural selection

Living things best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and pass on their features.

Survival of the fittest

The idea that those best suited to their environment survive; Herbert Spencer’s phrase, later used by Darwin.

Humanist

A non-religious person who lives by reason, empathy and concern for others, without belief in God.

• Theistic evolution: most Christians, including the Catholic Church and the Church of England, accept evolution as the way God created life. Catholic teaching adds that God gives each person a soul, so humans are more than their biology.
• Creationism: some Christians, especially some evangelicals, read Genesis 1–2 literally: God made the first humans directly, so they reject human evolution.
• Intelligent Design: some argue that living things are too complex to have come about by natural selection alone, so they show a designer. Most scientists reject this.
• The Diocese of Manchester motion: a motion from the Diocese of Manchester was debated at the Church of England’s General Synod in February 2010. It affirmed that belief in God and an understanding of science are compatible, and asked the bishops to help people understand this. It was carried by 241 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions.
• Responses to “survival of the fittest”: Christians say human value comes from being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), not from strength or usefulness. Jesus put the weak first, for example welcoming children (Matthew 19:14) and caring for outcasts.
• Significance today: most Christians can accept science and keep their faith; they see science explaining how humans developed and religion explaining why each person matters. It also means Christians defend the value of people who are sick, disabled or weak.

A range of views on evolution and human life

Theistic evolution

The belief that evolution is the way God created living things, including humans.

Intelligent Design

The claim that living things are too complex to be explained without a designer.

General Synod

The national law-making assembly of the Church of England.

• Pollution: making air, water or land dirty or harmful, for example exhaust fumes, plastic in the sea, sewage in rivers and toxic waste.
• Global warming: burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) releases greenhouse gases that trap heat. Most scientists agree this is warming the earth, bringing floods, droughts and rising seas, which hit the poorest countries hardest.
• Use of natural resources: resources such as oil, metals, forests, fish and fresh water. Non-renewable ones will run out; renewable ones (wind, sun, replanted timber) last if used carefully. Overuse, deforestation and waste damage the world.
• Christian teaching applied: the earth is God’s (Psalm 24:1), so damaging it wrongs God; humans are to “cultivate and keep” it (Genesis 2:15); loving your neighbour (Matthew 22:39) includes people harmed by pollution and future generations.
• Justice: many Christians see global warming as a justice issue because rich countries produced most of the emissions while poor countries suffer most.
• Christian action: Pope Francis’s letter Laudato Si’ (2015) called for care of “our common home”; churches join A Rocha UK’s Eco Church scheme; Christian Aid campaigns on climate; believers cut energy use, recycle and support renewable power.
• Different emphases: a few Christians stress that God controls the future, so they give the environment less priority, but most denominations teach that caring for creation is part of Christian life.

Pollution

Making air, water or land dirty or harmful.

Global warming

The rise in the earth’s average temperature, which most scientists link to greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

Natural resources

Materials from nature that humans use, such as water, timber, metals, oil and gas.

• Stewardship: humans are stewards, looking after the world for God, its owner, and will answer to God for how they did it. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30) is often used: servants are judged on how they used what their master left them.
• The Assisi Declarations (1986): for the 25th anniversary of the conservation charity WWF, leaders of five religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism) met at Assisi in Italy, the town of St Francis, and each made a declaration on nature.
• The Christian Declaration on Nature taught that humans are not owners of creation but are responsible to God for it; that dominion is not a licence to abuse or destroy; and that creation shows God’s glory, so it must not be spoiled, wasted or destroyed.
• It looked to St Francis of Assisi, who called the sun, moon and animals his brothers and sisters, as a model of respect for all creation.
• Why it matters: it showed Christians working with other faiths and with scientists, and helped turn care for nature into a mainstream Christian duty rather than an optional extra.
• Stewardship today: churches measure and cut their carbon emissions, manage church land for wildlife, buy fairly traded goods and campaign for laws to protect the environment.

Steward

Someone who looks after something on behalf of its owner.

Assisi Declarations

Statements on nature made by leaders of five religions at Assisi in 1986, for WWF’s 25th anniversary.

• Animal rights: the view that animals have interests, such as not suffering, that humans must respect. Some people think animals deserve rights equal to humans’; most Christians believe animals deserve kindness but that only humans are made in God’s image.
• Kindness to animals: “A righteous man respects the life of his animal” (Proverbs 12:10, World English Bible, British Edition). God brought the animals to Adam to name (Genesis 2:19), a sign of care and responsibility.
• Animal experimentation: in the UK it is controlled by law (the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986), and testing cosmetics on animals has not been licensed since 1998.
• Christian views on experiments: many Christians accept experiments for medical research if they are necessary, suffering is kept as low as possible and there is no alternative, because human life has special value. Others oppose them because animals are part of God’s good creation and can suffer.
• Animals for food: after the flood God tells Noah, “Every moving thing that lives will be food for you” (Genesis 9:3). Most Christians eat meat but believe animals should be farmed and killed humanely.
• Vegetarian Christians: some choose not to eat meat because of animal suffering, factory farming or the environmental cost of meat. They point out that in Genesis 1:29–30 God first gave plants as food.

Animal rights

The belief that animals have interests, such as not suffering, that should be protected.

Animal experimentation

Using animals in scientific research, for example to test the safety of medicines.

An ethical theory is a method for deciding what is right. Pearson’s (d) questions on this spec point can say “refer to relevant ethical arguments”, which means using a theory such as utilitarianism.

• Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill): the right action is the one that produces the greatest good (happiness) for the greatest number. It looks at consequences, not rules.
• Applied to animal experiments: if testing a medicine on a few animals saves thousands of human lives, the good may outweigh the harm, so a utilitarian may support it. Bentham also asked whether animals can suffer, so their pain counts in the sum.
• Peter Singer, a modern utilitarian, argues that favouring humans just because they are human is speciesism, like racism. On his view, much factory farming and many experiments cause more suffering than they prevent.
• Applied to global warming: cutting emissions now may cost some people money or comfort, but prevents far greater suffering for billions of people in the future.
• Christian responses: many Christians agree that consequences matter and that suffering should be reduced. But most also say some things are right or wrong whatever the outcome, and that humans have a special value as made in God’s image, so they reject the idea that humans and animals count equally.
• A weakness to use in evaluation: it is hard to measure and compare happiness, and the theory could justify harming a minority if the majority gains.

How a utilitarian weighs an animal experiment

Utilitarianism

The ethical theory that the right action produces the greatest good for the greatest number.

Speciesism

Treating members of one species, such as humans, as more important just because of their species.

Ethical theory

A method for working out what is morally right or wrong.