GCSE Religious Studies: Human Rights and Social Justice

Religion, human rights and social justice is one of the ethical themes in the DfE subject content for GCSE Religious Studies (for example, Theme F in AQA's specification). This material covers both halves of the theme: human rights and prejudice on the one hand, wealth and poverty on the other.

It begins with the foundations. You learn where human rights are set out, from the Universal Declaration of 1948 to the Human Rights Act 1998, why rights come with responsibilities, and why religious believers and humanists support them for different reasons: the belief that everyone is made in the image of God, the Golden Rule and the Qur'anic teaching that people were made into nations and tribes to know one another, or reason and shared humanity.

Freedom of religious expression is treated through a realistic workplace case, so that you can explain the difference between holding a belief, which is absolute, and expressing it, which can be limited to protect others. You then separate prejudice from discrimination and positive action from positive discrimination, as UK law does, and look at racial prejudice through the work of Martin Luther King Jr and Desmond Tutu and the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad's Last Sermon.

The second half deals with money. You compare the right attitude to wealth in Christianity (1 Timothy 6:10, the rich man, the sheep and the goats), Islam (wealth as a trust, zakah, sadaqah and the ban on riba) and Sikhism (vand chakko and dasvandh). You study the exploitation of the poor through unfair pay, excessive interest and people-trafficking, the responsibilities of people in poverty to help themselves, and the debate about emergency aid versus long-term development.

The material offers a quiz with explanations for every answer, flashcards for the key terms and laws, a printable written sheet of explain-and-evaluate tasks with reference answers, and an oral practice exam in which the examiner asks one question at a time and gives brief feedback at the end.

Views are presented accurately and neutrally, including disagreements within religions. Use the material to learn the teachings and laws, then to practise arguing both sides of a statement and reaching a justified conclusion.

• Explain religious and humanist reasons for supporting human rights, and why rights bring responsibilities
• Explain freedom of religious expression and when it may be limited
• Distinguish prejudice from discrimination and positive action from positive discrimination
• Describe religious responses to racial prejudice, with examples
• Compare Christian, Muslim and Sikh teaching on wealth, and explain exploitation of the poor
• Evaluate statements about poverty and charity with a justified conclusion

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE religious studies subject content (theme: human rights and social justice) and, for example, AQA GCSE Religious Studies A (8062) Theme F.