Year 11 - Religious education
Good and evil intentions
Religion, crime and punishment
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit pupils will study ideas of crime and how people may view crime is caused. From that, they will examine different ideas of punishing crime and treating criminals focussing especially on a case study of the death penalty and ideas of forgiveness.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain different views, including Christian ones, on good and evil, human nature and suffering.
Key Notes
- Some think an action is wrong if it causes harm or breaks moral rules, others believe that good intentions also matter.
- Christian teaching usually holds that both the action and the intention behind it are morally important.
- Some Christians see human nature as damaged by original sin, while others emphasise humanity's potential for goodness.
- Most Christians believe suffering can lead to spiritual growth.
- Some liberal Christians, along with non-religious people such as humanists, would argue suffering cannot justify pain.
Vocabulary To Learn
- evil intentions: having the desire to deliberately cause suffering or harm to another
- original sin: the belief that human nature is flawed, and that we all have the tendency to sin; traditionally believed to come from Adam and Eve's disobedience
- suffering: an effect of evil; undergoing pain and hardship
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Christians all believe in original sin.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Some think an action is wrong if it causes harm or breaks moral rules, others believe that good intentions also matter. Christian teaching usually holds that both the action and the intention behind it are morally important.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'evil intentions'
having the desire to deliberately cause suffering or harm to another.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Christians all believe in original sin. Correction: While many traditional Christians teach that original sin means that humans inherit a sinful nature, others reject or downplay this idea. Instead, they believe humans are born essentially good or neutral, with the capacity to choose good or bad.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Different religious views about corporal punishment Study Guide
- Different religious views about forgiveness Study Guide
- Different religious views about the death penalty Study Guide
- Ethical arguments relating to the death penalty Study Guide
- Opposition to an unjust law Study Guide
- Reasons for crime: greed and hate Study Guide
- Reasons for crime: mental illness and addiction Study Guide
- Reasons for crime: poverty and upbringing Study Guide
- The aims of punishment Study Guide
- The concept of forgiveness Study Guide
- The treatment of criminals: corporal punishment Study Guide
- The treatment of criminals: prison and community service Study Guide
- Views about different types of crime Study Guide
- Views about people who commit crime Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 11 Religious education guide library.