That Religious Studies Website

Meet Beth! Beth lives in Minnesota USA, and is an artist who produces work based around religious themes. In this documentary she introduces us to her work, explains something of her artistic style, influences and inspiration, also talks about being raised in a strict Lutheran home and why she is now in the process of converting to the Catholic faith.

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• My faith (Beth)

Meet Sarah! Having been raised as a Catholic, she converted to Judaism over twenty five years ago. In this programme you will learn about why she converted to Judaism, meet some family and friends, and share in the preparations for Shabbat.

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• My faith (Sarah)

This short clip explores the notion of design, by using an analogy with a bridge. In terms of design arguments for the existence of God, these can be set out in two different ways. Firstly, there are arguments from design. These consider the way things are in the world, and whether this suggests that God created it. Secondly, there are arguments to design. These consider how things should be (or what evidence there would be), if the world had been designed and made by God. Both these approaches are explored by considering the different ways a bridge exhibits evidence of design, and how this applies to the question of God's existence.

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• Design arguments for the existence of God (Judeo-Christian) Part 1: Introduction, the Bible, Aquinas and Paley

This movie explores the first of Thomas Aquinas' three arguments (or proofs) for God's existence, using an analogy with cooking chicken. Aquinas' first way is often understood to be about motion, but this is not entirely accurate. Aquinas is actually talking about how things move from a state of potentiality to actuality, which he argues is something begun by God, and this is illustrated in this video by following the process of defrosting and then cooking a piece of chicken.

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• Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways (Part 1): Introduction, motion, causation

This movie outlines the second and third of Thomas Aquinas' three arguments (or proofs) for God's existence, using an analogy with new and old buildings. In the second way, Aquinas sets out how the idea of causation (things needing to have a cause), can lead us to the notion that God exists. This is illustrated with the way buildings are built. The third way considers how the idea of contingency (that do not have to be here but are), leads us to consider that God might exist. This 'proof' is explained using the idea of buildings falling into ruin. The first movie in this series explored Aquinas' first way using an analogy with cooking chicken.

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• Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways (Part 1): Introduction, motion, causation

This movie clip explores two major Christian approaches to understanding why there is evil and suffering in the world, using an analogy with a can of fizzy drink. In the first example, the contents of a fizzy drink can are seen to 'explode', because it has been shaken beforehand. This is compared to the Freewill Defence, which says that bad things happen in the world because we choose to do them. The second example suggests that bad things happen in order that we might learn not to do certain things again. This is compared to the Irenaean Theodicy, which says that evil and suffering is allowed to occur in the world so that we might learn not to do certain things, and also so that we will become better people.

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• The problem of evil and suffering: An introduction

Some reflections on an age-old (so-called) 'problem'...

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• The problem of evil and suffering: An introduction

This short movie explores the notion of verification, by considering how we can know a statement is true prior to any experiential verification of it. For instance, how do we know that the statement 'Ant killer' on a tin of insect repellent is true (i.e. that the spray kills ants)? Many would claim that the statement is factual, because the spray actually does kill ants! However, how we can know this is a 'fact', prior to using the spray for the first time? In terms of the wider subject matter, the question of statement verification is particularly important for verifying religious statements. For example, if God is transcendent (beyond sensory experience), how do we know any statements about God have any meaning, or even if they are true?

A short video to get people thinking about the issues.

*** NOTE: This video has no sound ***

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• Christian attitudes to abortion (Part 1): Introduction, Roman Catholic and Church of England teaching
• Christian attitudes to abortion (Part 2): Methodist and Quaker teaching, pro-life and pro-choice arguments

Some thoughts on banning Muslim women from wearing Hijab.

*** NOTE: This video has no sound ***

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• Women and Islam (Part 1): Introduction and pre-Islamic attitudes to women