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Unlock This CourseNearly everyone agrees that lying, stealing and cruelty are wrong. Yet people still do them. Why? Four answers come up again and again: selfishness, greed, ignorance and sin. Religious and non-religious thinkers share the first three. Sin is a religious idea.
Key terms:
Many religions teach that wrongdoing is more than hurting other people. It also damages a person's relationship with God, or holds back their spiritual progress. Many believers call this sin. Not every religion uses the word, but all six studied in this course warn against selfishness, greed and ignorance.
Atheists and humanists do not believe in a God whose law can be broken, so they do not usually speak of sin. They still believe in right and wrong. For them an action is wrong because of the harm it does to people, animals or the planet.
Many people say yes. Look behind almost any wrong action, they argue, and you find one of the four. A shop owner who cheats customers is driven by greed. A person who jumps a queue is being selfish. Someone who mocks a culture they know nothing about is acting from ignorance. Many believers add that sin lies behind all of these: people go wrong when they turn away from God or from their religion's teaching.
Others say this is too simple. They point to causes outside the person:
Children copy what they see. A child raised with violence or dishonesty may come to treat it as normal.
A parent who cannot afford food may steal to feed their children. Here the cause looks like need, not greed.
Fear, anger and the wish to fit in are powerful. People in a crowd, or following orders, sometimes do things they would never do alone.
Some scientists say humans evolved to look after themselves and their own group first, because this helped our ancestors survive. Humans also evolved to cooperate, so both sides of us are natural.
How far people really choose what they do is the subject of the lesson Free Will, Determinism and Predestination.
Many believers say yes, through religious practice. Prayer, meditation, worship, fasting and giving to charity train a person to think less about themselves. Studying holy books replaces ignorance with understanding. Some believers say human effort alone is not enough: people also need God's help and forgiveness.
Humanists say people can change through their own efforts. Education reduces ignorance. Reason helps people think about how their actions affect others. Fair laws hold selfishness and greed in check, and fairer societies remove some of the causes of wrongdoing, such as poverty.
There is a third view. Some people, religious and non-religious, say these faults can be controlled but never fully removed, because they are part of human nature.
Here is a one-line taste of each religion. Your own religion's lesson will teach it properly.
These four are human wrongdoing on a large scale. People disagree about who should answer for them.
Every person answers for their own choices. Nobody is forced to hate. A soldier or an online bully cannot simply say, 'I was told to.' Many religions teach that each person will be held to account for what they have done.
Ordinary people do not start wars. Leaders and governments do, so they carry the greater blame. Unfair systems, such as laws that favour one group over another, can cause injustice even when most people mean well.
All of us share some responsibility. What we buy, how we vote, what we share online and what we choose to ignore all shape the world. Staying silent about injustice helps it to continue.
Many people combine these views. They say everyone has some responsibility, but those with the most power have the most.
If something is inevitable, it is certain to happen and cannot be avoided. Are hatred, injustice, violence and war inevitable in a world of human beings? A pessimistic view expects the worst of human nature. An optimistic view is hopeful about it.
Yes. Wars have been fought all through recorded history and are still being fought today. Selfishness and greed are part of human nature, so conflict will always return. Some believers agree that human beings cannot build a perfect world by themselves, and that lasting peace can only come from God or from a great spiritual change.
No. Humans are also able to love, share and forgive. Many believers say people can change and that working for peace and justice is a religious duty. Humanists are confident in human progress. They point out that slavery was once legal in much of the world and is now banned under international law. If people could change that, they can change more.
Do not use 'sin' when you describe a non-religious view. Atheists and humanists talk about wrongdoing or harm. Do not say that every religious person is pessimistic and every non-religious person is optimistic. Both views are found in both groups. And 'ignorance' here does not mean being rude. It means not knowing or not understanding.
Paper 1 style question. Parts (a) and (b) test AO1. Parts (c) and (d) test AO1 and AO2.
(a) Identify three things that some people believe are root causes of human wrongdoing. [3 marks]
(b) Outline two ways in which some people believe selfishness and greed can be overcome. [4 marks]
(c) Explain why there are different views about who is responsible for injustice and war in the world. [6 marks]
(d) 'Hatred and war will always be part of human life.' Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
(a) 1. Selfishness (1). 2. Greed (1). 3. Ignorance (1). (Sin, upbringing or poverty would also score.)
(b) Some believers say they can be overcome through religious practice (1), for example giving to charity trains a person to think less about themselves (1). Humanists say they can be overcome through education and reason (1), because these help people understand how their actions affect others (1).
(c) Some people believe each individual is responsible, because every person makes their own choices. Nobody is forced to hate or to join in with injustice, so 'I was told to' is not an excuse. Many religions teach that each person will be held to account for their actions.
Others believe leaders and governments carry the greater blame, because they have the power to start wars and to make laws. Unfair systems can cause injustice even when most ordinary people mean well.
A third view is that everyone shares responsibility. What people buy, how they vote and what they ignore all shape the world, so staying silent helps injustice to continue. This means the views differ because people disagree about how much power ordinary individuals really have.
(d) Plan. For: wars have been fought all through recorded history and still are; selfishness and greed are part of human nature; some believers say lasting peace can only come from God, not from human effort.
Against: humans can also love, share and forgive; many believers see working for peace as a duty and say people can change; humanists point to progress, such as the banning of slavery; education, laws and fairer societies reduce the causes of conflict.
Your religion: add teachings from your own religion, by name, on the side they fit.
Possible conclusion: judge each point as you go, then pick a side. For example: I partly disagree. Hatred may never vanish from every heart, but war is a choice made by people, so it is not inevitable.
In part (d), look hard at the word 'always'. The statement names two things, hatred and war. You could argue that one is harder to end than the other, which shows the examiner you have covered every part of the statement.