JCE Religious and Moral Education key terms

Belief that there is only one supreme being who created and sustains all that exists. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the main examples taught in this syllabus.

Belief in several distinct gods, each with particular powers, roles and personalities, as found in many ancient and traditional religions.

Worldview holding that spirits or life-forces inhabit natural objects, animals, and places, so that nature itself carries spiritual meaning and demands respect.

The quality of being beyond ordinary human experience and beyond the material world, describing a divine reality that exceeds human understanding and control.

The presence of the divine within the world and within human experience, so that sacred reality is encountered in daily life rather than only beyond it.

Something set apart as holy and treated with reverence, awe or taboo, distinguishing it from ordinary, everyday things.

The ordinary, everyday dimension of life that is not set apart as holy, sometimes used in contrast with the sacred.

A prescribed sequence of symbolic actions performed in a set order, such as prayer, washing, or offering, that expresses and reinforces religious meaning.

A visible religious sign or ceremony believed to convey spiritual grace, such as baptism or the Eucharist in Christian traditions.

The way religious truth is believed to be disclosed to humanity, whether through sacred texts, prophets, nature, or personal religious experience.

A text treated as authoritative and holy by a religious community, shaping its beliefs, ethics and worship, such as the Bible, Qur'an or Vedas.

A person believed to be chosen to receive and communicate divine messages, calling people to faithfulness and often to social reform.

A formal summary statement of core beliefs that a religious community professes, often recited in worship or used to teach doctrine.

An official teaching or body of teachings held by a religious community, setting out what members are expected to believe and how to interpret it.

Conformity to officially accepted belief, or the body of teachings regarded as correct within a religious tradition.

A belief or teaching rejected as contrary to a community's official doctrine, often historically a source of conflict and division.

A formal split within a religious community over doctrine, authority or practice, producing separate bodies that each claim continuity with the original tradition.

A distinct branch or grouping within a wider religious tradition, sharing core beliefs but differing in organisation, emphasis or practice.

The systematic study of right and wrong conduct, asking how people should act and what makes an action morally good or bad.

The lived standards and habits of right and wrong behaviour held by a person or community, as distinct from the formal study of those standards.

An inner sense of judgement about whether an action is right or wrong, which may guide decisions and produce feelings of guilt or peace.

The view that moral principles are built into human nature and can be discovered by reason, independently of any particular revealed religion.

A settled good habit or character quality, such as honesty or courage, that disposes a person to act well and to flourish.

A settled bad habit or character flaw, such as greed or cowardice, that disposes a person toward harmful action and away from flourishing.

An ethical approach judging the rightness of an action solely by its outcomes, so that the act producing the best overall results is considered right.

A form of consequentialism holding that the right action is the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people affected.

An ethical approach judging actions by duties and rules rather than outcomes, holding that some acts are right or wrong in themselves.

An approach that judges each moral decision by the love or compassion appropriate to that particular situation rather than by fixed universal rules.

A situation in which a person must choose between competing moral obligations, so that whatever is chosen some important value is sacrificed.

The capacity to make choices that are genuinely one's own, which underpins the idea that people can be held morally responsible for their actions.

The state of being answerable for one's actions and their effects on others, including duties to care for people and situations within one's influence.

The belief that people are entrusted with caring for the world, its resources and other creatures on behalf of something beyond themselves, often God or future generations.

The religious and moral duty to protect the natural environment as something valuable in itself, often grounded in the belief that the world is a divine gift.

The pursuit of fairness in how a society distributes opportunities, resources and treatment, especially for groups facing disadvantage or discrimination.

A moral and religious principle holding that the needs of poor and marginalised people should have special priority in personal and social decisions.

Generous giving or action to relieve the suffering of others, understood in religious ethics both as an act of love and as a duty of justice.

A short narrative told to illustrate a moral or religious truth, using familiar situations whose details carry a deeper symbolic meaning.

A story or image in which characters and events stand for abstract ideas or moral qualities, so meaning is carried by the pattern rather than the literal plot.

An object, action or image that stands for something beyond itself, such as water for cleansing or light for knowledge and holiness.

The visual images and symbols used in art to convey religious meaning, and the study of how those images communicate belief and devotion.

The process by which religion loses social influence and public life becomes organised on non-religious grounds, while personal belief may persist.

The coexistence of diverse religious and cultural groups within one society, raising questions about tolerance, identity and how traditions relate to one another.

Structured conversation and cooperation between people of different religious traditions, aiming at mutual understanding and shared action rather than agreement on belief.

The willingness to accept and live peacefully with beliefs and practices different from one's own, without necessarily agreeing with them.

The careful interpretation and explanation of a religious text, examining its language, context and intended meaning within the community that preserves it.

The theory and method of interpretation, especially of texts, concerned with how meaning is shaped by context, language and the reader's assumptions.

The ability to understand and share another person's feelings and viewpoint, an essential skill when analysing moral situations and religious experience.

Deliberate, structured thinking about one's own beliefs, actions and experiences in order to learn from them and judge them more clearly.

A leaning or prejudice that distorts judgement or the selection of evidence, which a careful investigator must identify and account for.

The attempt to reach conclusions based on evidence and reasoning rather than personal feeling or preference, while recognising that complete neutrality is difficult.