Religious Studies - Ethics (care for others)

Care for others

Most religions give guidance about how we should treat other people. The Christian faith teaches compassion.

Christian teachings

Christians should show compassion (an emotion prompted by the pain and suffering of others) for other people and a desire for justice. Jesus makes this clear in the Parable of the Good Samaritan:

And Jesus concluded, ‘In your opinion, which one of these three acted like a neighbour towards the man attacked by the robbers?’ The teacher of the Law answered, ‘The one who was kind to him.’ Jesus replied, ‘You go, then, and do the same.’
Luke 10: 36-37

The earliest Christians tried to put Jesus’ teachings into practice:

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
Acts 2:44-45

Some people think that making money is the main purpose of their lives; this goes against Christian teaching. Christianity says that having money is wrong if money becomes the main focus of a person’s life, or is gained dishonestly.

People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
I Timothy 6:9-10

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is no divide between the religious and the secular world. Everything belongs to God, so faith and justice are linked together.

True happiness is not found in riches or wellbeing, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement…. God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them.

Rich nations have a moral responsibility towards those less fortunate.

Christian action

In recent years the Christian churches have concerned themselves more with issues such as poverty and the fairer distribution of wealth in the world. A few very rich nations own most of the world’s wealth and therefore resources of all kinds are not distributed equally.
Charities such as Christian Aid, CAFOD, CARITAS and the Tearfund try to coordinate the churches’ work in order to stop millions of people starving while the rest of the world is well-fed and has a good standard of living.