Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B key terms

Seven laws that Jewish tradition regards as binding on humanity, including prohibitions on murder and theft and a requirement to establish courts of justice.

A person who is not taking part in the fighting, such as a civilian.

An understanding that the true self and Brahman are ultimately one, rather than two separate realities.

Reading a text as conveying meaning without treating every description as a direct physical account.

Worship not bound to a fixed liturgy, allowing flexibility in prayers, readings and other activities.

An understanding of the supreme reality as formless and without personhood, rather than as a divine individual.

An explanation that accounts for something through natural processes without appealing to God or another religious belief.

A resource that cannot be replaced on a human timescale, such as coal, oil or natural gas.

An approach to religion in which belief in a creator God is not central or necessary to the religious path.

A commitment to act without violence and to respect the dignity of other people, including opponents.

A way of acting that rejects violence while actively challenging injustice and seeking peaceful solutions.

Deliberately ending a person’s life when they cannot give consent, for example because they are unconscious.

The Islamic term for prophethood.

A family consisting of parents and their children, without other relatives forming part of the household.

A weapon that uses nuclear reactions to release enormous amounts of energy, causing blast damage and exposing people and the environment to radiation.

An experience of overwhelming awe and wonder, often involving a sense of a presence or reality greater than oneself. Religious believers may interpret it as awareness of God.

Evidence that can be assessed independently of an individual’s personal feelings or beliefs.

Evidence or reasoning that establishes a claim independently of an individual’s personal feelings or interpretation.

An experience in which someone believes a spiritual appearance is external to them, rather than only within their mind. The term describes their experience, not independently proven reality.

A Japanese Buddhist festival remembering deceased ancestors, involving family remembrance, grave visits and, in many communities, communal dancing.

The hidden state of the twelfth Imam, whom Twelver Shi'a Muslims believe remains alive and will return.

The ‘World to Come’, associated in Jewish teaching with future reward and judgement. Jewish understandings of it vary.

A six-syllable mantra associated with Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, especially in Tibetan Buddhism.

The quality of being perfectly good and all-loving.

Wholly good and all-loving.

Having unlimited power; a quality Sikhs attribute to God.

All-powerful; able to do all things. Muslims believe Allah has the power to create and sustain the universe.