Religious Studies key terms

Adam and Eve's disobedience to God in Genesis 3 and the resulting breakdown of their relationship with him.

A deliberately untrue statement.

Untrue evidence given against someone. Mark describes the witnesses’ accusation about Jesus destroying the Temple as false testimony.

A group of people related by blood, marriage or adoption.

Planning whether and when to have children, and how many children to have.

Abstaining from food and drink for a set period as a religious practice.

A day or period of celebration, usually marking an important religious event.

Remaining loyal to a partner and keeping the commitments of the relationship, including sexual faithfulness.

Providing food for a person in need, or money for that food, in place of fasting where a valid exemption applies and the person cannot make up the fast.

The universal judgement of humanity by Christ at the end of the world, confirming each person’s particular judgement.

An argument for God’s existence which reasons that the chain of causes explaining the universe must depend on an original, uncaused cause, identified as God.

A Buddhist commitment to refrain from taking life.

The natural disposition with which humans are born, understood in Islam as an inclination towards recognising Allah and living rightly.

The five changing aspects that make up a person: form, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness. They are also called skandhas.

The five articles maintained by initiated Sikhs: kesh, kanga, kara, kachera and kirpan. They express Sikh identity and religious responsibilities.

Five Buddhist ethical commitments: not to take life, take what is not given, misuse the senses, speak falsehoods or take intoxicants that cloud the mind.

The five central duties of Sunni Islam: Shahadah, salah, sawm, zakah and hajj.

Five Buddhist ethical commitments: avoiding killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech and intoxicants that lead to heedlessness.

The five Buddhist ethical training guidelines: avoid harming living beings, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, harmful speech and intoxicants that cause carelessness.

Lust, anger, greed, worldly attachment and pride: vices that draw a person away from God and obstruct liberation.

Punishment by whipping; Pilate had Jesus flogged before handing him over for crucifixion.

An unborn developing human in the later stages of pregnancy.

A service that provides emergency food and practical support to people who cannot afford enough to eat.

A charity associated with ISKCON whose London project provides free vegetarian and plant-based meals to people in need.

A lack of reliable access to enough suitable food.

A marriage imposed without the free consent of one or both people.

Someone who comes before another person to prepare for their arrival. John the Baptist is presented as Jesus' forerunner.