Ethics Matters
Sixth Form Religious Education Day
With Dr Peter Vardy
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“Ethics Matters” is a face-to-face bespoke event designed to support general Religious Education in the Sixth Form. Combining pacy, engaging lectures with activities, discussions and debates, “Ethics Matters” helps students to understand and think through their responses to some of the hottest hot-button issues confronting our society today. In each lecture, a range of religious perspectives will be outlined and explained, along with non-religious perspectives and students will be encouraged to evaluate these perspectives, considering which they agree with and why.
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Sessions include:
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Genetics
The first lecture will explore the fast-developing world of genetics. Since CRISPR was unveiled in 2012 a whole world of new possibilities have opened up, ranging from “healthy” cooking oil to fry chips (made from genetically edited plants) through to editing the genomes of embryos to create babies immune to HIV. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should… so, what are the moral objections to tampering with genetics, including religious objections, and should we be worried? This session will conclude with an activity and a Q&A session.
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Fertility
According to NICE and the NHS 1 in every 7 heterosexual couples now have difficulty conceiving, and rates of infertility are rising. This second lecture will explore the current state of fertility treatment before opening up the ethical questions surrounding this whole area, ranging from who should fund treatment through to whether commercial surrogacy should be legalized. A range of religious and non-religious perspectives will be explained and evaluated. This session will end with a debate.
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An Aging Population
Average life expectancy across the UK rose by 0.15% last year to 81.5 years. Putting that in context, life expectancy in 1921 was 57.6 years. While this is great news on many levels, it has and will continue to cause problems; projections suggest that by 2050, 25% of the UK population will be over 65! The final lecture will open up the implications of our aging population for a whole range of issues ranging from politics and taxation through NHS funding and debates over paying for social care and assisted dying, considering whether human life is sacred and should be preserved and extended at all costs (as some religious people believe) or whether its value depends to an extent on its quality (as other religious and most non-religious people believe). This session will conclude with a group discussion.
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Poverty and Inequality NEW SESSION
By 2023, the richest 50 families in the UK held more wealth than half of the UK population, 33.5 million people. Inequality is a huge and growing global problem as well, with the world’s richest 1% owning nearly half of all the world’s wealth. According to Forbes, the 10 richest billionaires own an astonishing $1.448 trillion, a sum greater than the total goods and services most nations produce on an annual basis. On the other hand, the poorest 50 percent of the world population is responsible for just 12 percent of global carbon emissions but will shoulder 75 percent of the income losses projected to occur as a result of climate change. This session will explore what causes such inequality and the poverty that is its result, as well as what can and should be done about it, covering and evaluating a range of religious and non-religious perspectives. This session will conclude with a debate.
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Arranging a Bespoke Event with Candle Conferences couldn’t be simpler – just send us an e-mail on info@candleconferences.com and our administrator will get back to you to discuss possible dates and then answer any questions you may have.
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