Religion in Australia
The forced removal of Aboriginal people from their traditional lands.
What is dispossession?
The city Paul was travelling towards when he experienced his conversion.
What is Damascus?
A’isha was the daughter of this close companion and first caliph.
Who was Abu Bakr?
The Christian practice involving water that represents initiation into the Christian community.
What is baptism?
The Christian ethical teaching that human life possesses sacred and inherent value because it is created by God.
What is the sanctity of life?
This movement encourages cooperation and unity between different Christian denominations.
What is ecumenism?
Paul completed three of these to establish and support Christian communities.
What are missionary journeys?
A’isha helped preserve these reports concerning the words and actions of Prophet Muhammad.
What are Hadith?
The weekly congregational prayer performed by Muslims on Friday.
What is Jumu’ah?
The Islamic teaching describing humanity as Allah’s trustees or guardians of creation.
What is khalifah?
This process occurs when people move from one Christian denomination to another.
What is denominational switching?
Name two letters traditionally associated with Paul.
Any two valid examples: Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Thessalonians or Philemon.
Name one area of Islamic scholarship in which A’isha was recognised as an expert.
Hadith, Islamic law, Qur’anic interpretation, medicine, poetry or religious practice.
Name the three main methods of Christian baptism.
Immersion, affusion/pouring and aspersion/sprinkling.
“Love your neighbour as yourself” supports Christian decision-making through this central ethical teaching.
What is the Commandment of Love?
Explain one way Immigration has changed Australia’s religious landscape since 1945.
Immigration INCREASED Australia’s religious diversity, particularly through the GROWTH of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity
According to Paul, people are made righteous through faith in Christ rather than simply by following religious law. What is this teaching?
What is justification by faith?
Explain how A’isha contributed to the education of the early Muslim community.
- She taught companions and later Muslims
- answered religious questions
- corrected misunderstandings
- shared knowledge of Muhammad’s teachings and domestic practices.
Explain one denominational difference in Christian Sabbath or Sunday worship.
Seventh-day Adventists worship on Saturday, observing the seventh-day Sabbath. Most Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians worship on Sunday in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection.
Explain how Tawhid can influence Islamic environmental ethics.
Tawhid teaches the unity and sovereignty of Allah. Because creation belongs to Allah and reflects divine order, Muslims should avoid waste, pollution and environmental destruction.
Explain how secularisation has affected Australia’s religious landscape.
It has contributed to declining church attendance, reduced institutional influence and an increase in people identifying as having no religion. Religion may still influence personal beliefs, ethics and public debates.
"In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, because all believers are one in Christ Jesus". Explain how Paul’s teaching here in Galatians 3:28 shaped Christianity.
Paul taught that all believers are united in Christ regardless of ethnicity, social status or gender. This encouraged the inclusion of Gentiles and helped Christianity develop into a universal religion rather than remaining a Jewish sect.
Explain one lasting impact of A’isha’s preservation of Hadith on Islam. What did her narrations contribute to and guide today?
Her narrations contributed to the Sunnah and continue to guide Islamic beliefs, worship, ethics and law. They also demonstrate the importance of female scholarship within Islam.
Explain how Hajj expresses both submission and equality.
Pilgrims submit to Allah by completing the prescribed rituals, while ihram and shared acts of worship remove visible social distinctions and demonstrate the equality and unity of the global Muslim community.
A believer rejects an action because it damages human dignity, exploits creation and harms the wider community. Identify two relevant ethical teachings and explain how they guide the decision.
Answers may include Sanctity of life, Stewardship, Commandment of Love, Justice, Compassion, Tawhid, Khalifah, Mizan or Amanah. Students must connect both teachings directly to the decision and its consequences.