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Welcome back to a new school year and a new season of the RE Podcast. Over the summer, I have recorded a series of episodes to support GCSE RE - specifically AQA Islam and Christianity. If you are a student of GCSE RE, or a teacher of GCSE RE who is new to teaching GCSE, or new to AQA, or you are a teacher from another subject teaching GCSE for the first time, then I hope these episodes are really helpful to you to consolidate learning, or prepare for exams if you are a student, or to help you feel more confident if you are a teacher.

This episode offers an overview of Paper 1 - Religious Beliefs and practices, looking at the structure of the exam, how to do the different exam questions as well as some top tips for the exam. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COPY OF A NEW STYLE EXAM PAPER TO HAND

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/religious-studies/gcse/religious-studies-8062/assessment-resources?secondaryResourceType=Question+papers%3BMark+schemes%3BAnswers+and+commentaries&limit=50&q=2026

Each episode after that will offer an overview of the main content and apply them to some key exam questions.

Copies of the exam questions used in the episode are below.

Give one Muslim belief about angels. [1 mark]

Answer 1

Muslims believe that the angel Jibril revealed the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the night of power.

Answer 2

They are made of light.

Explain two ways in which the problem of evil and suffering influences Christians today. [4 marks]

Answer 1

One way is by trying to reduce as much evil and suffering through being good people. This is because they believe evil and suffering is caused by humans. Another way is by being hopeful of an afterlife. This is because they believe that in heaven there will be no more evil and suffering.

Explain two different ways in which Christians work for reconciliation

Explain two different ways pilgrimage is experienced in Iona

Explain two different religious practices Muslims could perform during Ashura

Explain two different ways in which Muslims may perform Salah

Explain two Christian beliefs about sin. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer

[6 marks]

Answer 1: 3/6

Christians believe sin is bad for us. It affects people negatively.

Christians believe original sin was the first time God was disobeyed. Adam and Eve ate from the tree. ‘The Lord God sent him out the Garden of Eden.

Answer 2: 6/6

One belief is that sin damages the relationship between God and humans. By disobeying God, Christians get further away from God because sin separates God and humans. In the Bible it says; ‘The Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden’. This shows the separation between God and Adam caused by his sin.

Another belief is Adam and Eve committed the original sin – eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil from which God had told them not to eat. All Christians are now born with original sin.

Explain two Muslim beliefs about prophets. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Muslim belief and teaching in your answer

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To finish off the school year in style, I am celebrating the recent Aulre and Areiac conference which took place in Exeter University on 26th and 27th June 2025. We speak with Pat Hanan, Ruth Marx, and Katie Gooch about the history of the two organisations and the planning that went into the conference. I then talk to delegates and speakers throughout the conference, and finally, Ruth, Katie, and Jan Maguire talk to us after the conference to celebrate the joys and successes of what was an incredible and rich two days. We also start looking forward to next year's conference. If you have never attended an Aulre/Areiac conference, I hope this episode whets your appetite and encourages you to join us in Lincoln next year.

It's such a lovely episode to end the year on as it celebrates the RE community as well as the amazing research that is being undertaken to help us be even more brilliant in the classroom.

http://aulre.org/

https://www.areiac.org.uk/

Thank you for listening over 2024/5. Have a summer holiday full of relaxation, joy, laughter, love and I'll be back in September.

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This weekend, 5th / 6th July (10th Muharram), sees many Shia Muslims all over the world mark the Day of Ashura. A commemoration of the martrydom of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn who died standing up for justice. In 2025 this fight is still poignant. Zam Hussain has already done an episode on Ashura which if you haven't listened then please do. But this week he joins us to tell us about his own personal pilgrimage to Karbala to visit the grave of Husayn. In his moving, human and deeply spiritual account of this pilgrimage. We discuss;

• What the pilgrimage is and what happens
• The history of this pilgrimage
• How it links to Shia teachings
• The challenges faced and what practical things were put in place to support the pilgrims
• Fun stories along the way
• The emotions at the grave
• The impact of completing this pilgrimage

Zam has recently had a tattoo relevant to this pilgrimage - listen to find out more!

Please also look at this incredible thread with pictures alongside the episode to get a sense of what it looked like as Zam speaks

https://x.com/MrZHussain/status/1830714068795355512?t=5nJ_45aNpWkWl9gi4cbMug&s=08

Support the show

Find out more;
Twitter: @TheREPodcast1
Insta: @TheREPodcast
Webiste: www.therepodcast.co.uk