Bullying — Christianity

What the specification asks for

Paper 1, Section 3, 3.3 (Christianity). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

Everybody agrees bullying is wrong, so agreeing earns nothing here. What is worth having is a reason that still works when the person being picked on is somebody you find irritating — and that turns out to be much harder to supply than it sounds.

What it means

The specification asks for the nature of bullying including cyberbullying, why it happens, its types, social and religious attitudes, teachings on inclusion, solutions, and the significance of the tradition's teaching. Cyberbullying is named explicitly, and it is different in kind: persistent, public and inescapable in ways older bullying was not.

The Christian objection rests on every person bearing God's image, which makes bullying an offence against God and not only cruelty to a classmate. That is the ground rather than the conclusion, and the ground is where the marks are.

Love of neighbour is the governing command, and the parable of the Good Samaritan is usually taught as a story about helping. Its sharper point is about the two men who walked past: they are in the story so that inaction becomes a choice with a name.

Inclusion is named by the specification, and Jesus is presented as consistently including people his society excluded — lepers, tax collectors, a Samaritan woman. That is the teaching on inclusion in practice rather than as a slogan, and it is what the specification means when it asks about the importance of teachings on inclusion rather than about a general commitment to being welcoming.

Why believers hold it

The reason matters because empathy runs out. Ordinary moral objections to bullying rest on the victim's suffering, and they weaken exactly when the victim is disliked, unfamiliar or annoying — which is when they are needed. An argument from a value that has nothing to do with how likeable somebody is does not weaken there.

That is also why the Samaritan is the man in the story who helps. The point of choosing him is that he had every social reason to walk past, so the parable is testing the principle in the place it is hardest rather than the place it is easy.

The tradition also treats the bully as somebody who needs rescuing, which follows from its account of wrongdoing as damage to the wrongdoer. That is why restorative practice — bringing the parties together to repair harm — fits Christian teaching better than punishment alone, and it is a conclusion the tradition reaches from its own doctrine rather than borrowing from psychology.

The honest limitation is worth stating. The teachings are strong and general; the practical solutions are institutional — policies, supervision, reporting systems, changed norms — and Christianity supplies the motivation rather than the method. A judgement that gives the tradition the reason and not the mechanism is defensible and precise.

Where it comes from

• The Bible, Old Testament — Genesis 1:27 (translated)

  God created humankind in his own image.

  Human beings uniquely bear the image of God (imago Dei), which gives every human life a value that does not depend on ability, usefulness or age.

  What it is doing here: Supplies the ground that does not weaken when the victim is unlikeable, which is the whole of the distinctive Christian contribution here.

• The Bible, New Testament — Mark 12:31 (also Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18) (translated)

  Love your neighbour as yourself.

  The second of the two great commandments. Jesus makes love of neighbour inseparable from love of God.

  What it is doing here: Is the command the Samaritan parable was told to answer, which is how the bystander became part of the question.

• The Lord's Prayer — Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4 (translated)

  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

  The prayer Jesus taught, said by Christians of every tradition. Its forgiveness clause makes receiving forgiveness conditional on giving it.

  What it is doing here: Brings forgiveness into a topic about a live harm, where it has to be held alongside stopping the behaviour rather than instead of it.

Where it bites

Christian schools and youth organisations run anti-bullying policies grounded in the dignity of the person, and increasingly use restorative practice, which fits the tradition's account of wrongdoing better than punishment alone. Church youth groups are also, in practice, places where children excluded elsewhere are included — the teaching working rather than being taught.

The bystander point has a practical edge. Modern anti-bullying research found that what changes a school is bystander behaviour rather than punishment, and the parable had put the bystanders in the story two thousand years earlier. Using the parable as an argument about bystanders rather than as an illustration of kindness is something almost nobody does with it.

What people get wrong

People think: Christian schools do not have a bullying problem.

Actually: They do, and claiming otherwise is both false and easy to check. The teaching describes what ought to happen rather than what does, and an answer that confuses the two loses credibility on everything else it says.

People think: Forgiving a bully means the bullying should be allowed to continue.

Actually: Forgiveness and stopping the harm are separate things, and every tradition holds both. The practical response still includes protecting the victim, and treating forgiveness as permission produces a position no church defends.

People think: The Good Samaritan is a story about being kind.

Actually: It is a story with two men who walked past in it, and they are there deliberately. The parable makes inaction a choice with a name, which is a sharper point than kindness and the one modern anti-bullying practice took longest to reach.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• General anti-bullying advice with no Christian teaching leaves the knowledge bullet unmet however sensible the advice is.
• Cyberbullying is named by the specification, so an answer without it has missed required content.
• The distinctive thing here is the REASON rather than the conclusion, because everybody already agrees with the conclusion.
• For the evaluation, decide whether religion adds anything, and answer by pointing at the ground or the practice rather than at the verdict.
• The top-band move is using the Samaritan parable as an argument about bystanders rather than as an illustration of kindness.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

The specification asks for the nature of bullying including cyberbullying, why it occurs, its types, social and religious attitudes, the importance of religious teachings on inclusion, solutions, and the significance of teachings in the chosen religion. Christianity's contribution is not a distinctive conclusion — everyone agrees bullying is wrong — but a distinctive REASON, and finding the reason is where the marks are.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Cyberbullying

Bullying carried out through digital media — persistent, public and inescapable in ways older bullying was not.

Inclusion

Actively bringing in those on the edge — named by the specification as a religious teaching.

Imago Dei (also image of God)

Made in God's image; the ground of the Christian objection to bullying.

Restorative approach

Addressing harm by bringing the parties together to repair it rather than only punishing.

What Christianity teaches

• shared — Every person bears God's image, so bullying is not only cruelty to a classmate but an offence against God.
• shared — Love of neighbour is the governing command, and the parable of the Good Samaritan makes the bystander's inaction the failure.
• shared — Jesus consistently included those his society excluded — lepers, tax collectors, the Samaritan woman — which is the specification's 'teachings on inclusion' in practice.
• shared — Forgiveness is commanded, and it does not remove the need to stop the behaviour or to protect the victim.

Why it teaches this

The reason matters because empathy runs out. Ordinary moral objections to bullying rest on the victim's suffering, and they weaken when the victim is disliked, unfamiliar or annoying. The imago Dei argument does not weaken, because the value it appeals to has nothing to do with how likeable the person is — which is exactly why the Good Samaritan is a story about someone helping a man from a group he had every social reason to ignore.

Sources of authority

• The Bible, Old Testament — Genesis 1:27 (translated)

  God created humankind in his own image.

  Human beings uniquely bear the image of God (imago Dei), which gives every human life a value that does not depend on ability, usefulness or age.

  How to use it: Because the value comes from God rather than from what a person can do, it cannot be lost — which is why the argument reaches abortion, euthanasia, disability rights and racial equality from the same premise.

  What it does not settle: It establishes that human life is uniquely valuable; it does not by itself say when life begins, or that life may never be ended. Christians who accept it still disagree about abortion and just war.

• The Bible, New Testament — Mark 12:31 (also Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18) (translated)

  Love your neighbour as yourself.

  The second of the two great commandments. Jesus makes love of neighbour inseparable from love of God.

  How to use it: It converts a belief into an obligation towards a specific person, which is why it can be used on almost any ethical topic — but the work is in saying WHO the neighbour is in this case and what love requires of them here.

  What it does not settle: It does not tell you what love requires. It has been used to argue for and against euthanasia, for and against same-sex relationships, and for and against pacifism.

• The Lord's Prayer — Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4 (translated)

  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

  The prayer Jesus taught, said by Christians of every tradition. Its forgiveness clause makes receiving forgiveness conditional on giving it.

  How to use it: It is the clearest example of a set prayer doing doctrinal work: a Christian cannot say it without committing to forgive.

  What it does not settle: Being universally said, it distinguishes no tradition from another.

Different interpretations

• Bullying as a sin against the victim's God-given dignity — the strongest and most distinctive Christian framing.
• Bullying as a failure of the bystander as much as of the bully; the Samaritan parable puts the priest and the Levite in the story for a reason.
• Bullying as something the bully also needs rescuing from — the restorative reading, which follows from the tradition's account of sin as damage to the sinner.

Differences within Christianity

Christian traditions do not differ meaningfully here. What differs is emphasis: some stress protection of the victim, others restoration of the bully, and most churches now do both.

The traditions broadly agree here. Saying so is a stronger answer than inventing a division.

Application to the issue

Christian schools and youth organisations run anti-bullying policies grounded in the dignity of the person, and increasingly use restorative practice — bringing the parties together to repair harm — which fits the tradition's account of sin better than punishment alone. Church youth groups are also, in practice, places where children excluded elsewhere are included, which is the teaching working rather than being taught.

Arguments supporting

• Religion gives a reason that holds when empathy fails. — The victim bears God's image whether or not they are liked. (shared)
  Answered by: Human dignity does the same work secularly, so the theological premise adds force rather than a new conclusion.
• Christianity makes the bystander responsible. — The Good Samaritan condemns two people who did nothing, and bystander behaviour is what actually stops bullying. (shared)
  Answered by: Anti-bullying research reached the same conclusion without the parable, which shows the insight is not exclusive.

Arguments challenging

• The practical solutions are institutional, not doctrinal. — Reporting systems, supervision, education and platform moderation are what reduce bullying. (non-religious)
  Answered by: Religious communities build and run those systems too, and the motivation to build them is not nothing.
• Religious difference is itself a common ground for bullying. — Children are bullied for wearing a hijab, a turban or a cross. (non-religious)
  Answered by: That is an argument against prejudice rather than against the teaching that condemns it.

Secular / non-religious perspective

Bullying causes measurable harm to mental health and education, and preventing it needs supervision, clear reporting, education about empathy and, for cyberbullying, moderation and law. Humanists ground the objection in the suffering caused and in the equal worth of persons, which reaches the same conclusion by a shorter route and without requiring anyone to share a belief.

Examinable throughout Paper 1. Nothing here earns a mark on Paper 2.

Evaluation

The hinge: Whether religion adds anything to the obvious secular reasons. Since everyone already agrees bullying is wrong, the Christian contribution has to be found in the REASON or in the practice, not in the conclusion.

Defensible conclusions

• Religion does not change the conclusion and does change the ground, and a ground that holds when empathy fails is worth something — which is a defensible reading of 'distinctive'.
• The teachings are strong and general and the practical work is institutional, so the honest judgement gives Christianity the motivation and not the method.
• Making the bystander responsible is Christianity's sharpest contribution here, because it is the point anti-bullying practice took longest to reach and the parable had it first.

Not defensible

• Claiming Christians never bully or that Christian schools do not have the problem.
• Answering with general anti-bullying advice and no Christian content.

Exam use

• Identify · 3 marks — Three types of bullying — physical, verbal, social exclusion, cyberbullying — or three responses to it.
• Outline · 4 marks — Two reasons Christians believe bullying is wrong, developed. Imago Dei and love of neighbour are two genuinely different reasons.
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain why Christians oppose bullying: the image of God, love of neighbour, Jesus' inclusion of the excluded, and the bystander's responsibility.
• Evaluate · 12 marks — 'It is impossible to prevent bullying' and 'Bullying should be a crime' are both set statements. The second needs the sin/crime distinction from 3.4.

Common mistakes

• Giving general anti-bullying content with no Christian teaching, which leaves the AO1 bullet unmet.
• Forgetting cyberbullying, which the specification names explicitly.
• Treating forgiveness as meaning the bullying should not be stopped.

Grade 9 insight

The Good Samaritan is usually taught as a story about helping, and its sharper point is about the two people who did not. The priest and the Levite are in the parable so that inaction becomes a choice with a name — which is precisely the finding modern anti-bullying research arrived at two thousand years later, that bystander behaviour rather than punishment is what actually changes a school. A learner who uses the parable as an argument about bystanders rather than as an illustration of kindness has done something almost nobody does with it.

Carry on through Christianity

• Previous unit: 3.2 · Peace, reconciliation and forgiveness
• Next unit: 3.4 · Sin and crime
• Bullying in the other religions: Buddhism · Hinduism · Islam · Judaism · Sikhism
• All of Christianity · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification