Rites of passage in Christian life — Christianity

What the specification asks for

Paper 2, 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

Two Christians can disagree about whether a baby has been baptised at all. Not about whether the thing was done properly — about whether anything happened to the child in the first place. That disagreement is about what the rite DOES rather than about who should receive it, and every other question on this unit is calmer than it.

What it means

The specification names four rites: baptism in both its forms, confirmation, the marriage ceremony and funerals, and then asks for different attitudes within Christianity to their practice and importance.

Baptism is the rite of initiation using water — into Christ and into the Church. Infant baptism is given to a baby, with parents and godparents undertaking to bring them up in the faith. Believer's baptism is given to somebody old enough to profess faith for themselves, usually by full immersion.

Confirmation is the rite in which a baptised person confirms their faith for themselves, and in sacramental traditions receives the Spirit through the bishop. It is the natural completion of infant baptism, which is why traditions practising believer's baptism have less need of it.

Funerals and the marriage ceremony are the other two named, and both are treated as religious acts in ways that vary by tradition. Catholic and Orthodox teaching count marriage a sacrament and most Protestant traditions do not, which is the same division that runs through Paper 1 and produces the same consequences. A funeral, meanwhile, is a service of hope as well as of grief, which follows directly from what the tradition says happens after death.

Why believers hold it

The baptism disagreement is about what the rite is doing rather than about who should receive it, which is why it cannot be settled by compromise. If baptism is God acting on a person and bringing them into the Church, an infant is a natural candidate because nothing is being asked of them. If it is a person's public profession of a faith they hold, an infant cannot make it and the rite has not happened.

Confirmation follows from the answer. A tradition that baptises infants needs a later moment at which the person speaks for themselves; a tradition that baptises believers has already had it, so confirmation does less work or does not exist.

The traditions therefore differ about whether somebody baptised as a baby needs baptising again — and both answers are consistent rather than stubborn. One says the act was God's and cannot be repeated; the other says nothing was done that needs undoing, because a profession was never made.

The honest thing to add is that these rites do far more socially than their doctrine strictly requires. A great many baptisms, weddings and funerals involve people with no other connection to a church, and every tradition has argued about whether that is an opportunity or a problem — which is exactly the different-attitudes clause the specification asks for.

Where it comes from

• The Creeds — The Nicene Creed (325/381) (translated)

  We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

  The shared statement of Christian belief, and the specification's own reference point for the Trinity: God as Father, Creator and Judge.

  What it is doing here: Names one baptism, which is why the traditions that re-baptise and the traditions that refuse to are arguing about the same clause.

• The Bible, New Testament — Mark 10:9 (and Mark 10:11) (translated)

  What God has joined together, let no one separate.

  Marriage as a union made by God, which grounds the Catholic position that a valid marriage cannot be dissolved.

  What it is doing here: Supplies what the marriage rite is understood to be doing, which is why the ceremony differs in status between traditions.

• 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: Is said at every one of these occasions, which makes it the thread running through rites the traditions otherwise disagree about.

Where it bites

Concretely: water poured or full immersion; godparents making promises on a child's behalf; a bishop laying hands on a candidate at confirmation; vows exchanged before a congregation; a funeral service of committal with readings and prayers. Naming what actually happens is what earns the development marks.

It also decides pastoral practice. Whether a church will baptise the child of parents who do not attend, and whether it will marry or bury somebody with no connection to it, are live questions in every denomination — and the answers say a great deal about how each tradition understands what the rite is for.

What people get wrong

People think: All Christians baptise babies.

Actually: Baptist and many other traditions baptise only those old enough to profess faith, usually by full immersion. The disagreement is about what baptism does rather than about the right age, which is why it cannot be split down the middle.

People think: Confirmation is the same thing everywhere.

Actually: It is the completion of infant baptism in sacramental traditions, where the bishop confers the Spirit, and it does much less work — or does not exist — in traditions that baptise believers, because the profession has already been made.

People think: A Christian funeral is mainly for the person who died.

Actually: Christian funerals are services of hope as well as of grief, and they are addressed to the living as much as to the dead. The doctrine at 2.1 is what makes that possible, which is why the two units answer each other.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Say what baptism DOES on each account, because the disagreement is about the rite's effect rather than about the candidate's age.
• Name what actually happens at each rite; describing importance without practice leaves the development marks unearned.
• Do not present one tradition's practice as Christian practice, particularly on baptism.
• For a statement about rites being essential, notice that traditions differ about whether anything has happened at all.
• The strongest move is connecting confirmation to the baptism disagreement, since one rite exists because of the answer given to the other.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

The specification names four: baptism — both infant and believer's — confirmation, the marriage ceremony, and funerals. It then asks for different attitudes within Christianity to their practice and importance. Baptism is the one that divides: whether it is given to infants or to those who can profess faith is a disagreement about what baptism DOES, and everything else on this unit is calmer by comparison.

Key terminology

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

Baptism

The rite of initiation using water — into Christ and into the Church.

Infant baptism

Baptising a baby, with parents and godparents undertaking to bring them up in the faith.

Believer's baptism

Baptising someone old enough to profess faith for themselves, usually by full immersion.

Confirmation

The rite in which a baptised person confirms their faith and, in sacramental traditions, receives the Spirit through the bishop.

Godparents

Adults who undertake at an infant's baptism to support their Christian upbringing.

Requiem

A Mass for the dead.

Committal

The part of a funeral at which the body is buried or cremated.

What Christianity teaches

• shared — Baptism marks entry into the Church and into Christ, and uses water as its sign.
• shared — Christian funerals are services of hope as well as of grief, because of the resurrection.
• shared — Marriage is celebrated before God, with vows of lifelong faithfulness.
• divided — Who should be baptised.
  • Roman Catholic — Infants are baptised; the sacrament acts, and parents and godparents undertake the upbringing. Confirmation later completes initiation.
  • Orthodox — Infants are baptised, chrismated and given communion at the same service — initiation is not split.
  • Protestant — Divided: Anglican and Methodist traditions baptise infants; Baptist and Pentecostal traditions baptise believers only, by immersion.
  • Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) — No baptism at all; the outward rite is held to be unnecessary.

Why it teaches this

The baptism disagreement is about what a sacrament is. If baptism does something — incorporating the child into Christ — then delaying it withholds a gift, and the child's inability to profess faith is irrelevant because the Church professes for them. If baptism expresses something — a decision already made — then baptising an infant is a category error, because babies decide nothing. Both positions follow rigorously from their premises, which is why neither side has persuaded the other in four centuries.

Sources of authority

• The Creeds — The Nicene Creed (325/381) (translated)

  We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

  The shared statement of Christian belief, and the specification's own reference point for the Trinity: God as Father, Creator and Judge.

  How to use it: The Creed is where 'God is one AND three' is stated as doctrine rather than as one theologian's view — which is why it answers the accusation that the Trinity is a later invention.

  What it does not settle: The Filioque clause divides Western and Eastern Christianity — a detail worth one sharp sentence at the top band, and not worth more.

• The Bible, New Testament — Mark 10:9 (and Mark 10:11) (translated)

  What God has joined together, let no one separate.

  Marriage as a union made by God, which grounds the Catholic position that a valid marriage cannot be dissolved.

  How to use it: The verse explains WHY the Catholic Church annuls rather than divorces: an annulment finds that the union was never validly formed, which is not the same as ending one that was.

  What it does not settle: Matthew 19:9 records an exception clause, which is part of why Protestant and Orthodox traditions permit divorce. One verse does not give you the Christian position.

• 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

• Baptism as sacrament: God acts through it, which is why it is given to infants and is not repeated.
• Baptism as profession: it expresses a faith already held, which is why it waits for the believer and is often by full immersion.
• Confirmation as completing what baptism began, in traditions that split initiation — which is also why Orthodoxy, which does not split it, has no separate confirmation.

Differences within Christianity

Baptism is the sharpest division. Marriage and funerals are broadly similar in shape across the traditions, with real differences in whether prayers are offered for the dead.

• Roman Catholic — Infant baptism, confirmation by a bishop, marriage as a sacrament, funeral Mass with prayers for the dead.
• Orthodox — Baptism, chrismation and communion together in infancy; a distinctive funeral rite.
• Protestant — Infant or believer's baptism depending on tradition; confirmation as a profession of faith; funerals emphasising resurrection hope.
• Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) — No outward rites of passage at all.

Application to the issue

Infant baptism: water poured three times, the sign of the cross, a candle lit from the Paschal candle, godparents' promises. Believer's baptism: a personal testimony, full immersion in a pool or river, sometimes in the sea. Confirmation: laying on of hands by a bishop, anointing with chrism in Catholic practice. Marriage: vows, rings, blessing. Funeral: readings and prayers, a eulogy, the committal, and in Catholic practice a Requiem Mass with prayers for the dead.

Arguments supporting

• Rites of passage matter because they mark real transitions with the Church's whole weight behind them. — A person is born, grows up, marries and dies, and Christianity accompanies each with prayer and community. (catholic)
  Answered by: The Quakers mark the same transitions without rites, which shows the accompanying rather than the ritual is what is essential.
• Infant baptism follows from baptism being God's action rather than the child's. — If the sacrament does something, withholding it withholds a gift. (catholic)
  Answered by: The New Testament records adult converts being baptised on profession of faith, which is the Baptist case in one sentence.

Arguments challenging

• Baptism should wait for a decision the person can make. — Faith is personal, and nobody can profess on someone else's behalf. (protestant)
  Answered by: Catholic and Anglican practice replies that the Church professes and the godparents undertake, which is why confirmation exists — the personal profession is not omitted, only deferred.
• Outward rites are unnecessary. — The Quaker position: the inward reality is what matters and the sign can obscure it. (quaker)
  Answered by: Jesus was baptised and commanded baptism, which is a hard text for the position to accommodate.

Evaluation

The hinge: Whether a sacrament DOES something or EXPRESSES something. Answer that and the baptism question answers itself; every other disagreement on this unit is milder.

Defensible conclusions

• Both practices are defensible from the New Testament, which records adult converts being baptised and also whole households, so the texts underdetermine the answer and the doctrine of the sacrament decides it.
• Infant baptism plus confirmation and believer's baptism achieve the same two things — incorporation and personal profession — in a different order, which makes the dispute smaller than four centuries of division suggests.
• The Quaker position is the real challenge to the whole unit, because it holds that the transitions matter and the rites do not — and it has been sustained.

Not defensible

• Writing that Christians baptise babies, as though the traditions agreed.
• Confusing confirmation with believer's baptism; they do similar work in different systems and are not the same rite.

Exam use

• Outline · 4 marks — Outline two features of a Christian baptism, each developed. Say which kind — the features differ.
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain why baptism is important for Christians, or why funeral ceremonies are important. Why, not what happens.
• Discuss · 10 marks — Statements about whether a rite is essential are the expected shape. The infant/believer's division and the Quaker position give you two levels of divergence inside Christianity.

Common mistakes

• Describing infant baptism as though it were the only Christian practice.
• Answering about Christian baptism when the question is about the baptism of Jesus — the 2023 report records this.
• Naming features without saying what each means, which loses the development marks.

“Jesus was baptised to wash away his sin.” — Christian teaching holds that Jesus was without sin. His baptism is understood as identification with humanity and as the moment the Spirit descends and the Father speaks, not as cleansing.

Write instead: Jesus' baptism by John marks the start of his ministry, identifies him with the people he came to save, and is where the Spirit descends as a dove and the voice from heaven names him as Son. Infant baptism in several traditions IS connected with original sin — so the idea is not wrong in general, only wrong about Jesus. (Named in the 2023 examiner report for Paper 2.)

“Christians believe divorce is always wrong.” — That is the Catholic position. Orthodox Christianity permits divorce in limited circumstances, and most Protestant churches permit divorce and remarriage.

Write instead: Name the tradition. 'Catholic teaching holds marriage indissoluble, so the Church annuls rather than divorces' is accurate and scores; 'Christians believe' on a divided question is not. Do not over-correct. Many claims genuinely ARE shared — the Trinity, the resurrection, the authority of the Bible — and hedging those makes an answer weaker, not more careful. (Named in the 2025 examiner report for Paper 1.)

Grade 9 insight

Infant baptism followed by confirmation and believer's baptism are doing the same two jobs in a different order. One incorporates first and asks for profession later; the other asks for profession first and incorporates on the strength of it. Once that is seen, the four-century dispute looks less like a disagreement about baptism and more like a disagreement about whether a person can belong before they can choose — which is a much more interesting question and reaches well beyond this unit.

Carry on through Christianity

• Previous unit: 3.2 · Christian worship, prayer and the Eucharist
• All of Christianity · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification