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Subjects · Leaving Certificate

Leaving Cert Religious Education

What has come up on the Religious Education papers (2016–2025), topic by topic, with step-by-step practice at Higher Level and Ordinary Level.

Higher Level Ordinary Level

Religious Education, Higher Level(9 marks)

Three quick ones from the Religious Education topics that come up most.

(a)Aquinas's Fifth Way argues for God from which feature of nature?
  1. The idea of a perfect, greatest being
  2. Things acting towards a purpose or goal
  3. The chain of causes that cannot go back for ever
(b)What does the winter solstice alignment at Newgrange suggest about its builders?
  1. They had no interest in an afterlife
  2. They were early Christian monks
  3. They linked death, the sun and new life
(c)What distinguishes an agnostic from an atheist?
  1. An agnostic says God's existence cannot be known
  2. An agnostic belongs to a church but rarely attends
  3. An agnostic denies outright that God exists
Show the answers

(a) Things acting towards a purpose or goal

(b) They linked death, the sun and new life

(c) An agnostic says God's existence cannot be known

Your turn: pick the answer for each one.

Higher Level

400 flash cards and 240 step-by-step drill questions at Higher Level.

What comes up

How many of the last 9 Religious Education Higher Level papers asked each topic.

TopicAskedLast seenHow often
Images of God & proofs for God most years6 of 92025
Myth, cosmology & ancient religion most years6 of 92024
Humanism, atheism & agnosticism 5 of 92025
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle 4 of 92024
Sophists & key philosophy moments 4 of 92025
Revelation & the transcendent 3 of 92023
Polytheism & monotheism 2 of 92025
Religious & secular values 2 of 92024
The search for meaning today 2 of 92023
Symbol & symbolic language 1 of 92016
The sacred & spirituality today 1 of 92024

Try three

Myth, cosmology & ancient religion, 3 marks

A key difference between a creation myth and scientific cosmology is that the myth…

  1. Measures the age of the universe precisely in years
  2. Is tested by experiment and observation
  3. Asks why the world exists and what it means
Show the answer

Asks why the world exists and what it means

Science asks how the universe developed and tests theories against evidence; myth asks why there is anything and what human life means. Many see them as answering different questions.

Images of God & proofs for God, 3 marks

A religious reading of an experience of beauty in nature is called…

  1. A reductionist interpretation
  2. An aesthetic interpretation
  3. A prophetic interpretation
Show the answer

An aesthetic interpretation

Believers may see beauty, art or music as a glimpse of God. A prophetic interpretation reads injustice and suffering as a call from God to act for justice.

Humanism, atheism & agnosticism, 3 marks

How did Sigmund Freud explain belief in God?

  1. As a wish for a protective father figure
  2. As the result of careful proof
  3. As a message received from angels
Show the answer

As a wish for a protective father figure

Freud called religion an illusion born of wish-fulfilment: helpless before nature, people long for a powerful father. Explaining religion wholly as a psychological need is a form of reductionism.

Practise Religious Education HL free

Ordinary Level

300 flash cards and 150 step-by-step drill questions at Ordinary Level.

What comes up

How many of the last 9 Religious Education Ordinary Level papers asked each topic.

TopicAskedLast seenHow often
Socrates, Plato & Aristotle most years8 of 92025
Polytheism & monotheism most years7 of 92025
Myth, cosmology & ancient religion most years6 of 92025
The search for meaning today 5 of 92024
Humanism, atheism & agnosticism 4 of 92025
Symbol & symbolic language 4 of 92024
Religious & secular values 3 of 92023
The sacred & spirituality today 3 of 92025
Images of God & proofs for God 2 of 92023
Revelation & the transcendent 2 of 92025

Try three

Socrates, Plato & Aristotle, 3 marks

Aristotle said the goal of human life is eudaimonia. What does this word mean?

  1. Wealth and fame
  2. Pleasure of the moment
  3. Happiness or flourishing
Show the answer

Happiness or flourishing

For Aristotle, a person flourishes by living a life of reason and virtue, not by chasing money or quick pleasure.

Polytheism & monotheism, 3 marks

Christians believe in one God in three persons. What is this belief called?

  1. Reincarnation
  2. The Trinity
  3. Polytheism
Show the answer

The Trinity

Christians hold that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God, not three gods, so Christianity is a monotheistic faith.

Myth, cosmology & ancient religion, 3 marks

Grave goods buried with the dead in ancient societies suggest a belief in...

  1. Life after death
  2. Rebirth as animals only
  3. No gods at all
Show the answer

Life after death

Food, tools or weapons placed in graves hint that people expected the dead to need them in another life. Burial rites are a key clue to ancient religion.

Practise Religious Education OL free

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