Subjects · Leaving Cert Religious Education
Leaving Cert Religious Education: Religious & secular values
How often Religious & secular values comes up on the Religious Education papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.
HL Asked on 2 of the last 9 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2024.
OL Asked on 3 of the last 9 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2023.
Quick ones on Religious & secular values.
- Values drawn from a sacred text and tradition
- Values grounded in reason and rights, not religion
- Values that forbid all religious belief by law
- They see humans as no different from machines
- They value people by their usefulness
- They treat every person as having equal dignity
- They may act more from fear than from love
- It makes all moral rules pointless
- It can have no effect on behaviour
Show the answers
(a) Values grounded in reason and rights, not religion
(b) They treat every person as having equal dignity
(c) They may act more from fear than from love
Higher Level
Asked on 2 of the last 9 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2024.
Every paper, year by year
| Year | Where it came up |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Not asked |
| 2024 | A2 |
| 2023 | Not asked |
| 2022 | Not asked |
| 2021 | Not asked |
| 2019 | Not asked |
| 2018 | Not asked |
| 2017 | A2 |
| 2016 | Not asked |
Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.
Ordinary Level
Asked on 3 of the last 9 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2023.
Every paper, year by year
| Year | Where it came up |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Not asked |
| 2024 | Not asked |
| 2023 | A2 |
| 2022 | Not asked |
| 2021 | A2 |
| 2019 | Not asked |
| 2018 | Not asked |
| 2017 | A3 |
| 2016 | Not asked |
Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.
More Religious & secular values questions
Religious & secular values, 2 marks
A value is...
- A rule that must always be written down
- The price paid for something in a shop
- Something a person holds to be important
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Something a person holds to be important
Values like honesty, fairness or family shape the choices we make. Religious values come from faith in God; secular values rest on human reason and experience.
Religious & secular values, 3 marks
Belief that humans are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) leads believers to value...
- Only members of their own religion
- The dignity of every person
- Only people who are wealthy
Show the answer
The dignity of every person
If every person reflects God, each has equal worth. This belief shapes Jewish and Christian teaching on how people should be treated, whatever their status.
Religious & secular values, 2 marks
Which document sets out values shared by many secular societies?
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- The Book of Kells, a gospel manuscript
- The Qur'an, the holy book of Islam
Show the answer
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Adopted by the United Nations in 1948, it bases rights on shared human dignity rather than on any one religion. Religious and secular values often overlap.