Why does infertility present a religious as well as a personal difficulty for many Sikhs?

Sikhi treats marriage and family life as the ordinary setting of spiritual life and children as a blessing, so childlessness can be felt as an exclusion from the householder ideal and can attract cultural pressure within Punjabi families.

What does the Sikh code of conduct say about assisted reproduction?

It says nothing, because the technology did not exist when the code was written, so Sikhs reason from the principles of gurbani rather than from a rule.

Why is there no single official Sikh ruling on these questions?

Sikhi has no priesthood and no body that issues binding judgements on new moral questions, so the decision rests with the couple, guided by scripture, conscience and the counsel of the sangat.

What arguments do Sikhs give in favour of treatment using the couple's own gametes?

The child is the couple's own, no third party enters the marriage, the treatment relieves genuine suffering, and using medical knowledge is no different in principle from accepting any other treatment God has made possible.

WJEC A-Level Religious Studies 603-0277-X

Christianity: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsChristianity

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Christianity: Key Religious ConceptsChristianity

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Christianity: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesChristianity

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Christianity: Practices and Religious IdentityChristianity

Topic overview Diversity in baptism Diversity in the Eucharist Diversity in Christmas and Easter Evaluating baptism, Eucharist and festivals

Islam: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsIslam

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Islam: Key Religious ConceptsIslam

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Islam: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesIslam

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Islam: Practices and Religious IdentityIslam

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Judaism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsJudaism

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Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesBuddhism

Topic overview The Four Noble Truths The Eightfold Path and the Middle Way The dasa sila and the lay and monastic sanghas Debating the truths, the path and the precepts

Buddhism: Practices and Religious IdentityBuddhism

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Hinduism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsHinduism

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Hinduism: Key Religious ConceptsHinduism

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Hinduism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesHinduism

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Hinduism: Practices and Religious IdentityHinduism

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Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism

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Sikhism: Key Religious ConceptsSikhism

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Sikhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesSikhism

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Sikhism: Practices and Religious IdentitySikhism

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Ethical Thought: Divine Command, Virtue and Egoism

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Aquinas and Natural Law

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Fletcher and Situation Ethics

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Utilitarianism

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Inductive Arguments for the Existence of God

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Deductive Arguments for the Existence of God

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The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Topic overview The types and the logical problem of evil Augustinian type theodicy Irenaean type theodicy Debating the problem of evil

The Nature of Religious Experience

Topic overview Types of religious experience Mystical experience: James and Otto Challenges to religious experience Debating religious experience

Christianity: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The biblical canon and inspiration The early church and the kerygmata in Acts Crossan and Wright on Jesus Evaluating inspiration, the kerygmata and methods of studying Jesus

Christianity: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christianity and secularisation in the UK Christianity and the challenge of science Pluralism, exclusivism and inclusivism Evaluating secularism, science and pluralism

Christianity: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christian attitudes towards wealth Migration and Christianity in the UK Feminist theology and the roles of men and women Evaluating wealth, migration and equality

Christianity: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Ecumenical Movement and the World Council of Churches The Charismatic Movement and religious experience Liberation theology and responses to poverty Evaluating ecumenism, charismatic experience and liberation theology

Islam: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The sources of shari'a and the law schools Shari'a today, ijtihad and taqlid Greater and lesser jihad Evaluating shari'a, ijtihad and jihad

Islam: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The Islamic state and the Constitution of Madinah Islamic teaching on creation and scientific cosmology Western perceptions of Islam and Islamophobia Evaluating Islam, democracy, science and public perception

Islam: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Islamic attitudes to pluralism and conversion Family life, gender and Muslim feminism Muslims in Britain: migration, segregation and assimilation Evaluating pluralism, equality and life as a British Muslim

Islam: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

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Judaism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Talmud: Mishnah, Gemara and the two recensions Midrash, halakhah and aggadah Rashi and Maimonides as interpreters Debates about the Talmud, midrash and the commentators

Judaism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Zionism, nationalism and the challenge of secularisation Judaism and the challenge of science Holocaust theology Debates about Zionism, science and Holocaust theology

Judaism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Reform Judaism, the Pittsburgh Platform and pluralism Family life, gender and Jewish feminism Jewish life as a minority in Britain Debates about pluralism, equality and assimilation

Judaism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Hasidic Judaism and the Baal Shem Tov Kabbalah, the Zohar and the experience of God Embryo research and Jewish ethics Debates about Hasidism, mysticism and Jewish medical ethics

Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Pali Canon and the Tipitaka The Heart Sutra and the Parable of the Burning House The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh Debating the Canon, the Mahayana sutras and contemporary teachers

Buddhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

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Buddhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

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Hinduism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

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Hinduism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

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Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

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Sikhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

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Sikhism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Rahit Maryada and the Rahit Namas Naam japo, the shabads and the khands Sikhism, infertility and assisted reproduction Debates on the code of conduct, naam and bioethics

Meta-Ethics

Topic overview Naturalism, F. H. Bradley and the naturalistic fallacy Intuitionism and H. A. Prichard Emotivism and A. J. Ayer Evaluating the meta-ethical theories

Deontological Ethics: Finnis and Proportionalism

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Determinism and Predestination

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Free Will and Libertarianism

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Psychological Challenges and Atheism

Topic overview Freud on religion as illusion Jung on religion and the psyche Atheism and New Atheism Debating the psychological and atheistic challenges

Religious Experience and Miracles

Topic overview The influence of religious experience on faith and community Defining a miracle Hume and Swinburne on miracles Debating miracles and religious experience

Religious Language: Cognitive and Analogical

Topic overview The inherent problems of religious language Verification, falsification and their critics Analogy: Aquinas and Ramsey Debating meaning in religious language

Religious Language: Symbol, Myth and Language Games

Topic overview Symbol: Randall and Tillich Myth and demythologisation Language games: Wittgenstein Debating the non-cognitive approaches

New Testament: ParablesNew Testament

Topic overview Types and literary characteristics of the parables The purposes of the parables and how they are interpreted Close study of the prodigal son, the great banquet and the sower Debates about the parables and their value

New Testament: MiraclesNew Testament

Topic overview Types of miracle and the characteristics of the accounts The purpose of the miracle accounts and how they are interpreted Close study of the centurion's servant, the Gerasene demoniac and the feeding of the five thousand Debates about the miracles and their historical validity

New Testament: The Letters (1 Peter)New Testament

Topic overview Authorship, Silvanus and the readership of 1 Peter The purpose of 1 Peter and its place among the New Testament letters Close study of the set passages of 1 Peter Debates about authorship, submission and suffering in 1 Peter

New Testament: Apocalyptic LiteratureNew Testament

Topic overview Defining apocalyptic literature and its characteristics The purposes of apocalyptic writing and how Revelation is interpreted Close study of Revelation 1, 6 and 21 Debates about Revelation's genre, violence and value

Sikhism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Sikhism, infertility and assisted reproduction

3 things to know
A2 Unit 3

Overview

Recall questions on the principles engaged, the code of conduct, donated gametes and spare embryos, hukam, and the positions of Chahal, Jodh Singh and Cole.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Which Sikh principles bear on the treatment of infertility?

Evaluation

What arguments are given against the use of donated sperm or eggs?

Key term

What position does Dr Jodh Singh take?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Why does infertility present a religious as well as a personal difficulty for many Sikhs?
Model answer
Sikhi treats marriage and family life as the ordinary setting of spiritual life and children as a blessing, so childlessness can be felt as an exclusion from the householder ideal and can attract cultural pressure within Punjabi families.
2
Which Sikh principles bear on the treatment of infertility?
Model answer
The body and life are gifts of God, medicine and knowledge are also within the divine order and may be used, compassion requires the relief of suffering, and marriage is a bond of two people that is not to be intruded upon.
3
What does the Sikh code of conduct say about assisted reproduction?
Model answer
It says nothing, because the technology did not exist when the code was written, so Sikhs reason from the principles of gurbani rather than from a rule.
4
Why is there no single official Sikh ruling on these questions?
Model answer
Sikhi has no priesthood and no body that issues binding judgements on new moral questions, so the decision rests with the couple, guided by scripture, conscience and the counsel of the sangat.
5
What arguments do Sikhs give in favour of treatment using the couple's own gametes?
Model answer
The child is the couple's own, no third party enters the marriage, the treatment relieves genuine suffering, and using medical knowledge is no different in principle from accepting any other treatment God has made possible.
6
What arguments are given against the use of donated sperm or eggs?
Model answer
A third person contributes to a bond Sikh teaching treats as exclusive, the child's parentage is obscured in a culture that attaches importance to lineage, and secrecy about origins conflicts with the Sikh duty of truthfulness.

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