For people from countless faith traditions, sex is closely tied to religious practices. Trying to discern God’s will regarding sex can be daunting, and trying to reconcile faith and life can cause confusion and guilt. When looking at Christian sexual ethics, Catholics are very different from Protestants, and Protestants are similarly very different from each other. For those watching this conflict from outside the Christian community, it is both horrifying and amusing. Christians have struggled to create spiritually-based constraints on such frameworks that can transcend contemporary realities. Thus, extremely conservative, centrist, and liberal Christians are more or less divided into three groups. Each group approaches sex with religion in mind, but the conclusions they reach vary widely.
The first group sees sex as solely for the purpose of procreation by heterosexual couples. Still, the majority of this group belongs to the subgroup that approves of “natural family planning,” also known as the surest way to get pregnant quickly. This group often forbids divorce, and remarriage is certainly frowned upon. They largely ignore all forms of sexuality, and the Pleasure Place, a sex shop on Wisconsin Avenue, is sure to leave you appalled.
The next group claims the moral mantle of the above group, but leaves a big caveat about sexual activity that does not have the potential to lead to pregnancy. Some of these groups allow visibly sexually active people, including those with children, to regain their “spiritual virginity.” Interestingly, under some of these groups’ rules, homosexuals may be considered eternal virgins, drawn to their logical end. Despite the fact that some people with more evangelical beliefs deny the existence of homosexuals, this logic can be used to exclude homosexuals from non-celibate people who are technically considered celibate. Some wonder if it can encourage acceptance of the relationship.
The last group seems to have completely abandoned sexual ethics. While lying around is somewhat frowned upon, cohabitation, same-sex marriage, contraception, and multiple divorces are considered perfectly acceptable. This group seems to be gaining popularity. The newly appointed priest of the National Cathedral has observed that he would be surprised if about a dozen or more of the hundreds of couples who have married so far were completely free of sexual activity before marriage. His comments also left little doubt that he sees little wrong with individuals who engage in premarital sex with multiple partners before entering into a committed relationship.
Given that spirituality and sex are inextricably linked for so many people, there needs to be some kind of ethics that provides guidelines without completely abandoning the realities of the modern world. The 18th-century theologian John Wesley famously created a quadrilateral to examine the problems faced by his followers. According to Wesley, reason, tradition, scripture, and experience serve as lenses for judgment and action. In today’s world, reason, and for many people experience, seems to directly challenge tradition and some readings of the Bible. What was God’s purpose in creating sexual ethics? Why have we become so involved in the superficial elements of sexual ethics?
According to Jim Brownson of Western Theology, God created sexual ethics to frame the idea of total self-giving. Marriage was designed to be a contractual relationship of complete surrender between two individuals, a surrender uniquely captured by sexual intercourse. According to Brownson, “We see how premarital sex undermines God’s intentions, for it requires complete physical self-sacrifice, which cannot be matched by the corresponding gift of life and commitment.” because it represents and therefore falls short of the perfect and loving love that God intends for the self. ”
The goal of spiritual ethics is not to deprive believers of sex, or to make sex difficult or even strange. This ethic enriches sex by linking it with commitment and a form of intentional, thoughtful, and total surrender. The excessive fascination of some religious communities with the physical and social significance of sex only pushes them further away from the realization of the divine ideal. Sex should never be separated from complete and selfless love, but, within such constraints, should be encouraged and celebrated as a complement to spiritual wholeness.
Tim Rosenberger is a sophomore in college. “The Church and the Politicians” appears every other Tuesday.
