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Sexual Ethics Lesson 1 Objectives:
Understand Bible teachings from the old and new testament Apply these teachings to sexual issues
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Sex – what are the issues?
On your whiteboard, jot down what you think are the ethical issues/ questions we’ll be discussing.
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Sexual Ethics – issues you need to cover:
Pre-marital sex Adultery Promiscuity Homosexual sex Homosexual marriage/ civil partnerships Contraception Childlessness
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Where do Christians get their teachings from?
Old Testament – creation, laws, examples of prophets New Testament – Jesus’ teachings, Paul’s letters to new Christians Catechism – teachings of the Pope for Roman Catholics Various texts for other denominations Christian scholars – Augustine, Aquinas and others Situation Ethics Natural Moral Law REMEMBER – Never say “Christians believe…” Maybe some Christians believe it, or particular kinds of Christians. You can also say “this teaching says…” and “this may be interpreted by Christians to mean…”
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Bible- Old Testament What was God’s plan when he created men and women? Genesis 1.27 Genesis 1.28 Genesis 2.18 Genesis 2.24 What laws did God give to Moses? Exodus 20.14 Exodus 20.17 Leviticus 18.20 Leviticus 20.13
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Bible- New Testament What did Jesus say about sex? Matthew 5.27-28
John What advice did St Paul have for the first churches? 1 Corinthians 6:15 1 Corinthians Colossians 3:5
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So, what does the Bible teach on:
Fill in p13 Pre-marital sex Adultery Promiscuity Homosexual sex Homosexual marriage/ civil partnerships Contraception Childlessness
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The Catechism – Catholic views on chastity
“Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman… chastity is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life… There are three forms of the virtue of chastity: the first is that of spouses, the second that of widows, and the third that of virgins.”
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The Catechism – Catholic views on sex within marriage
“Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such.. The spouses' union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated...”
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The Catechism – Catholic views on conception and contraception
“Married couples should regard it as their proper mission to transmit human life and to educate their children… For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children… methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality… every action which proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible is intrinsically evil… Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral…Techniques involving only the married couple are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable. physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.”
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The Catechism – Catholic views on homosexuality
“Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved… Homosexual persons are called to chastity…by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection… They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
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Quaker Faith and Practice
“No relationship can be a right one which makes use of another person through selfish desire… Sexual activity is essentially neither good nor evil; it is a normal biological activity which, like most other human activities, can be indulged in destructively or creatively… It is the nature and quality of a relationship that matters: one must not judge it by its outward appearance but by its inner worth. Homosexual affection can be as selfless as heterosexual affection, and therefore we cannot see that it is in some way morally worse… There are many ways of living together in a household where commitment and loving care are essential ingredients… Whether the foundation of the shared home is marriage or not, the essence of good relationships remains the same.”
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Sexual Ethics Lesson 2 Objectives:
Understand teachings from Christian churches and denominations Recap the teachings of secular ethical theories Apply these to sexual issues
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Scholars’ views on sex – St Augustine
When God made Adam, he was completely rational and was not subject to sexual temptation. In sinning against God, Adam and Eve brought sin into the world. Were it not for the sinful actions of Adam and Eve, men would engage in sex without enjoyment or orgasm, and would perform the duty of conceiving children when they chose to, but would otherwise not have sexual desire or sexual activity. So, Augustine said that ideally, all sex ought to be for the purpose of procreation. But “such is the strength of the sexual drive that married couples are likely to have intercourse for the purposes of satisfying their sexual urges”. Throughout the Middle Ages, the views of St Augustine were the established view of the Christian church. Sex was permitted only in marriage, and once married, the wife has a debt to pay by agreeing to sex whenever the husband requests it. It was seen as a sin for the wife to refuse her husband because she is then forcing the man to sin by satisfying his sexual urges outside of the marriage.
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Scholars’ views on sex – St Aquinas
Recap – Aquinas’ theory of Natural Moral Law. The purpose of the sexual organs is to enable procreation. So any use of the sexual organs that is not directed towards the purpose of procreation is not morally acceptable. This means that masturbation, contraception and homosexual acts are all immoral, as well as sex within marriage if it can't result in pregnancy, eg. If the woman is beyond child-bearing age or if either partner is infertile. It is also a consequence of Natural Law that rape is a far less serious sin than masturbation.
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Scholars’ views on sex – Jack Dominian
Scholars’ views on sex – Jack Dominian (Roman Catholic writer and psychiatrist) “The Christian understanding of the fact that we are sexual beings, and of sexual intercourse in marriage, has been pathetic. From the time of Augustine it has been restricted to procreation, and the sexual drive is seen as disordered and always needing check and control… Its story and development have been surrounded by fear of women, hostility to pleasure, and total failure to recognise sex as one of the greatest gifts of God to humankind.”
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Scholars’ views on sex – Jack Dominian
Scholars’ views on sex – Jack Dominian (Roman Catholic writer and psychiatrist) “It is not enough for the church to condemn divorce. In addition it has to reveal the glory, the riches of marriage.” “Humanae Vitae has never been accepted by the overwhelming majority of the people of God… the teaching that every sexual act should be open to life is wrong.” “Given that puberty commences around the ages of 12, 13 or 14 and that the average age of marriage is in the late twenties or early thirties, can Christianity really continue to teach ‘no sex before marriage’?”
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Scholars’ views on sex - Peter Vardy
Four Principles for a New Approach to Sexual Ethics: “Sexuality is an essential part of human nature and each person has to come to wholeness by being able to accept and balance the different aspects of their nature… The negative view of human sexual nature deriving from the Christian tradition needs to be rejected and a positive approach taken to the wholeness of human experience in giving and receiving love.” 2. “Any approach to sexual ethics must consider the whole human person and an attempt be made to seek a truthful understanding of what it is to be fully human…taking account of our modern knowledge of physiology, psychology and the complexity of human relationships.” 3. “Sexual relationships should always recognise the role of the other person involved as a free, autonomous human being and no human being may use another as a means to the end of his or her sexual gratification…The pleasure involved should come as a by-product of the gift of love and tenderness, never as an end in itself.” 4. “Lovemaking between two people is something deep and mysterious… No philosophic analysis will be adequate to capture the full mystery of love nor will any set of rules meet all the complexities of human relationships”
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A new issue for UK Christians: Civil partnerships and gay marriage
2005 – Civil partnerships (NOT marriage) introduced. Gives same-sex partners the same legal rights as married couples. 2014 – Gay marriage introduced. Civil partnerships can be converted. “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family” the Pope, 2016 The Quakers agreed to perform same-sex marriages in 2009. The Church of England voted to remain opposed to gay marriage. The Bishop of Norwich stated afterwards that the church should not “adapt its doctrine to the fashions of any particular time.”
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So, what do these churches teach on:
Fill in p13 Pre-marital sex Adultery Promiscuity Homosexual sex Homosexual marriage/ civil partnerships Contraception Childlessness
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Sexual ethics – secular approaches
Utilitarians would take a libertarian approach – any sexual behaviour is permitted if the pleasure it causes outweighs any pain. How would Bentham work it out? link How would Mill work it out? link
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Sexual ethics – secular approaches
Immanuel Kant said that for an act to be moral, it must treat people as ends in themselves and not merely as a means to an end. What does this mean? How does it apply to sexual ethics?
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Apply this to the issues:
Finish boxes on p.13 Pre-marital sex Adultery Promiscuity Homosexual sex Homosexual marriage/ civil partnerships Contraception Childlessness
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Sexual Ethics – AO1 recap
Homework – create a revision resource (mindmap, poster, set of Q&A cards, etc…) which includes all of the Christian and secular teachings on sexual ethics.
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Sexual Ethics – AO2 Issues
How far are religious teachings relevant today? Are they too outdated? Are they actually useful in helping Christians to make decisions? How useful are ethical theories in answering ethical questions about sex? Are they any better than religious approaches?
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