Sexual ethics Flashcards
What is premarital sex?
o In the 60’s, less than 1/20 UKcouples cohabitated, but that has increased to more than half of all couples today due to the introduction of the contraceptive pill. Removing the fear of unwanted pregnancy diminished the need to contain sex within marriage.
o Today cohabitation can occur as a log-lasting alternative to marriage, with or without children.
o Christian teachings traditionally view premarital sex to be a sin. It’s argued that premarital sex indicates a lack of moral discipline and poses a threat to the institutions of marriage and family. Marriage is undermined by the lack of commitment inherent in cohabitation; cohabitation is seen as less stable than marriage.
o Some Christian leaders have advocated recognising premarital sex differently, as a progression towards marriage rather than a rejection of marriage. The Church of England published a book, ‘Something to celebrate: valuing Families in Church and Society’ (1995), in which the author states- “cohabitation is, for many people, a step along the way towards that fuller and more complete commitment”.
o Adrian Thatcher argued in his book ‘Marriage after modernity: Christian marriage in postmodern times’ (1999), that Christian’swho believe all pre-ceremonial sex is immoral have wrongly assumed that the ceremony is a requirement of marriage. He suggests there’s a long tradition that locates the key point of commitment between two people as betrothal, not the marriage ceremony which happens later. This can be seen in Anglo-Saxon England, where spouses pledged themselves to one another in a betrothal ceremony, after which they could have sex, and the formal marriage followed later. In 18th century England. Half of brides were pregnant at their marriage ceremony, with sexual relations expected to follow after betrothal and before the marriage.
o In Western countries, social attitudes and laws don’t follow the Church’s moral teachings. For instance, cohabitation is increasingly normal, with civil marriages now outnumbering religious marriages in the UK.
What is Christianity’s 2 approaches to premarital sex?
o Christianity seems to be taking two approaches to responding to this. The first is to reject the social and follows the traditional route. While another reinterprets sexual acts previously described as sinful, and looks for ways to encourage a more positive engagement with people who engaged. It sees premarital sex as step in the process towards marriage but doesn’t go so far as accepting sexual relationships.
What is extramarital sex?
o The Catholic Church forbids divorce between two baptized Christians in a marriage that has been consummated, and it excludes from communions those who have been divorced and remarried.
o Since the Reformation in the 16th Century, Protestant Churches have permitted divorce in exceptional circumstances. The Catholic Church holds that anyone remarrying after a divorce is having extramarital sex with their new husband or wife. The Church of England still, however, divorces.
What does Lisa Sowle Cahil argue?
o In ‘Sex, Gender and Christian Ethics’ (1996), Lisa Sowle Cahil argues that Christianity’s stance against divorce comes from preventing men from manipulating marriage, women and children in the interests of power and wealth. Among the medieval tribes of Western Europe, marriage was contracted in three ways: capture (abduction and rape), purchase and consent. Wealthy, powerful men had concubines (a lower status woman who lives with a man as if she is his wife) as well as wives. Men having polygamy was common and adultery was a crime only women could be accused of. The Church’s ban on adultery stopped men to have concubines, and the ban on divorce stopped men abandoning women.
Explain the study published in ‘the lancet’ in 2013
o A study published in ‘the lancet’ in 2013 reported that the number of people having sex under 16 hadn’t increased in the previous 25 years, and those who disproved of non-exclusive marriage (adultery) has increased amongst men (from 45 per cent to 63 per cent) and women (from 53 per cent to 70 per cent). The UK population has a conservative attitude to some traditional aspects of sex and ethics, in particular around commitment and exclusively in marriage- values that central to Christian understanding of marriage.
Explain another area in which prevailing social attitudes and Christian beliefs coincide
o Another area in which prevailing social attitudes and Christian beliefs coincide is around consent. Consent has long been an important factor in Christian marriage as it must be freely and willingly entered into. For instance, couples preparing for marriage are asked separately by a Catholic priest o confirm they are entering into the marriage freely. Consent is also a key concern in contemporary society. Sexual offences such as rape and forced marriage are commonly viewed as wrong.
What is homosexuality?
o Homosexuality was a crime in the UK in the first half of the 20th century, and homosexuality was considered a mental illness for which appalling treatments were prescribed.
o In 1957, the Wolfenden Report recommended that homosexuality be decriminalised and Parliamentlegalised is in 1967.
o The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales took place on 29 March 2014, giving same-sex couples the same marital rights as heterosexual couples.
What is the traditional Christianity view on homosexuality?
TraditionalChristianity views homosexuality wrong.One reason being that there’s no possibility of life arising from the sexual union of same-sex, which prevents natural law and undermines the idea of marriages as a chance to create new life.
‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable’ (Leviticus 18:22). Deuteronomy 23:17-18 prohibits the practice of shrine prostitution, where men and women are available to have sex with men for money. Leviticus 20:13 explains that it’s punishable by death and Genesis (19:4-11) shows God destroy the city of Sodom where homosexuality was commonly practise. This story is often interpreted as showing God’s displeasure with homosexuality.
St Paul was an influential Christian teacher who wrote of people giving themselves over to ‘shameful lusts’, the product of a ‘deprived mind’. And in a letter to the Corinthians Paul writes that ‘men who have sex with men’ will not inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
However there’s much disagreement over that these biblical passages mean and whether they should be interpreted as rules or understood in the context in which they were written. Many of the homosexual acts described in the Bible are between men who are either married (and are, therefore, adulterous) or having sex with prostitutes.
The biblical texts don’t describe relationships between two people in an exclusive committed relationship.It’s arguably unwise to take moral judgements out of the biblical context in which they were originally made and apply them to a very different time and culture to influence modern debates about homosexuality and ethics. The biblical texts may, after all, tell us more about the culture that the authors lived in than divine law.
Other Old Testament rules aren’t emphatically enforced by modern Christians. Gareth Moore writes that Christians pick and choose what they want to believe; they’re happy to follow laws set out in Leviticus, which says homosexuality is wrong, however they reject laws that advocate beheading as a punishment. Moore argues that we’re ignoring laws that we find inconvenient while pursing those that attack minorities that we don’t like [Moore, ‘The body in context: sex and Catholicism’ (1992)]. Celibate
Explain the Anglican Church view on homosexuality?
The Church of England opposes same-sex marriage, and requires homosexual clergy to remain celibate (abstaining from marriage and sexual relations).
They argue the issue of homosexual marriages and priests and ‘practising homosexuals and the blessing of the same-sex unions call into question the authority of Holy Scripture’ (‘The Kula Lumpur, statement on human sexuality’, 1997).
Gene Robinson was elected bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the USE in 2004. He was the first priest in an openly gay relationship to be consecrated bishop in a major Christian denomination. In England, 2003, Jeffrey John became the first openly homosexual and nominated as a Church of England bishop, but he withdraw his acceptance of the nomination due to the controversy it caused.
In 2017, the Bishop of the Church of England issued a statement called ‘Marriage and same sex relationships after the shared conversations, a report from the House of bishops’. This reaffirms that marriage is between one man and one woman, although it also seeks to affirm the place of homosexuals in the Church and states that some negativity is appropriate for some of the treatment received by homosexuals. It continues to affirm that the Church of England may not conduct homosexual marriages but a minister may pray with the couple after a state of ceremony.
Explain the Catholic Church view on homosexuality?
The Catholic Church’s teaching in the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’ is that there’s no sin involved in an inclination towards a member of the same sex, as such an inclination isn’t freely chosen and is a trial.
The Catholic Church teaches that such people are called to chastity and with the help of friendship, prayer and grace will achieve Christian perfection. Pope Francis said “… 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” (On love in the family).
In their book Catholics and Sex: from Purity to Purgatory (1992), Kate Saunders and Peter Stanford argue that the words of some Catholic cardinals about homosexuals in the past fuelled intolerance. E.g. In 1991, the Polish Cardinal Glemp referred to homosexuals as ‘backyard mongrels’.
Pope Francis has said ‘If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?’ (‘The Guardian’, 2016), and has also argued that the Church should apologise for the harm it has done to gay people.
Is there any changes in Christian moral thought on homosexuality?
Some Churches welcome homosexuals. The United Church expressed in their book ‘The Book of Discipline of The United Church’that all people (regardless of sexual orientation) have sacred worth, created in God’s image.
Some Christian Churches challenge the traditional condemnation of homosexuality. They argue that the quality of the relationship (be it homo or heterosexual) is determined by its moral value. They also eject the natural law approach and draw on the teaching in Genesis that we’re all made ‘in the image of God’ (Genesis 1:27). If God created some people as homosexuals, then they’re inclination must be good.
Gareth Moore argues in his book ‘The body in context: sex and Catholicism’ (1992), that Christianity is a religion that seeks to make room for the outcast in society. Therefore Christianity has a welcoming attitude towards homosexuals.
B.A. Robinson notes that liberal Christians within the Methodist church consider homosexual ordination and same-sex marriage as ‘civil rights’ issues (the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality). If human rights are for all, then ordination and marriage should be available to gay people as well as heterosexuals. They argue that homosexuality is natural, and not changeable or freely chosen.
Christian scholar Richard Hay uses Acts 1-015 in the Bible to explain why homosexuals should be accepted in society. In these verses, Peter and Paul debate whether or not gentiles (non-believers) could become Christians without first becoming Jews. The decisions to allow gentiles to become Christian radially reinterpreted the Hebrew Scriptures, making a significant and fundamental decision to set aside many aspects of Jewish law for new non-Jewish Christians. Jeffrey Siker wrote in his book ‘Homosexuals, The Bible and Gentile inclusion’ that we should regard homosexuals Christians in the same way as gentiles were regarded in the past and incorporate them fully into the Christian community.
What are the secular thinking on sexual ethics? (J.S. Mill)
o J.S. Mill believed Christian and societies’ marriage laws were unfair towards women. He believed marriage should be an equal partnership and he was concerned that the legal Christian conception of marriage constrained and oppressed women.
o In his book ‘The subjugation of women’ (1869), he argued that society, often via the institution of marriage, relegated women to the status of slaves. He notes, for example, that divorce was used exclusively by men to rid themselves of their wives.
What are the secular thinking on sexual ethics? (Amartya Sen)
o Amartya Sen wrote in his book ‘Development as Freedom’ (2001) and Martha Nussbaum in her book ‘Creating capabilities: the human development approach’ (2011) argue that the state and society should only intervene on matters that cause harm to others. They developed a capabilities approach to making sense of human development, focusing on the freedom that we need well-being. These include:
Having bodily integrity (including opportunities for sexual satisfaction).
Having emotional attachment to things and people outside ourselves; to love those who love and care for us.
o If we require others to be able to have opportunities for sexual gratification and to love and be loved, then there human should be free to establish sexual relationships with whoever them want (as long as no one is harmed).
Natural law to sexual ethics
Sex is linked to new life, to stability, community and commitment. However according to the Catholic Church, homosexual sex can’t make any of these qualities.
Therefore, sex that can’t or has no intention to produce new life are morally wrong according to natural law as they don’t support Aquinas’ precepts, they’re not good for sustaining a flourishing human society.
Sex might feel good in these situations, but this is an apparent good as the primary precepts of sex are unfulfilled.
In ‘Homosexuality, Morals, and the Law of Nature’, Burton M. Leiser argues that sexual acts may have multiple purposes and he questions why every sexual act should be required to simultaneously fulfil every purpose. Sexual organs are suited for reproduction and for the production of intense pleasure in oneself and others and, Leiser argues, if the purpose of sexual organs is only reproduction then marriage between elderly couples who can’t make children is unnatural. Condemning people for using their sexual organs to unite in pleasure reveals the prejudices and irrational taboos in societies.
Under natural law, extramaritalsex could be moral, as a way of resolving infertility. For example, in the Hebrew Scriptures, Abraham had a child with his servant girlHagar when his wife, Sarah, was believed to be Barren (Genesis 16). In this way, surrogate mothers offer the possibility of reproduction when infertility prevents it; surrogate sex may be extramarital sex, but it’s not necessarily against natural law.
Situation ethics to sexual ethics
Joseph Fletcher used the example of a woman who asked a guard to impregnate her so she could be freed from a prisoner of war camp, and the example of a spy who had to have sex with an enemy agent in order to bring a war to an end, to argue that, despite the fact that neither encounter involved a lifelong commitment or exclusive love.
Fletcher proposed situation ethics as a method for making moral decisions in circumstances where the usual moral rules don’t seem to work. It would seek a pragmatic approach to premarital and extramarital ex and homosexuality, setting aside fixed moral truths in order to put the person and their relationship at the heart of each decision.
Situation ethics focuses on the injustices of how sexualrelationships are regulated: the fact that a heterosexual married couples are viewed as the only form that a legitimate relationship can take would be viewed as unjust.
If a homosexual couple can only find a meaningful relationship with one another then that, according to situation ethics, would be the end that justifies breaking rules in who can have sexual relationships.
Extramarital or premarital sex might be viewed as good in some circumstances. For instance, a wife, whose husband has early onset Alzheimer’s disease and is in a care home, may find comfort in an extramarital relationship while continuing to care for her husband.
Critics argue it has no regard to other people affected in the situation. Situation ethics puts the needs of the protagonist first, which makes it hard for it to protect broader family interests and the interests of society as a whole. E.g. parents who have affairs are putting the happiness of their family at risk, undermining their own relationship with betrayal, and endangering the security of the upbringing of the children.
There’s a danger to vulnerable people in the more sexually permissive society that situation ethics would encourage. If situation ethics can’tprotectthe vulnerable and the young from exploitation, then its claims to be about love and justice are flawed.
