Sexual Ethics Flashcards
Extra-marital Sex
The Bible promotes FIDELITY and in Leviticus it states ‘If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death’
Both Roman Catholics and Anglicans oppose adultery as in Exodus, the 7th commandment is ‘do not commit adultery’
Marriage
Sacrament
Roman Catholics see marriage as an indissoluble promise in front of God, so oppose divorce, but allow annulments. In Matthew it states ‘anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery’
In the New Testament, Jesus allows divorce in case of adultery. The CofE allows vicars to decided whether a divorce is allowed
Pre-Marital Sex
St Augustine thought that the sacrament of marriage was for the ‘goods’ of marriage: procreation, nurturing of children, and control sex, so pre-marital sex is wrong
Catholics oppose pre-marital sex as the Catechism states ‘the sexual act must take place exclusively within marriage’
The CofE believes that couples who are committed to marrying may co-habit and the General Synod states that sex should be ‘within a loving, consensual, and stable relationship’
Modern Society and Homosexuality
The 1960 Wolfenden Report led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1967 Sexual Offences Act for private relationship for those over 21
In 2004 Civil partnerships were recognised
Same-sex marriage was legalised in 2013 and the first same-sex marriage in England was on the 29th of March 2014
Modern Society and Marriage
In the West civil marriages outnumber church marriages in the UK
Contraception and access to abortion has increased pre-marital sex and co-habitation
In the 1960s only 5% of couples cohabited, but it is now at least 50%
Modern law agrees that adultery is grounds for divorce
Natural Law and Sexual Ethics
Oppose homosexuality as it goes against the precept of reproduction. Homosexuality is an apparent good
Extra-marital sex goes against the ordering of society
Pre-marital sex goes against the ordering of society
Catholic scripture
Utilitarianism and Sexual Ethics
Supports homosexuality as ‘over his mind and body the individual is sovereign’ - JS Mill
Allows pre-marital sex
Allows extra-marital sex if the greatest number receive pleasure
Bentham sought to make contraception more available to poorer people
Kantian Ethics and Sexual Ethics
Homosexuality degrades humans to the level of animals
All sex demeans humans as it uses them as ‘a means to an end’, so should remain chaste
Universalising adultery would cause an unhappy society and pre-marital sex can lead to people being abused and not treated with dignity
Situation Ethics and Sexual Ethics
Situation ethics allows pre-marital sex and homosexuality if it has the most loving outcome
Fletcher thought that extra-marital sex was unlikely to be loving, but where one partner has dementia it is alright to engage in extra-marital sex
Secularism Impact on Sexual Ethics
JS Mill thought that it was right to let people make their own moral choices as this allows for a variety of lifestyle
Mill stated ‘over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign’
Mill supported negative liberty and the Harm Principle as ‘the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community […] is to prevent harm to others’
Critics of Mill and Secularism
Variety is not necesarily good
People are not always competent judges (Akrasia + The Fall)
Not all forms of sexual expression enrich society (polygamy and paedophilia)
St Paul thought that homosexuality was the reason that Roman society had degenerated morally
Christianity and Homosexuality
In the Catechism it states ‘they do not choose their homosexual condition’ and that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered’ so conservative protestants and Roman Catholics call for homosexuals to be chaste
In the CofE’s report ‘Issue in Human Sexuality’ it states ‘homosexual practice is especially dishonourable’ but that ‘homosexual people are in every way as valuable to and as valued by God as heterosexual people’
Homosexuality in Scripture
In Genesis, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah
In Corinthians, St Paul writes that ‘arsenkoital’ will not make it into Heaven
In Leviticus it states ‘you shall not lie with a man as you lie with a woman; this is an abomination’
In Humanae Vitae it states ‘every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life’
Liberal Christians
Bishop Jeffrey John argued that St Paul was only able to condemn the homosexuality of his time: promiscuity and paedophilia
Liberal Christians see Jesus as a liberator in LUke, as he states ‘let the oppressed go free’, so seek to be inclusive like Jesus
Alan Wilson (CofE Bishop) argues that the Church should allow same-sex marriage as an enrichment and healthy development of homosexual relationships
Interpreting Christian Scripture on Homosexuality
Sodom and Gomorrah is about hospitality
‘Do not judge or you too will be judged’ - Matthew
Bishop Jeffrey John thought that St Paul could only write about the homosexuality of his time: promiscuity and paedophilia
Anthony Harvey thought that we should not obsess over laws who we have sex with, and what foods we eat, but should focus on compassion and love
