Speaking Out on Comprehensive Sexuality Ed

While I understand religious people’s dismay with social issues like abortion, teen pregancies and other sexuality issues, the track record for abstinence only sex ed has been worse than abysmal. If we are truly concerned about protecting young people from these life-changing situations that potentially challenge their emotional, spiritual and physical well-being, we will scream long and hard that education include effective prevention techniques as well as help young people to reach a reasonable level of maturity with regard to the ways in which their bodies function.

The body, being God’s creation, is good. Body functions, sexuality included, are also good and healthy aspects of God’s creation. Shame and secrecy are the tools of ignorance that will damn some young people to lives of regret and disadvantage. We have an ethical, civic and religious responsibility to bring our children out of the darkness of ignorance of their bodies, into the light of informed decisions and preventative knowledge.

There is something you can do about this if you are clergy. Sign the Religious Institute’s Open Letter. To find out how read below.

From Rev Debra Haffner’s “Sexuality and Religion” blog:

The Religious Institute is launching a national campaign to obtain thousands of clergy signatures on its Open Letter to Religious Leaders About Sex Education.

Congress will be considering the nation’s first federal comprehensive sexuality education in the next few months. This spring, the Religious Institute will host a congressional briefing on religious support for these public school programs. For the first time in a decade, we have the opportunity to end funding for the ineffective federal abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and to have legislation passed for the first federal comprehensive sexuality education effort. You can help make this happen!

We are seeking clergy who will join the call for medically-accurate comprehensive sexuality education. If you are a member of the clergy, please send us an email at info@religiousinstitute.org and we’ll send you the link to endorse the Open Letter. If you are a member of a faith community but not ordained and you think your clergy person would add their name, please send me their email as well.

We hope to have 1000 endorsers within the next two weeks. Please help us spread the word!

WELL, HELLO! YOU’RE HERE.

That's too bad - I'm so sorry. Oh, well, just try to make the best of it. What you'll find here is a variety of essays and ramblings to do with things theological, social, whimsical and, sometimes, all three. I don't write to get famous - trust me, I've been told how futile that would be - but to express myself. I love to communicate and browbeat - ummm, I mean dialogue - about the things I find intriguing. Since you're here, and the door's locked, why don't you stay a while. There's a page bar under the header with links to information about us - I mean me. Don't forget to tell me what you think - in a nice way, I mean.