Religion And Sexuality Analysis

All the feelings resulting from the urge to indulge in sexual impulses is virtually in everyone, as advertisements from burgers to any automobile can inform you. Along with that, the desire to glorify a divine being resonates within many as well. In early Abrahamic faiths, sex was commemorated as a source of holiness and sanctification when used in a proper manner. These proper manners consist of three points: 1. Only between man and woman (condemns homosexual partnerships) 2. The transmission of human life (condemns contraceptives) and 3. Solely within a lawful marriage. Therefore, it would be a struggle and somewhat contradicting to attempt in separating religion from sex. Christian fundamentalists argue that the act of sexual intercourse outside or before a marriage is considered to be unethical and morally wrong, with that they claim sexual acts are only to be carried out as a means for procreation, not pleasure. Religion has always played a significant role in what is deemed right or wrong pertaining to sexual acts, and although many may claim that revolutionary change has come within the church’s dealing on sexual morality, the Catholic church still strongly holds most of its traditional values.

Human sexuality is a common phrase for all, and anything, pertaining to the feelings and behaviors of sex for the human race. Sexuality has been a topic that has been discussed and studied for as far back as 1000 years B.C. and is still being studied today. As the discussion of sexuality has progressed through history, theories have been created based on research and experiments that scholars have implemented, based on their own perceptions of human behavior. Out of the many theories that pose to explain sexual behavior, Sexuality Now explained ten that are seemed to be the most overlapped, and built off of theories. Of these theories, two that were discussed in the text were the behavioral and sociological theory. These two theories cover some of the basic ideas of what could possibly influence a person’s sexuality.

(Step 1): The scholarly article, "The politics of masculinity and the ex-gay movement" focused on the efficacy of sexual conversion therapy and the cultural forces that surround it (Robinson, Spivey, 2007). Sexual conversion therapy involves a patient who attempts to change their sexual orientation through psychotherapy. Most commonly, conversion therapy involves a homosexual male who attempts to convert to heterosexuality. The authors hypothesized that sexual conversion therapy related to a heteronormative cultural worldview, and their findings indicated that this was the case. However, the result of the study found that sexual conversion therapy reflects an even narrower cultural worldview, one that is controlled by the Christian Right and that is also discriminatory against feminists. Conversion therapy is also motivated by a belief that gender is socially determined.

Act-centered sexual ethics is a very controversial topic in which all acts that defy the word of God are seen as unnatural or immoral. Humans are morally obliged to use their reasoning to determine what the laws are and then to act in conformity with them. Humans have the natural drive to eat, drink, sleep and procreate. These actions are in consensus with a natural law for species to live and procreate. Thus activities in conformity with such a law are morally seen as moral. With the church playing a big role in the relative morality of sexual ethics and the acts which are seen as dissolute the question of “why hasn’t the Church changed their views on non-procreated sex” comes about.

The second great force at the turn of the century is itself global: the emergence of women in the public sphere, including the public face of religion. This is in part a function of women's growing economic and political power, but also a result of religion itself coming into the public sphere in new ways. Many aspects of religion have long been considered private and relegated largely to the context of home and family, where women have often been the primary practitioners, though men might dominate in institutional leadership positions. As both religion and women move out of the private into the public sphere, new challenges arise. For example, central facets of family and home – particularly love and sex – which have more traditionally been the purview of women and of religion have entered the realm

It was not until the twelfth century that homosexuality started to be condemned. This condemnation proved to live through then until now. Due to the fact that America incorporated these early views into its early laws, even the most bland of today's sex acts were seen as unlawful (“Homosexuality and Mental Health”). Since then, these laws have changed, however, there is still a primarily negative connotation on homosexuals when coming from a church or legal standpoint concerning the masses of America.

This book Pray the Gay Away by Bernadetta C. Barton discusses about certain areas in the United States called Bible Belts were they have made absolutely no progress in securing rights for gay people. They lag behind the rest of nation were people are accepting homosexuality (Pray the Gay Away 15). Barton argues that in small towns were Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in these areas (Pray the Gay Away 19). This article is related to the play because the two dominant religions discussed in the play was Judaism and Mormonism and both religions strongly oppose homosexuality and this lead to homophobic attitudes and themes within the play.

Ira L. Reiss, a well-known sociologist, has contributed greatly to the field of human sexuality and in the 1960’s brilliantly predicted the revolutionary changes in sexual attitudes. In his novel, An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution, Reiss develops the notion that our previous sexual revolution did not adequately eliminate the inequalities related to sexuality. In reality he argues that America is in need of a newly formed sexual revolution, one that will address the negative consequences that our sex negative culture is experiencing. A significant portion of our population argues that these consequences are due to the fact that we talk too much and too soon about sex. This is an inaccurate view of the reasoning behind the sexual problems we are experiencing in America, as in reality the negative sexual outcomes we observe are due to the opposite of this view. This misconception is a common explanation for our sexual problems and many believe it is the key to solving our sexual crisis, but in reality is part of the problem. Reiss argues that “America is long overdue for a rendezvous with sexual reality” (18) and that the future of our nation depends on accepting these realities.

The movement of Purity balls is a very interesting and prevalent movement in our society. Many women choose abstinence at a very young age. This choice is made with the encouragement of their fathers. Throughout this essay I will examine religion, as an institution, that governs women’s bodies and sexuality. I will first, describe my opinions on purity balls, secondly, analyze the patriarchal dominance between a father and his daughters, and finally look at some of the redeeming aspects and the consequences of limited knowledge of sexual education.

To start with, let's take a type of religion, christianity, and the United States’s society and see how their views of sex are. Since the christian religion is large , I will narrow it down to my christianity, Baptist, in order to avoid conflict with other christian

Reforming Sodom: Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights. By Heather R. White. The University of North Carolina Press, 2015. xii + 243 pages. $26.85 cloth.

Suddenly the uneasy undertow comes full circle and washes us ashore as we are encouraged to amalgamate sexual desire and religion:

“A human being is essentially a sexual being”(Novak, 271). As David Novak above states, all humans are born with a natural inclination to fulfill his or her sexual right. Each person has needs that they yearn to have someone satisfy for them. The issue that isn’t so clear is how people satisfy these burning urges within them. We have discussed in class the many viewpoints that authors have presented us, some more liberal, others conservative, and some in between. In this paper, I will present David Novak’s idea of what good sex is, according to the values of traditional Orthodox-Conservative Judaism, as well as cover his view point on the morality of homosexual sex. To get a better understanding of Novak’s and others views, I will also discuss how a conversation may go between Novak and Yoel Kahn, another author who writes about Jewish ideas.

In the Antebellum time period, there were four voices that carefully discussed and showed their beliefs of sex to the society. One of the voices was known as Evangelical Christianity. Christian ministers and Lyman Beecher’s, strong ideas and passionate efforts were shown to try and get society to follow their ideas of sex. In their eyes, lust was known to be a deadly sin during the Nineteenth Century (Horowitz, 8). In order for them to control society members, they expressed and advocated that if one goes against the Christian view of sex and lacks morality, then he or she will be lead to the devil (Beecher, 45). Evangelical Christianity supporters such as Lyman Beecher believed in using the church, Bible, law and institutions to control how individuals acted upon sex as well as how sex was seen in society as

There is constantly cessation why women and men cohabitate, nurture, desire, and endure. Many shrug the similarities and differences to the side due to the complex nature that is involved in understanding the progression. Since the beginning of time, according to the bible, man was placed as the dominant sex, fending for the families well being. The woman has tended to the important jobs around the homestead as situations arose. Often in society, one will find himself in a battle depending on the views of the receiving recipients. Following is a dialogue explaining a safe and metro sexual view as a general whole.