Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Religious Students and Sex Before Marriage


20 comments:

  1. Title- Study: Religious Teens More Likely to Abstain from Sex
    Author- FoxNews.com & From FoxNews online

    Summary: It has been shown in studies that religious individuals often lose there virginity(on average) at age 21 or older, compared to non-religious teens/young adults. Making a "virginity pledge," however, seems to play no role in whether or not a teen will lose their virginity pre-maritally, according to post-doctoral fellow Janet Rosenbaum. Religious teens "are having sex an average of about three years later than the average American," Rosenbaum stated.

    link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,475306,00.html

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  2. Study: More Than 9 Out of 10 Americans � Even Grandparents � Had Premarital Sex
    www.foxnews.com

    Both men and women are equally likely to participate in sex before marriage considering the fact that people now wait longer before they get married which leads to sexual activity as singles. Such findings have them questioning government funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs which have cost millions of dollars in federal funding.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,237611,00.html

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  4. Title: Sex before Marriage is Bad ! ... Why ???
    Summary: This shows two people of opposite views on sex before marriage.

    "Gilhelmi:

    Without using religion, I was taught this. Sex is something best saved for marriage because sex is the ultimate form of trust. Too often people use sex to build trust and what happens, they get hurt worse when the trust is broken. The best way to build a stable, long lasting, relationship is through communication, this takes about a year or more to complete.

    Sex means trust has been established, Not a way to build trust.

    Mera'din:

    ^This.
    Believing that sex is okay before marriage does not mean you have to run out and try to sex up anything that moves. It simply means that you don't feel the need to validate your feelings and trust in another person through governmental or religious powers-that-be before making that step towards that sort of trust in another person.

    Obviously not all people feel this way, and to some sex is a tool or a means of escape from any number of things. Much like various other aspects of life, it can mean different things to different people but allowing thousands-year old doctrines to tell you that it isn't even an option is probably not the healthiest way to look at it."

    Link: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/528.223199-Sex-before-Marriage-is-Bad-Why?page=2

    Cynthia Gonzalez

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  5. TITLE: RELIGION AND SEX / The Immoral Majority / Finding sexual ethics in the godless masses

    AUTHOR: Don Lattin, SF Gate, (October 19, 2003)

    SUMMARY: Lattin speaks on the transition America has made from structured religion with strict sexual guidelines to the sexual liberation in the 1960-1970s to today’s growing accepting, liberal and open-minded society. It questions how we are to decide what is sexually moral if we are not dependent on a religion doctrine, book, or god to show us the way. This article also focuses on the relationship between parents and their children and how they pass along ideals of sexual morality. From traditional conservative values to modern day progressivism, Lattin explores the connection of religion and sex throughout the past 60 years of American culture. Enjoy!

    WEBSITE: http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-10-19/living/17514353_1_gen-xers-boomers-post-christian

    ~Kyria Edwards

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  6. Title: New True Love Waits Blog Tackles Student Abstinence Issues


    Summary: LifeWay’s True Love Waits ministry has started a blog to address current issues and provide updated information about the student sexual-abstinence movement. The blog is targeted to parents of teenagers and student leaders in churches and student organizations around the world.

    http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/10/prweb4661694.htm

    -David Namminga

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  7. TITLE: Premarital Sex Sparks Controversy
    AUTHOR- Emily Wakeman
    Summary- This article discusses the rise of premarital sex in America namongst high school students and adults. According to the article, thsi rise can be attributed to decreasing importance of religion in society, relaxed views on sex in mainstream society, and a large presence of sex in the media just to name a few.

    http://www.quchronicle.com/2004/01/pre-marital-sex-sparks-controversy/

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  8. Title: Wait for Sex and marriage? Evangelicals conflicted
    Author: Eric Gorski

    Summary: The article addresses how some couples are heading towards the alter at a young age with great anticipation of their wedding night. The article quoted a sociologist who said "that evangelicals "have made much ado about sex" but are damaging the institution of marriage by discouraging and delaying it." The article addresses the different ways/reasons for staying abstinent in combination with their religious beliefs.

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-08-09-marriage-evangelicals_N.htm

    -Alison Langen

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  9. Title: Premarital Sex Not a Biblical Conflict
    Author: Liberated Christians
    URL: http://www.libchrist.com/bible/premaritalsex.html

    Summary: Many people imagine Christians as following a strict set of rules on how they are to conduct themselves sexually. As our class study revealed, many Christians who may claim to believe premarital sex is immoral they continue to engage in it.
    The Author of this article claims to be a Christian, but proceeds to defend why premarital sex is not a forbidden act in the bible. The author goes through how sex was practiced in Old Testament times and how the make-up of their society was vastly different from our modern American society. The author attempts to put commonly referenced verses into their correct context and provides a list of four examples of where sexuality is in fact immoral in the bible: sex during women’s menstruation, adultery (only wrong for women to be unfaithful), pagan sex goddess prostitution, and pederasty (young boy and old man sex).
    I found this article interesting not because it convinced me that premarital sex is acceptable for Christians to engage in, but rather it demonstrated that even amidst religious beliefs there are huge divisions and disagreements on certain moral issues.

    -Danae Olsen

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  10. Title: Why most religions prohibit premarital sex?
    Author: Jake Ron
    URL:http://www.helium.com/items/618866-why-most-religions-prohibit-premarital-sex

    Summary:This article states that sex is the greatest gift given by God to the people. This is a Catholic man's outlook on the idea of sex before marriage. He states that the communion can be seen as the marriage between two individuals so therefore by having sex before marriage you are breaking the communion will not be present in the relationship.In order for love to be in your relationship the couple must be in communion with each other and with pre-martial sex taking place that would not be possible. He states that those couples who engage in pre-marital sex are more likely to get divorced if they get married than those who wait for sex till marriage. He sates that sex is the best way to explain your love for God.

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  11. Title: THE GOD VIRUS
    Author: Darell Ray
    Link:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgJp9Nyxawc
    http://www.independent.com/news/2010/mar/12/diagnosing-em-god-virusem/
    http://www.thegodvirus.net/


    Summary:
    Author Darell Ray criticizes how religion socializes peoples beliefs. He has several episodes on youtube, but there is a book and website dedicated to his cause "The God Virus". He argues that religion forms people beliefs and strays them away from natural human nature. He talks about how religion forces you to suppress your natural instincts, and always associates guilt with sex. He also goes into depth of religion and premarital sex. he analyzes several religions and discusses how religion influenced other aspects of life. He is criticized for being atheist, and his cause is highly controversial, nonetheless, his analysis is quite interesting.

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  12. Title: SAVED! (2004)

    This is a clip from the film Saved! which explores the issue of sex before marriage in a highly religious community.

    At the beginning of her senior year, Mary, a "born again" Christian student, finds out that her perfect Christian boyfriend, Dean, is actually gay. Shocked by his confession she hits her head while exiting a pool which causes her to hallucinate a vision of Jesus, who tells her she must "do everything in her power to help Dean." Confused and scared she turns to her most spiritual friend, Hilary Faye, who gives her advice (unknowingly) about how purity and virgin hearts can be restored by Jesus.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DllZqrR_INY&feature=related

    After this scene Mary decides her only way to save Dean's soul is to sacrifice her virginity and sleep with him. Believing that Jesus will restore her purity, the next day she is extremely disappointed as she finds out Dean's parents have sent him away to a treatment facility and several weeks later she finds herself pregnant with his baby.

    The film continues to explore the ostracism of pregnant, homosexual, and promiscuous teens as well as the pressure to live up to the standards of religion. To anyone who hasn't seen this film I highly recommend watching the entire thing.

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  13. Title: Students are candid on sex, marriage, church teaching
    Author: Gail Risch

    Summary:
    Typical young Catholic university students speak openly about the controversial issues regarding sexuality and marriage. Young catholic students claim to agree with the traditional notion that marriage is a lifelong commitment of love. In addition, they all see themselves engaging in marriage someday in their distant future. Like most college students of this era, their main focus is education and their careers and marriage comes last. However despite that they postpone marriage for later, they still engage in sexual intimacy and committed relationships. These students also believe that sexual relations should not only be postponed until marriage, they are acceptable as long as those engaging in this practice are involved in a “loving and committed relationship.” However not all believe this way, there are some that believe in “no sex before marriage.” Although out of those that strictly disagree with premarital sex, some have considered the modern notion of sex before marriage after becoming involved in a serious relationship. Among these students many agree with the church that sexual relations deepen the couple’s commitment and connection however they disagree with the church teachings that sexual intercourse should be saved for marriage and with the idea that artificial contraception should not be used. In the end Catholic college students are not against the church but just simply agree with the idea that “church teaching needs to be updated” to fit their modern lifestyles, their current reality.

    Link: http://p8888-ucelinks.cdlib.org.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:2048/sfx_local?genre=article&issn=00278939&title=National+Catholic+Reporter&volume=45&issue=2&date=20081114&atitle=Students+are+candid+on+sex%2c+marriage%2c+church+teaching.&spage=10a&sid=EBSCO:a9h&pid=

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  14. Churches Urged to be more ‘Realistic’ on Pre-Marital Sex

    Byline: Bleakley, Louise Haffner, Debra

    A Christian minister claims, “no sex before marriage is an unrealistic goal in today’s world.”

    Summary: Abstinence is more difficult today than it was in the past – where religion finds its true roots. The average age of marriage from biblical times until now has seen a dramatic change – from 14 years old (right around puberty) to somewhere in the mid-20’s. Reverend Debra Haffner supports that biologically, it is more important to educate religious youth on sex and relationships at a young age than uphold the Christian tradition guidelines. Opposition claims that pre-marital sex ‘cheapens’ the life-long relationship value.
    Using Jesus as a biblical hero, Haffner says that it is important to contextualize the value of pre-marital sex as a different time with different meaning to it. Haffner supports that religion as an institution has become too closely associated with abusive power and exploitation of young teenagers.
    Believes that ‘instead of a wedding ring as the key to morality, people should think carefully whether having sex with a person would be harmful to themselves or others.’

    Link: http://www.lexisnexis.com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:2048/hottopics/lnacademic/?

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  15. Title: Religion: Christian Virgins

    This article talks about how Catholic women are able to take a public vow of virginity and are able to to carry on their lives in a secular society. The article also states the conditions associated with the vow and shows how the church is attempting to adapt to the times.

    Link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942284,00.html

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  16. Glee episodes are a really good example for pop culture that includes the hardships of remaining abstinent as a young teenager. Quinn in season 1 episode 4, quinn loses her virginity. She feels guilty because she is the head of the celibacy club and took an abstinance pledge to keep her virginity until marriage. Also, in the Episode "Grilled Cheese-us", Finn is trying to figure out how to get his girlfriend, Rachel, to let him go further physically with her. The third example of this show is the last episode "Never Been Kissed" in which Finn, Sam Evans, and Tina use methods to get them to "cool off" during moments of heated making out sessions with their girlfriend or boyfriend since they know sex is not an option at this point in their relationships. Thus, the show Glee is tv show that incorporates the sex lives of teenagers in their attempts to stay pure when sex is clearly on their minds.

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  17. Title: Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior

    This article is about how religious involvement can strongly influence ones sexual attitude and behavior. Studies have proven that young people are not as sexual if they attend church regularly versus people who don't.

    Link: http://www.jstor.org/pss/352164

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  18. Title:Taking the Pledge: Teens commit to sexual purity until marriage

    This article talks about teenagers that use purity rings to help remind them that God would have them wait until marriage to have sex. The article admits that the rings are not stopping them from having sex, but encourages them to avoid situations that put them in "the heat of the moment."

    http://www.sj-r.com/carousel/x289809682/Taking-the-Pledge-Teens-commit-to-sexual-purity-until-marriage

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  19. Title: Is it Okay for Christians to Engage in Premarital Sexual Relations Before Marriage?

    This article gives a biblical perspective on premarital sex and why it is wrong. It also gives scriptural backing for this doctrine. It talks about how people of today are moving in and falling "in love" but suggests that if it is real love that it wouldn't fail therefore couples wouldn't be breaking up with each other.

    http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/fornication.html

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  20. Title: Religious Heritage and Teen Marriage

    This article shows teen marriage takes place because teenagers are not able to have sex before marriage. getting married at a young age gives teens a socially acceptable way to have sex.

    http://www.jstor.org/stable/3511779

    Melanie B

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