Yesterday the New York Times published an article with the headline, “Atlanta Suspect’s Fixation on Sex Is Familiar Thorn for Evangelicals” in which Ruth Graham discusses the ongoing theme in contemporary conservative evangelicalism of combating “improper sexual desire.” Quoting this article, “Robert Aaron Long, the suspect in the massacres that left eight people dead, told police this week that he had a ‘sexual addiction,’ . . .” The article also quotes Dr. Brad Onishi, an associate professor of religious studies at Skidmore College, as saying the religious culture in which he was raised, “teaches women to hate their bodies, as the source of temptation, and it teaches men to hate their minds, which lead them into lust and sexual immorality.” Of course, the religious culture has it wrong. For men, it is not the mind, but the gonads which lead to lust and sexual immorality. If lust and sexuality are immoral (which of course I do to accept) then the logical solution is to castrate all white evangelical males as soon as they reach puberty. But, for rational, educated, free-thinking citizens of the world the moral position is to accept sexual desire as a natural and beautiful aspect of being human, and to teach our children as they approach sexual maturity how to respect their bodies and their sexuality, how to respect the bodies and sexuality of others, and how to engage in safe and appropriate sexual practices. Somehow evangelicals have lost site of the true sins of humanity – those attitudes, beliefs and actions which cause emotional and physical pain and suffering to humans and other living creatures on this planet. Often these are perpetuated by religions.
Ramblings and assumed insights