Commentary
Girding loins
Agnostics anonymous
Christians are not obsessed with sex, the Christians in
Parliament group insist several times in their recent Clearing
the Ground report. But as Augustine's 'grant me chastity and
continence - but not yet' reminds us, Christianity has sexual
issues.
As the report makes clear, sexual freedom is still The Problem.
It argues that UK law has enshrined a 'a 'de facto privilege of
sexual orientation rights over religious belief': Christians are
now legally barred from discriminating against homosexuals, and
feel 'marginalised'.
'Sexuality is widely acknowledged in society to be intrinsic to
identity, religion is not,' complains Clearing. It cites the
British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy's
disciplining of a counsellor who used a Christian approach to
'convert' a patient to heterosexuality. The BACP deemed it 'absurd
to attempt to alter such fundamental aspects of personal identity
as sexual orientation by counselling'. Clearing deplores this
statement as 'lacking scientific and legal rigor'. It asserts
(unsourced) that 'sexuality is more fluid and religious commitment
less fluid than the law assumes'.
But as far as scientific rigor can tell, religious commitment is
quite fluid. The latest British Social Attitudes survey showed that
more than half of Britons raised as Anglicans have left their
childhood faith, while 94% of those raised with 'no religion'
have kept unfaith. Over the course of a life, religion appears
relatively mutable. Perhaps sexual orientation, too, is malleable
'from a life course perspective'. A recent collection of essays,
Sex for Life: From virginity to viagra, how sexuality changes
throughout our lives suggested just that. The problem comes
when you solidify these shifting matters of the human soul and
loins, and inflate them into undecaying trophies of identity.
A chief complaint of Clearing the Ground is that religious
identity in Britain is insufficiently respected because of 'the
deep and widespread level of religious illiteracy'. Yet Augustine's
autobiography dramatized a complex inner relationship between sex
and faith. The report, however, insists that: 'Christians have
historically received a clear biblical model for sexual relations',
period.
Until Christians in Parliament and elsewhere realise sex and
religion are in a mutual ongoing argument within the individual and
society, the ground cannot be cleared. Insist on knowing the
answers and you will inspire dogmatism. Christian groups deplore
the intransigence of homosexual rights groups. But by insisting on
their own privileged rights, they encourage a special homosexual
identity with countervailing rights, too. And make themselves look
bigoted as well as obsessed.