The book, Jerry Falwell and the Rise of the Religious Right by Matthew Avery Sutton portrays the historical background behind Jerry Falwell and traditional Christian beliefs. Some of the issues and events that drove Falwell and other conservative Christians to new forms of political activism in the second half of the twentieth century are: sex education, abortion and homosexuality.
In 1961, Evangelist and pastor Tim LaHaye worked on informing and ridding public schools of sex education programs. In a letter that he wrote to parents at a school he said; “ As a parent, taxpayer, and a Christian, you need to be informed on the devastating Radical Sex Education Program now being advocated by some educators across America”(72). In this letter, LaHaye uses the word “devastating” to show how truly upset he was about this program. He went on to quote the bible in saying that sex was accepted in Christian beliefs and that that was not the problem. The problem was that the context, in which the education was coming from, was not coming from the Bible. LaHaye believed that because God create...
Christians understood sex and sexuality to be between a man and a woman and for the purpose of procreation. The film challenges this by giving other examples of things the Bible sees as sins because of the prevention of procreation, such as ejaculating outside of the body and contraceptives. Both of these are also strongly condoned by today’s society to prevent unplanned pregnancy and STI’s. This is directly related to Irvine’s article “Victims, Villains.. And Neighbours” about Comprehensive Ed. vs. abstinence sex Ed, and the debate between teaching kids about safe sex and how to use things such as condoms or birth control, or not teaching them these things at all because this would be telling them that sex is okay as long as it’s safe, when abstinence sex Ed’s goal is to avoid sex all together until marriage because the reason we were created to have sex is to procreate and having sex outside of marriage is wrong and using any kind of contraception that could prevent procreation is and the film focuses on those churches that see intercourse for procreation and not pleasure.... ...
Have you ever thought something was unjust, but every one around you believed otherwise? For many years marriage was seen as a religious and legal contract between a man and a woman. However, in recent years the American population has accepted in increasing numbers the idea that homosexuality exists and is equal. Although the majority of states do not allow same-sex marriage, today there are fifteen states that allow homosexual couples the right to get married, and they also receive all the rights that a heterogeneous couple have. Even if states don’t have marriages, many states may have domestic partnerships or civil unions as alternatives. To those combating the injustice to homosexuals and those in favor of homosexual activities these civil unions and domestic partnerships aren’t enough. On the other hand, we see the stance that the Westboro Church has taken in their hatred of homosexuals. Although the majority of people are in support of gay marriage, including myself, I think it is important to understand the opposition. Therefore, I decided to write my final report on the Westboro Baptist Church and their ideologies against homosexuals, Jews, Catholics, and the military. The main focus will obviously be the church’s feelings against homosexuality because many of their rallies focus on that issue.
In Atwood's novel, Christian fundamentalists resort to military force to implement their vision of a theocratic state. Real-life Christian fundamentalists, however, are not so sanguine about the prospects of the U.S. being overthrown by military coup. Instead they put their energy into electing candidates -- from school boards to senators to presidents -- and that's where gay scapegoating has tremendous purchase power.
This paper was written for my Writing 209 class. For the assignment ,Donna Marsh, asked us to find an article in a periodical that dealt with an issue in our American culture. We were then told to express our opinion on the topic discussed in the article and to analyze the argument presented in the article. I chose the topic of school prayer because I believe strongly in the separation of church and state that exists in our country. This is a controversial issue that is worthy of discussion, and hopefully my essay will provoke you in some manner whether you agree with my premise or feel that the views I express are totally invalid.
The proper expression of human sexuality is a abiding question for the world of sexual ethics. There has never been a society that has not reflected upon and prescribed rules and regulations for this powerful and yet mysterious dimension of personhood; and there has seemingly never been a social order in which sexuality has not breached the boundaries established for it. On the surface scripture and much of the Christian response to sexuality appears to be establishing rules and regulations which attempt to limit sexual behavior until the ‘appropriate’ time or stage in ones life. Though this is a narrow understanding of sexual ethics– instead the goal of sexual ethics should be in the importance of how we relate ourselves and desires to others. Specifically, the relation between God : Humanity, and Humanity : Humanity.
Jameson, Taylor. "The Bible and Birth Control." Permission Granted 2001: n. pag. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
Religion and Politics Both liberals and conservatives have become quite adept at mixing religion and politics in our current society. One also continues to observe an ongoing practice of civil religion demonstrated by presidents and office-seekers on both the left and right. Generally, the leftist merger of religion and politics has received greater social acceptability because it has been cloaked in such rights' causes as civil rights, women's rights, or economic rights (the social distribution of wealth). The advocating of these rights issues have provided an appearance of transcending religion, keeping the left relatively free from criticism of any church and state overlap. Christian Conservatives, however, have found it more difficult to reasonably combine faith and politics because they have more overtly recognized that their political positions are grounded on faith assumptions.
McAvoy, Paula. “The Aims Of Sex Education: Demoting Autonomy And Promoting Mutuality.” Educational Theory. Academic Search Premier, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Jun. 2014.
The history of the gay rights movement goes as far back as the late 19th century. More accurately, the quest by gays to search out others like themselves and foster a feeling of identity has been around since then. It is an innovative movement that seeks to change existing norms and gain acceptance within our culture. By 1915, one gay person said that the gay world was a "community, distinctly organized" (Milestones 1991), but kept mostly out of view because of social hostility. According to the Milestones article, after World War II, around 1940, many cities saw their first gay bars open as many homosexuals began to start a networking system. However, their newfound visibility only backfired on them, as in the 1950's president Eisenhower banned gays from holding federal jobs and many state institutions did the same. The lead taken by the federal government encouraged local police forces to harass gay citizens. "Vice officers regularly raided gay bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women on a single night" (Milestones). In spite of the adversity, out of the 1950s also came the first organized groups of gays, including leaders. The movement was small at first, but grew exponentially in short periods of time. Spurred on by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the "homophile" (Milestones) movement took on more visibility, picketing government agencies and discriminatory policies. By 1969, around 50 gay organizations existed in the United States. The most crucial moment in blowing the gay rights movement wide open was on the evening of July 27, 1969, when a group of police raided a gay bar in New York City. This act prompted three days of rioting in the area called the Stonewall Rio...
Moving to the post World War II era, the evangelical coalition began to appeal to the older generations, to the Hollywood population, and to leaders in Washington D.C. Soon after the war, the religious conflicts that infected fundamentalism in the 1920’s were no longer relevant. Protestantism, in its mainline form, had become much more evangelical in its’ nature and its’ sects became much more interested in becoming recognized publicly. Many historians agree that, “what has not often been recognized, however, is that one of the most important driving forces behind the postwar resurgence of religion was a cadre o...
Upon further research, it came to my attention that only 24 of the 50 states require sex education. Sex has always been a touchy subject for man to discuses, especially in an educational environment. Due to my lack of knowledge of the subject, talking about sex makes me feel vulnerable, although I know it shouldn’t. Thankfully, I have gained a new appreciation to the educational element involved with sex, through this course and the Roger hock text
Wen, S.H., J.D. Zeng, and M.L. Ng. 1990. Sex and Moral Education. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing.
When people hear the term hippie, they think of men and woman in loose clothing with flowers weaved in their hair. Although these men and women did in fact wear these things, they left a significant impact on society. Hippies were a part of the Counterculture movement, which basic ideals were to reject the ideas of mainstream society. The movement itself began with the protesting of the Vietnam War. Eventually, the movement was more than just protesting the war. Hippies promoted the use of recreational drugs, religious tolerance; they also changed society’s views and attitudes about lifestyle and social behavior. The Counterculture movement was the most influential era in the 20th century because the people of this time changed society’s outlook, and broached the topics of drugs, fashion, and sexual freedom.
Nineteen-fifty five marked the debut of sex education programs in schools in the United States. Along the years, many have argued whether or not sex education should be taught in schools. Many believe that the education of sex encourages students to engage in sexual activities which lead to a higher number of pregnancies and sexual transmitted diseases (STD’s). As the number of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases climbs higher and higher every day in our country, one can only think that sexual education is a necessity in our school systems. Teens as young as fourteen years old have admitted to already engaging in sexual activities. No teen should be engaging in such acts at that age. Many schools give parents the choice to have their child opt out of the lesson or class. Few states are required to teach sex education to students in secondary schools unless they were withdrawn from the class by their parents.
Sex education has been a taboo subject for a long time, even out of schools. Usually an ignored topic of discussion, when adults would be asked such questions by younger individuals the answers were usually misinformation and complex euphemisms. This strategy, use merely so the adult avoided embarrassing themselves, would only further confuse the person asking and it would not even answer the original question. Such examples include babies being brought to the parents by a stork, the birds and the bees, and naming the sexual organs after objects. Due to culture, such customs have been hard to get rid of and improve upon, especially with many of this shame originating from organized religion. In recent years though, conservatism on this education