Sexuality And Religion Essay

The study of sexuality and religion has been developing over the years. Being exposed to this study as a freshman in college, it has been several years since this experience. However, this course helped expand my academic and personal skills immensely, and now being an educator myself, I aspire to have this same influence on my prospective students.

At the end of this course (Religion and Sexuality), students will be able to identify religious influences in society (i.e., gender roles, politics, race), evaluate and compare sex positive and sex negative religions, analyze heteronormativity tendencies throughout cultures, and critically examine religious texts. Along with these objectives, the readings chosen for this course will enable students to identify fundamental concepts in the discussion of religion and sexuality.

When discussing the multiple aspects of religion and sexuality, Sexual regulation is an important concept to include. The reading, “Sex and Religion: An Introduction” by Phil Zuckerman and Christel Manning, explains sexual regulation perfectly. In this introduction, Zuckerman and Manning explain “the

Herdt, encompasses the topic of sexuality specifically homosexuality thoroughly. In this introduction, Herdt explains the spectrum of sexuality, and how there is no clear way to define someone’s sexuality, however, he notes how societal pressures try to define sexuality. “Sexuality is always a part of this order (social), and it is subject to many social controls, being close to marriage and reproduction and often regarded by religion as a sacred core of morality.” Further, Herdt explains how social order directly relates to how society defines someone’s sexuality. Elaborating on societal definitions of sexuality Herdt analyzes how these meanings relate to cultural concepts of homosexuality. Herdt then goes to explain how these ideas relate to homophobia in various cultures and