area of sexual ethics?
Evaluate the claim that religious beliefs and practices concerning sex and relationships do not
have a continuing role in the area of sexual ethics.
Whether or not religious beliefs and practices concerning sex and relationships have
a continuing role to play in sexual ethics.
Sexual ethics is a very controversial issue and religion remains a potent factor in debates
concerning sexual ethics. Many debates about sexual morality contain resentments or rejection
of religious beliefs about marriage and sexual acts. Through critical analysis, it will become clear
that certain religious beliefs and practices no longer have a continuing role in the area of sexual
ethics because they often promote ideas that demean people's relationships and cause harm to
the individuals involved.
https://www.philosophycat.org/sexualethics
Sexual behaviour includes homosexual relationships, extra-marital relations and pre-marital sex
and has always been an area of great significance to people. Sigmund Freud, for example,
argued that human sexuality is a defining feature of our personalities. Sexual behaviour is an
immensly controversial topic and has a multitude of personal moral issues and debates
surrounding it. Many debates about sexual morality contain resentment or rejections of religious
beliefs about marriage and sexual acts. Through critical analysis, it will become clear that
religious beliefs and practices no longer have a continuing role in the area of sexual ethics.
Religious beliefs and practices no longer have a continuing role in the area of sexual ethics as
religious attitudes towards sex are dogmatic and backward. Traditional Christian teaching
emphasises that homosexuality is wrong and that it is ‘intrinsically disordered’ as Biblical
scripture emphasise those who engage in homosexual sex ‘ will not inherit the kingdom of God’
(Corinthians). In fact, those who engage in such acts are following an apparent good rather than
a real good as they have not understood the divine law properly nor have they used their reason
properly. They have failed to act upon their synderesis and instead are going against the primary
precepts of reproduction and living in an ordered society. Homosexuals ‘contradict the will of
the author of life’ as they cannot procreate nor sustain a flourishing human society. Such
religious attitudes should not be unheld and no longer have a continuing presence in the 21st
century as we risk demeaning homosexual individuals and end up viewing their love as less than
that of a heterosexual relationship. The catholic church is repressive of homosexual feelings
and as emphasised by Stephen Fry encourages the ‘stigmatisation [and] victimisation that leads
to playground bullying’. With LGBTQ+ youth twice as likely to contemplate suicide propagating
such attitudes are hurtful and produce more harm than Good. Therefore, religion should not
have a continuing role in regulating sexual behaviour in the 21st century as it is oppressive of
the feelings of homosexuals.