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Sex & Religion

Gay Priests? No, Confused Priests

by on ·Sex & Religion, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Social scientists at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice have been researching the causes of the Catholic Church’s modern tradition of priests sexualizing boys. In releasing their initial findings, researchers said they can not attribute it to gay priests or seminaries for teenagers. “We do not have data to support those assertions,” said Karen Terry, lead researcher for the $2 million study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. She believes that the priests had sex primarily with boys mainly because they had access to boys. “Even though there was sexual abuse of many boys, that doesn’t…

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Abortion: “Morally Equivalent” Doesn’t Mean “Politically Equivalent”

by on ·Sex & Religion, Sexual Intelligence Blog

The President spoke eloquently this week on the need for Americans to find common ground on the issue of abortion. He made a start by naming the ONLY common ground—the desire of almost everyone to reduce the number of abortions done each year. And that’s the end of the “common ground” conversation. People don’t even agree on WHY they want fewer abortions. Some people think abortion is a bad thing. Other people think the need for abortion is a bad thing. The anti-choice side (we’re ALL pro-life, after all) says it takes a “moral” position—that abortion is wrong. The pro-choice…

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Florida Now Safe For Goats & Jesus

by on ·Sex & Religion, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Honestly, I’m not making this up. On the one hand, the Florida Senate has voted 38-0 to criminalize sex with animals. At the very same time, it’s about to issue license plates depicting the crucified head of Jesus. Each of these is a nutty idea—supported by large numbers of voters. I’m not sure which would be more offensive: seeing my neighbor making love with his goat, or seeing my neighbor’s car sporting a government-issued “I believe” license plate. Wait, of course I know: it’s the license plate. Florida lawmakers have their priorities upside down. Floridians don’t need to be protected…

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Belgium Declares Pope Public Enemy

by on ·Sex & Religion, Sexual Intelligence Blog

You’ve probably heard about Pope Benedict’s announcement three weeks ago that AIDS “cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase the problem.” The comment was especially brutal and uncivilized given the timing—on a trip to Africa, which has 137 million Catholics and 60% of the world’s HIV population. In response, the Belgian parliament passed a law ordering the government to “react strongly against any state or organization that in the future brings into doubt the benefit of using condoms to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus.” The government then lodged a formal, diplomatic protest with…

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The Problem With Rev. Rick Warren—It Isn’t the Rick, It’s the Rev.

by on ·Sex & Religion, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Rick Warren is the conservative mega-preacher from Southern California who’s giving the invocation at Barack Obama’s swearing-in on January 20. Lots of people have been criticizing Obama’s choice. They accurately note that Warren is rabidly anti-gay, anti-condom, anti-sex education, anti-reproductive choice. He brags about his supposedly great work battling AIDS in Africa, but it turns out that Warren’s ideological commitments to abstinence and against condoms have actively undermined public health in Africa. He’s a dangerous, deluded, man full of hate and fear. Obama could have chosen a different religious figure, someone whose beliefs more closely match those who elected him.…

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The “Moral Majority” Still Doesn’t Exist

by on ·Sex & Religion, Sexual Intelligence Blog

Paul Weyrich died last week at age 66. Weyrich created the still-influential Heritage Foundation, the think tank that helped social conservatives take over the Republican party. At a 1979 meeting of religious leaders, Weyrich referred to a “moral majority” in the U.S.. The name stuck, and through the ‘80s, Jerry Falwell energized the conservative movement using this theme as a political focus. Christianity in general and America in particular have traditionally equated “morality” with limiting one’s sexual choices and experiences. And so one of the things that made the Moral Majority movement possible was Americans’ need to deny the breadth…

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