Transcript Ethics and Religion

 Sex as a Business
 Sexual Coercion
Gender and Gender Differences
 Laws and Social Control of Sex
 Sex Education
 Ethics and Religion
Ethics:
 A system of moral principles, a way of
deciding what is right and wrong.
 Hedonism - belief that the goal of human life
is pursuit of pleasure, avoidance of pain and
fulfillment of physical needs and desires.
 Asceticism - an approach to life emphasizing
discipline and impulse control.
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Legalism - following a moral law or set of
principles.
Situationism - based on human experience,
and in matters of sexual morality, tends to
focus on relationships rather than rules.
Few ethical systems are purely hedonistic or
ascetic or entirely legalistic or situationist most lie between these extremes.
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Classical Greek philosophy - violent passion
must be avoided to achieve wisdom and
cultivate virtue.
 Pederasty - a sexual relationship between
an older man and a younger one.
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Judaism - sex seen as a deep and intimate
part of a relationship between two people.
Hebrew scriptures see sexual behavior as an
aspect of national and religious loyalty.
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Fertility cult
 A form of nature-based religion
 Fertility of the soil is encouraged through
various forms of ritual magic
 Often includes ritual sexual intercourse
Christianity:
 Dualism - idea that the body and spirit are
unalterably separate and opposed to each other.
 The goal of life is to become purely spiritual by
transcending the physical and material side of life.
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Serious Christians revolted against the corrupt and
worldly church of the Roman Empire and began to
practice forms of self-denial that included celibacy.
Christianity:
 Jesus urged his followers to strive for ethical
perfection, and he spoke against:
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Pride
Hypocrisy
Injustice
Misuse of wealth
It is difficult, however, to derive a sexual ethic
from the Gospels alone.
Christianity:
 St. Thomas Aquinas - the basic source of
Catholic moral theology.
 Protestants - renewed emphasis on
individual conscience and ethical decisionmaking.
 Puritanism - emphasized the doctrine of
“original sin” and the “total depravity” of
fallen humanity.
Christianity:
 Many scholars see the absoluteness of
scriptural norms as:
 conditioned by the time and culture in which they
were written.
 not necessarily binding today.
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The religious community also has been
influenced by the behavioral sciences
 Suggest that sexuality is much more complex
than had been thought.
Humanism:
 A philosophical system which:
 Denies a divine origin for morality
 Holds that ethical judgments must be made
on the basis of human experience and
human reason
Islam:
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Classical Islam values sexuality very positively:
 Muhammad saw intercourse in marriage as the
highest good in human life.
 Islam sanctions polygamy and concubinage.
 Sex outside marriage or concubinage is viewed as
a sin.
 Islamic law encourages contraception.
Hinduism:
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Varied approaches to sexuality:
 The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana is a
masterpiece of erotic hedonism.
 The ways of Dharma and Moksha can be as
rigorously ascetic as anything in
Christianity.
Buddhism:
 Therevada - includes strict nonindulgence of
desires that bring joy.
 Mahayana - ethics are more active and
directed toward love of others.
 Tantric Buddhism - teaches that sexual
desire can be overcome while engaging in
intercourse.
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Moralism - there are clearly and objectively
defined standards of right and wrong and a
society has a right to insist that its member
conform to them, at least outwardly.
Pluralism - truth is to be discovered in the
clash of differing opinions and convictions.
Sex outside marriage:
 Fornication - sex before marriage.
 Adultery (extramarital sex) - sex by persons
married to others.
 Has always been regarded as a grave
matter in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
 Many contemporary ethicists argue for a
more humane approach to those involved.
Contraception:
 Roman Catholics and Orthodox Jews oppose
any “artificial” means of contraception.
 Other Jews and most Protestants favor
responsible family planning by married
couples.
 Most ethicists suggest that sexually active
unmarried persons ought to be using birth
control.
Abortion:
 One of the most convulsive debates of our
time.
 Pro-life or antiabortion position - leadership
clearly comes from the Roman Catholic
Church.
Abortion:
 Pro-choice position - takes at least 2 forms:
 Absolute - pregnancy is solely the concern
of a woman.
 Modified - suggests there may be many
situations in which abortion is the least bad
choice.
▪ Therapeutic abortion - termination of
pregnancy when life or mental health of the
woman is threatened or in cases of trauma, such
as incest or rape.
Homosexuality:
 Religious community has been engaged in
vigorous debate on the subject of
homosexuality.
 Rejectionism - opposes any sexual acts
between persons of the same gender.
 Modified rejection or qualified acceptance regards homosexual orientation as morally
neutral but rejects homosexual acts.
Homosexuality:
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A revisionist view of the Bible and church tradition
favors full acceptance of lesbian and gay persons.
 In 2003, amid much controversy, the Episcopal
church approved the consecration of an openly
gay priest as bishop.
 Several mainline Protestant groups are actively
debating and studying the question of same-sex
unions.
AIDS:
 Has raised a host of complex and difficult
ethical issues for individuals, religious
communities, and society as a whole.
 Religious responses range from declaring
AIDS to be God’s punishment on sinners to
actively organizing to minister to persons
with AIDS.
Cloning:
 Somatic cell nuclear transfer - the technique
for cloning
 Involves substituting the genetic material
from an adult’s cell for the nucleus in an
egg.
 Therapeutic cloning - creating tissues or cells
that are genetically identical to those of a
patient, to treat a disease.