Sex
education is an important component of learning to become a responsible adult. All youth get sex
education from several sources—some more desirable than others. The world’s
large religions have specific teaching about sexuality and morality, which can
be a challenge for governments who wish to avoid religious teachings.
A
recent bill in the US state of Colorado has caused some concern among
Christians (reference below). But a Christian sex educator, April Janae, has looked at the details and writes a post which addresses issues beyond her state. Her opinions are informed by experience and research. With her permission, I have included quotes
from her Facebook post. I did not include some text that specifically addressed
the Colorado issue. I’ve also included a link to the Sex-Education chapter she
co-authored in Christian Morality.
*****
From
April Jonae 30 January 2019
-Parents,
it is YOUR job to educate your kids about sex. If you’re depending on the
public school system to instill biblical values into your children, then you
are in for a rude awakening. It is also your RIGHT to opt out your child from
sex education at their school. This has always been the case, and the new bill
also permits this. Your child doesn’t have to participate. So chill out with
the comments on homeschooling your children if this bill passes. Signing the
opt-out form will likely be a simpler option.
-Abstinence
is NOT being removed from sex education. Abstinence will still be taught as the
best option for teens, it will just no longer be presented as the only option.
Contraceptives and medically-accurate info on their effectiveness will be taught
as well. In my opinion, teaching abstinence-only is a dangerous thing. There
will always be a population of teens that choose to engage in sexual behavior,
and we are doing a great disservice to those students by not providing
information to them that will reduce their risks of pregnancy and contraction
of STIs.
-LGBTQ
youth are at a higher risk for contracting STIs and engage in risky sexual
behavior at a higher rate than heterosexual youth. So I believe that language
that includes them in the conversation about the risks of sex can only be a
good thing. Many abstinence-only sex ed programs do not address anything but
heterosexual relationships, which causes LGBTQ youth to check out...hence the
higher rates of STIs.
-My
last thought: please do some research on abstinence-only sex education and it’s
effectiveness in this country. When I first began researching sex ed, I assumed
that abstinence-only education would have produced the lowest rates of teen
pregnancy and STIs. I was shocked to learn that the opposite was true.
Historically, abstinence-only programs have not delayed sexual activity, and
students who have received abstinence-only education were more likely to
experience unintended pregnancy and contract STIs at higher rates than students
who receive comprehensive sex ed. That being said, I am not advocating that you
stop teaching your children abstinence. I will certainly be teaching my
children this principle. I am suggesting however, that we need to consider the
facts when deciding what type of sex ed is taught in our schools.
*****
See Chapter 10 by April Janae (Montoya) and Shonna Crawford
“Tensions and Challenges: Christian
Morality and Sex Education.” In Christian Morality. Available at Pickwick, AMAZON,
and other bookstores.
FREE exam
copies available to instructors and book reviewers from the publisher, PICKWICK – a brand
of WIPFANDSTOCK.
You
may also be interested in A House Divided:
Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures. Also available from PICKWICK and on AMAZON.
Consider
Connecting-
Publications (many free downloads)
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