Important Questions (4)

September 10, 2009, 7:01 am by dc-agape.

Last week I ask some tough questions to one of my Christian commenters.  I had a reason for each of the questions.  You see, Christians worship a supreme being that is known for compassion, justice, and love.  The questions I ask should have included two more, but I thought I had covered all the important topics.  I will explain the reason for each of the questions in the next nine posts.  The purpose of the questions was to determine if our commenter was True to the Christ-like qualities expected from Christians.

I included the controversy of abortion.  I did not ask if all abortions should be allowed, I specifically asked about three types: rape, incest, and the physical harm to the mother.  Believe it or not, even to most Atheist abortion should be a rare thing!  Of course, many of us suggest that proper sexual education is the key.  This would be a combination of the abstinence programs and more liberal education.   It should also include the risks involved in sex: STDs, pregnancy, and the resulting responsibilities of both living with an STD and/or a child.  In the US we are having a recurrence certain of STD’s specifically Chlamydia and Syphilis.  Almost 50% of these cases are in the 15-24 year olds.  HIV is also spreading, now hitting the African-American population the hardest.  By ignoring that young people are having sex, it is the adults that are contributing to this trend!  We are the ones that need to be teaching our children the risks involved in these actions, without lying – abstinence only does not work!

Is it compassionate to lie to children and risk them getting Chlamydia, Syphilis, HIV, or pregnant?  It is perfectly fine for responsible parents to reinforce abstinence!  But, honestly, how many responsible parents are there in the US?  Does it make up even 50% of the population?  Most rely on public/private education to do the dirty work…sex education, math, science, history, etc.  Many cannot even help their children in modern schools, since what they were taught 20+ years ago is no longer the focus on our children’s education.  That is why in almost every city programs like Indiana’s AskRose.org, Tennessee’s Homework Hotline, and Philadelphia’s On-line Teacher from the Free Library.  Unfortunately, it would seem that sex education is also outdated.  The statistics on teen sex indicate that by 2006 46% of all teens in the US had sexual experiences at least once.

Atheist, for one, believe that comprehensive sex education is the only way to be truly safe and compassionate to half that are having sex.  And since this includes the abstinence only groups as well as the rest of teenagers…we must (to be compassionate) teach the hard facts that polygamous sex leads to higher risks of STDs and pregnancies.

The lie (good Christian moral system) that abstinence works needs to stop!  Will it increase the number of teens having sex?  At 46% of the teen population is that really a top priority?  Or is it compassionate to let the kids learn the hard way?  It certainly is not compassionate to the parents that must deal with the medical bills!  It certainly is not compassionate to the teenagers that will live out the rest of their lives with an incurable STD or have to forgo college to take care of a baby!  Where is the compassion and truth in teaching abstinence only?  Or is it just a cultural phenomenon, due to Christian morality, that people don’t want to talk about sex to their children?

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