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Sexual Morality

Main website: www.thebodyissacred.org

Lines of research as follows:

What has been the thrust of modern Catholic scholarship regarding the morality of sex?

FINDING. Catholic scholarship, while trying to correct mistaken notions of the past, is focused on establishing correct Christian norms for sexual behaviour in our own times.

What are the roots for the distrust of sex present in traditional Catholic teaching?

FINDING. The roots of Catholic distrust of sex lie in Hellenistic and Gnostic ideas accepted by Church Fathers and nurtured by medieval theologians.

What misconceptions did the traditional Catholic distrust of sex lead to?

FINDING. The distrust of sex affected the whole of people’s lives. We expand on some areas here.

What are the implications of the Church’s teaching on ‘natural law’?

FINDING. The teaching authority continues to support a mistaken philosophical notion of ‘Natural Law’ that has serious consequences for certain areas of morality. We have highlighted the following problems with the traditional notion of ‘Natural Law’:

Is sex never sinful?

FINDING. Sex in itself is not sinful, but circumstances may make it so. In particular, sex becomes sinful when it involves violence against another person: against his or her human rights, honour, or mental and physical wellbeing.

How does the correct Christian view of sex change our life?

FINDING. A positive appreciation of the gift of sex affects many aspects of our life. We elaborate on a few.

What about nudity?

FINDING. The traditional attitude approaches nudity with apprehension. The right Christian appreciation of the body should liberate us from any false feelings of shame.

How do we Christians know that our bodies are truly ‘sacred’?

FINDING. Our bodies, both male and female, were created by God in image. Moreover, Jesus Christ shared our body fully, including our sexual drives and our genitals. There is nothing sinful in the human body or its parts.

We welcome any contributions to our lines of inquiry, whether in the form of observations, critiques, submission of new material or the suggestion of other topics for research.