“Everything therefore in the modern means of social communication which arouses men's baser passions and encourages low moral standards, as well as every obscenity in the written word and every form of indecency on the stage and screen, should be condemned publicly and unanimously by all those who have at heart the advance of civilization and the safeguarding of the outstanding values of the human spirit.” This passage from The Humanae Vitae is paragraph 22 which is called the Promotion of Chastity. For years now there have been many disagreements in society on whether or not sex education should be taught in our school systems. It was more seen as if we don’t talk about it sex, it does not really happen then, if we acknowledge it then that means we are promoting it. Case in point on why I disagree with this claim that Paul IV makes on this topic. He states that our society today encourages low moral standards, from words to actions in our everyday lives and for any of us who have a heart and spiritual values we should condemned society from think/acting this way.
For years now many Christians have been fighting sex education and promoting abstinence. I must say that I am for both, because of my religious values I am more for abstinence but, I am also a college student and know that many do not know or live a spiritual life. How can we condemned people for not knowing what is right or wrong? Who am I or Paul IV to say that you are doing wrong? Ultimately God will be the one to judge us and our actions. And at the end of the day I think many forget that god gave us free will which is the authority of acting without limitations of fate. In easier terms, it’s the capability to act at one's own discretion.
Ultimately I think the bigger argument here is that regardless if we teach sex education or not there will still be people out there that will be having sex. My thoughts are that if this is the case we mind as well teach our future generations the precautions of sex and what consequences can come from sex if unprotected or starting a sexual relationship early. The Humanae Viate was written many years ago and frankly it’s outdated for our society to follow it. It’s just not a realistic rule to live by, and according to the definition of free will, at the end we have the decision to make the choice on whether or not the withhold from sex or to have sexual relations. At the end of the day we can disregard the information being taught in these sex education classes or we can use them for future reference. I have been through many sex educational classes and none of them have ever changed my mind or even promoted to me that it’s okay to have sex before marriage. It maybe even influenced me more not to be sexually involved like that before marriage because of the many consequences that can occur.
Regardless of what is right or wrong our society has already been culturally constructed by indecency, and as many of you know it’s pretty hard to change societies thoughts or views on such touchy subjects. I truly believe the best bet is to continue teaching sex education with a twist of abstinence for those who are not ready.
I agree with your post! I myself am more religious and prone to abstinence until marriage or love. I think that often times sex is taken for granted amongst teenagers and it should mean something with someone who you love when it happens. Often times people do not feel this way though. Teenagers feel the pressure to have sex at a young age and it often times a competition to have it first within friend groups. That is why I also agree that sex education should be a required class in high school. If teenagers are going to have sex, and often times they do, they need to know the precautions and safety they must take before having it. Culture has been kind of against sex education because they often times feel that it promotes sex when in fact I think it hinders a person's choice in having sex because they realize what can actually happen if they do not have safe sex. Teenagers need to know the outcomes of sex if they don't take it seriously and have it safely. Parents need to realize this too. Sex education is important and it should be required.
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