Rev. Beverley Dale: Christianity's sexual quagmire

I will admit that my first instincts upon hearing of the arrest of the itinerant preacher of Locust Walk fame (Brother Stephen) for solicitation of sex with a minor was: "so, that explains his obsession with sex when he was preaching." I had my suspicions about Brother Stephen when he came to campus every spring and fall to angrily condemn everybody for the apparent purpose of "saving our souls" but used accusatory language focusing on sex much of the time. As a minister I know first hand that what is preached most often is usually what the minister needs to preach to him/herself.

Apparently his issue was/is sex, i.e. fornicators, whores, and his favorite word, "sodomites." His favorite sinners were two groups he sexualized, women and the gay community. However, with the revelation of the charges against him, perhaps his haranguing was a way to deny and repress the sexual issues with which he himself was struggling. If this is so, then he deserves our pity.

But Brother Stephen is a product of a culture that uses sexual titillation as a tool to fuel consumerism and to keep the economy running smoothly. Yet in spite of our apparent sexual obsession this same culture reacts puritanically against any who would step outside the narrow bounds of marital (read: procreative) sex.

Further, our Locust Walk preacher is a product of a religion that tacitly and sometimes actively promotes the repression of sex and provides little helpful guidance for development of a sex-positive and life-affirming sexual ethic. Historically, Christianity has little to say about sacred sexuality. In some respects Brother Stephen is not too different from the vast numbers of celibate priests recently exposed who used their ministries as a cover for their pedophilia.

This unholy marriage of Christian dis-ease with sexuality and our cultural perversion of sexuality as a marketable commodity translates into little federal funding for sex research, an acquiescence to alarming rape and sexual abuse statistics, federal policies designed to withhold sexual information and birth control access from young people, and an overall eroticization of violence, to name but a few examples. When it comes to sex, our culture and the Christianity of Brother Stephen and myself is "screwed up." We titillate and then forbid. We promote and then punish. We attract and then limit. Is there any good news about sexuality and faith?

Very little. The Surgeon General, Jocelyn Elders, released a paper a couple of years ago recommending that faith communities and educational institutions initiate a society-wide conversation that is more informed and that would address the sexual issues of our day such as teenage pregnancy.

Also, lay organizations have emerged out of the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church empowered to give a voice for victims of sexual abuse and to act as a watchdog to hold religious leadership accountable. However, the Christian Church is a long way from digging itself out of its puritanical roots of sexual denial and repression or embracing our erotic selves as intimately intertwined with our spiritual lives.

But denial and repression of our sexual needs is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. I am not advocating flaunting an uninhibited, hedonistic, and voyeuristic sexuality that objectifies one another or that denies the sacred power of the sexual energy. I believe we should be talking about sacred aspects of our sexuality and encouraging a life-affirming ethic that builds relational community and promotes deeper intimacy.

The famous sex researcher Havelock Ellis writes, "Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn reverence for life until we learn reverence for sex." Our culture's very existence is dependent on the quality of our individual relationships. Our spiritual lives will remain emaciated if we continue as a culture to dichotomize the flesh from the spirit (the Apostle Paul notwithstanding.)

Brother Stephen is a product of his religion and his culture, and while this may make it more understandable his actions are surely not acceptable. However, let us be clear that this same culture and religion impacts us as well. But, unlike Karl Marx, I do not believe we need remain prisoners of our culture or drugged by our religion. By embracing the gift of sexuality with its sacred potential we will free ourselves to live compassionately, passionately, creatively and indeed, with reverence. Rev. Beverly Dale is the executive director of the Christian Association and will be teaching a spring semester bible study on ?God as Eros.?

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