God Forbid: Religion and Sex in American Public LifeKathleen M. Sands Since the 1980s, religion has been most visible in American public life when issues of sexuality and reproduction are at stake. Paradoxically, however, the voices that speak most loudly in the name of religion are often unschooled in religious history, world religions, theology, or ethics. As a result, religion in America is misrepresented as anxiously and obsessively concerned with sex, and as uniformly supporting the conservative agenda of "family values." This volume corrects that distortion in American public discourse. Its thirteen previously unpublished articles introduce scholarly perspectives on issues including the family, gay rights, abortion, welfare policy, prostitution, and assisted reproduction. They richly display the complexities and conflicts that exist not only between but within America's various religious traditions--for example, the pro-choice strain within Christian history, the support of many religious denominations for gay rights, and the criticism of patriarchal family structures within religious communities past and present. In these essays, contributors put forth views of sexual ethics that are just and compassionate, respectful of cultural pluralism, and attentive to democratic processes. Thorougly researched, lucidly written, and carefully argues, this anthology will debunk the claims of the Religious Right to be the only "religious" word on sexuality in America. |
Contents
3 | |
Foundations Progressive Religion and Sexual Ethics | 21 |
Families and Family Values Historical Ideological and Religious Analyses | 91 |
Sticks and Stones The Language of Public Debate | 133 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abortion acts agenda American argued argument behavior Bible biblical black women Catholic century challenge Christian church civil claim conservative construction context contraception Contract with America Court critical critique culture religion debate denominations discourse dominant economic example family values female circumcision Female Genital Mutilation feminism feminist focus free exercise freedom gay and lesbian gay rights gender gion gious girls heterosexual homoeroticism homosexual human rights human sexuality Ibid ideology illegitimacy individual infibulation issues Jewish Judaism justice legislation lesbian liberal means moral mothers movement nation patriarchal political poor poverty practice pregnancy problem progressive prohibition prostitution protection Protestantism question racial Reconstructionist Judaism relations relationship reli religionists religious groups reproduction RFRA rhetoric role same-sex marriage secular sexual ethics sexual norms sexual regulation social society status teaching theology tion tradition United University Press Vatican woman women's sexuality York