How did we arrive here?
Modern society often
criticizes conservative Christians’ alleged obsession with sexual ethics.
However, secular and progressive elites are increasingly the ones forcing the
issue, insisting conservatives embrace their worldview and the full spectrum of
LGBT policy positions or face social ostracizing, public shaming, or worse.
The “sexual revolution”
of the 1960s did not emerge in a vacuum. It resulted from our culture’s
shifting views of right and wrong—a moral revolution. Thus, before addressing
today’s pressing issues related to sexuality, it is helpful to take a step back
and consider how we arrived at where we are today. What key cultural changes
created the necessary conditions for the moral revolution and new sexual ethics
to take hold? There are at least four cultural developments that paved the way
for the moral revolution.
𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, the
rise of urbanization offered new opportunities for anonymity. In 1800, 7% of the world’s population lived in cities. Today, 55% of the
world’s population lives in dense population centers. By 2050, it is projected
that this number will rise to 68%. One of the social effects of the
rise of dense population centers is the erosion of community-based accountability
that often exists in rural and less populated areas. In other words, the rise
of cities helped remove a societal check against premarital and extramarital
liaisons by lowering the chance of discovery and exposure.
𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝,
advances in contraceptive technology—such as “the Pill”—separated sex from
potential pregnancy in the minds of many people. As Albert Mohler notes, “Once
the Pill arrived, with all its promises of reproductive control, the biological
check on sexual immorality that had shaped human existence from Adam and Eve
forward was removed almost instantaneously.” Whereas before the potential
consequence of conceiving a child served as a natural deterrent from premarital
or extramarital sex, the Pill allowed for seemingly consequence-free sexual
activity.
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝,
laws that restricted certain sexual behaviors and conduct were replaced or
overturned. E.g in USA For example, access to birth control expanded
dramatically following two Supreme Court cases, Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
and Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972). In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Court
overturned a state law that prevented married women from accessing birth
control. In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the Court extended contraceptive access to
unmarried couples. Today, legal precedent has established a broad view of
individual liberty regarding personal and intimate decisions. Recent evidence
for this includes the Supreme Court’s decision in 2015 to legalize same-sex
marriage. Significantly, the majority in this case based their decision on a
very expansive view of liberty, arguing the Constitution promises liberty to
the extent that people may “define and express their identity.” The culture
and mainstream legal philosophy have propagated a new autonomous being who
alone may shape their identity and sexual behavior.
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, a
fourth development contributing to the moral revolution is Christianity’s loss
of cultural influence. According to Pew Research, in 2019, 65% of
American adults described themselves as Christian—down 12% points
since 2009. In the same time period, the percentage of Americans who identify
with no religion has risen to 26%, up from 17% in 2009. The rise
in religious “nones” is most pronounced among the younger generations.10 These
changes in America’s religious demographics mean that fewer people understand
or hold Christian convictions, including those relating to sexual morality.
These four factors have
contributed to a cultural, political, and legal environment hostile to
Christian beliefs on the nature of marriage and human sexuality. Additional
trends—such as cohabitation, absentee fathers, no-fault divorce, pornography,
and abortion—have also contributed to the weakening of the family and society’s
moral malaise.
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