Lesson video

Hello, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marks and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be doing all about contrasting religious views about sex before marriage.

So that does mean we're going to be discussing sex in the lesson, we'll also be using our minds as theologians, philosophers, and social scientists.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain Christian teachings and different Christian views on sex before marriage.

So let's start with our key terms, then.

Committed, a sense of dedication and obligation to someone or something.

Promiscuity, having a lot of different sexual partners or sexual relationships.

A person who does this is promiscuous.

Sex before marriage, having sex with someone before you're married, also known as sexual relationships before marriage or pre-marital sex.

Sexual immorality, sexual acts which go against the law or are considered wrong.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So in today's lesson, we're going to have two sections, Christian teachings on sex before marriage and Christian views on sex before marriage.

So let's start with our first section, Christian teachings on sex before marriage.

So whatever your personal stance, you can use academic disciplines such as social science, theology and philosophy to study religious and non-religious worldviews.

And in this lesson we're going to be using philosophy, theology, and social science by using philosophy to ask ethical questions, using theology to explore religious teachings on these questions and making use of social science to examine how religious people respond to these questions.

So we're going to be using all of these disciplines in our lesson today when we're exploring different religious ideas about sex before marriage.

So Andeep and Laura are asking some ethical questions about sex before marriage.

Andeep says, "Well, what is the purpose of sex?" And Laura says, "Should people be having sex without being married to each other?" So they're asking questions about the ethics of sexual relationships before being married.

So what could influence someone's views about these questions? So I'm not necessarily asking you to have your view on these questions, but what would shape someone's view that they have on it? What could influence them? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've said in a moment.

When I was thinking about religious views on sex before marriage, in particular, Christian views about sex before marriage, we need to understand that Christians are gonna use different sources that help 'em consider their answer to those questions that we had on the purpose of sex and whether you can have sex before marriage.

So for example, they might look to Bible teachings, their conscience, so that inner sense of what's right or wrong, church leaders, other written sources of authority, and they might emphasise a different source of authority or interpret it differently.

So for example, they might use the Bible, but interpret its teachings in diverse ways.

So this leads to different views amongst Christians.

So we have a diversity of views when we are thinking about issues such as sex before marriage.

So time for a quick check, then.

Is this true or false? All Christians only look to church leaders when considering views on sex before marriage.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is false.

But why? Well, Christians may look to the teachings of the church leaders alongside other sources such as the Bible or their own conscience.

And remember, different Christians might emphasise different sources and they might interpret those differently too.

So there are different beliefs within Christianity on the purpose of sex, that first question that we had earlier.

And these include the purpose of sex being as a way of showing love between a married couple.

It's a gift from God to enjoy.

It's for procreation, for producing babies.

And it's part of the sacrament of marriage.

So it's just part of that relationship you have as marriage.

So where do we get these ideas from in Christianity then? Well, a really important source of authority we're going to go to is the Bible.

And within that we've got letters that are written by Saint Paul in the New Testament and he speaks about sexual immorality in those letters.

And here's one example.

He says, "Flee from sexual immorality.

All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body." And that was in his letter to Corinthians.

So what words does he repeat in this quotation here.

There's a word that's said three times, which word is it? Pause the video and find the word and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

It's the word sins.

He says it three times here connected to sexual immorality.

He repeats the word sin.

So how could this be interpreted in relation to sex before marriage? Pause the video and think about that and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well, some Christians interpret sexual immorality to include sex before marriage and therefore that's a sin against God.

So he hasn't directly said, "Flee from sexual immorality.

And if you have sex before you're married, it is a sin." But many Christians might interpret that to be sex before marriage is what sexual immorality is, and it might be seen as a sin against God.

However, there are others who say he doesn't explain exactly what sexual immorality is.

Maybe it's to do with adultery, and so therefore it might not include sex before marriage.

So here we've got that difference in interpretation you can get.

So if I was looking at the Bible as a source of authority with Paul's letter to Corinthians, where else can Christians look to have some guidance about these views about sex before marriage then? Well, within the Catholic Church, many Christians will go to their teachings from the church leaders and the teachings of the church, and there's very clear teachings about sex outside of marriage in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

And it says this, "The sexual act must take place exclusively within marriage.

Outside of marriage, it always constitutes a grave sin." And so here we have this phrase "exclusively within" marriage.

What does it mean to have exclusive in this context, then? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well, exclusive means only within a marriage and no other circumstances.

So what does that phrase "grave sin" mean to Catholic Christians, then? Pause the video and have a think.

Well it means that sex outside of marriage is a serious act against God.

And they may believe that committing this sin will have significant consequences for them.

It's a little bit like Paul's writing about how a sexual sin may be different to other sins because it's against the body.

Here we've got this idea of it being a grave sin.

And if it's exclusively within marriage, then that means that you can't have sex before marriage as well as once you're married, having sex with somebody else.

Let's do another check.

What's the missing word? The Catholicism of the Catholic Church describes sex outside of marriage as a grave what? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It describes it as a grave sin.

So that's any sex outside of marriage if it wasn't part of that exclusive marriage relationship.

Now here I've got a denominations tree, which is an image that we've got to show how there are different branches of Christianity and they're often called denominations or different groups.

So here we've got Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and the different groups you might have heard of before.

And within those groups there may be differing views around sex before marriage.

Whilst most of those Christian churches teach that sex should be kept for married couples, there are some members that believe that sex can be part of a loving and committed relationship.

So not being promiscuous and having many, many partners and no commitment, but it's a loving, committed relationship.

Some may say that's okay to have sex before marriage.

They might acknowledge that some people may not want to marry, so they shouldn't be excluded from having an intimate relationship with someone they love.

However, they would not agree with promiscuity, which is when you have many different sexual partners without that committed relationship.

So one example is the Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church.

Now this church traditionally teaches that sex should be reserved for marriage.

However, there's an ongoing debate and discussion within the church about this issue and some members and some leaders within that church have called for a more inclusive understanding and approach, recognising that many couples do live together and have sexual relationships before marriage and wanting them to feel welcome and part of the church.

Another church denomination is the Methodist Church we can see up here on our Protestant branch.

And this church has stated, "This church recognises the love of God is present within the love of two human beings who are drawn to each other and enter freely into some form of life enhancing committed relationship with each other, whether that be through informal cohabitation or more formal commitment entered into publicly." So here we've got this idea of commitment, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a marriage, but recognising that God is present in that love between those two people.

So some Methodists have interpreted this to mean that God is present in relationships that might not be formalised through marriage.

The implication is that sex within a non-marital but committed relationship is acceptable.

Let's do another check.

Most Christians that accept sex before marriage say it should be reserved for couples.

A, that have been together for five years.

B, that go to church.

C, that are over 18 years old.

Or D, that are in a committed relationship.

Which one of those is most accurate? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's D.

Most Christian churches accept that it should be reserved for couples that are in a committed relationship.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learned then.

You're going to fill in this table by completing each point using a reason and a Christian source of authority to support that reason.

And the two points we've got are, most Christian teachings forbid sex before marriage because, and secondly, some Christian leaders have said sex before marriage is acceptable because.

And you are going to come up with a reason for those points and a source of authority from Christianity that could support it.

So pause the video and off you go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Some really good thinking there.

So your table might include the following.

So for the point, most Christian teachings are against sex before marriage because your reason could be it's classed as a sin and the source for that could be the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which says that sex outside of marriage is a grave sin, which means it's going against God.

For the second point, some Christian leaders have said sex before marriage is acceptable because, your reason could be some couples may want a loving sexual relationship without marriage and the source could be the Methodist church has said, the love of God is present in committed relationships, meaning you don't have to be married.

Well done.

So on to our second section then, Christian views on sex before marriage.

So we've looked at the teachings within different church denominations, but what about some of the views of people who are part of those churches, then? Whilst Christians may belong to a specific Christian denomination, they may also look to their own conscience to answer ethical questions about sex before marriage.

So not only can we consider the Christian teachings within those churches of whether sex before marriage is ethical or not, but also the individuals who attend those churches, what are their views about the ethics of sex before marriage? Sometimes it might mean they don't follow the exact teachings of their denomination but have their own Christian worldview.

So it might be informed by those Christian teachings by the church that they're attending, but they might have their own view, informed by different factors too.

And we can use social science methods to find out personal views on ethical questions about sex before marriage.

And this can give us an insight into how far people follow those Christian teachings.

And one method to use is a survey.

So surveys are used a lot in social science, so it's really good for us to get practised in using them as social scientists today.

So surveys are when respondents are given a number of options and that can be turned into data, which is turned into numbers, which is often called quantitative data.

So it's numbers that can be compared across time and across places and across peoples and can really help us get a snapshot of different attitudes there may be within a society or a group.

So this survey question is, is it acceptable for an unmarried couple in a committed relationship to have sex? So this is the question that was asked, which is going to help generate some quantitative data for us.

So in 2019, a survey in the United States asked the Christians if sex between an unmarried couple who are in a committed relationship is acceptable.

So wonder what you think the results might say? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what we've got in a moment.

So here we can see three different groups who were asked this question as to whether sex before marriage when you're in a committed relationship is permitted or not.

I mean, so does this data correlate with most Christian teachings that we looked at earlier? So we had the quote from Paul about fleeing from sexual immorality, being a sin against the body.

And then the Catholic Church's Catechism when it said that sex, if it is not in that exclusive marriage relationship, is a grave sin.

Does that match with it when we look at how many people are saying that always, or sometimes people can have sex when they're not married, and how many are saying that rarely or never is it permitted.

Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well, it doesn't really seem to match with those teachings does it? Because here we got only 26%, which is only a quarter really of the Catholic respondents agreeing with that idea that it's never right to have sex outside of marriage.

And similarly we've only got 41%, which is less than half of the evangelical respondents saying it's never acceptable when there's that teaching from Paul about fleeing from sexual immorality.

So it shows us there might be some difference here.

Also, do you think it mattered to these couples if those people they were answering about were in a relationship or not? So they were asked if it was okay for people who were not married to have sex if they're in a committed relationship.

Do you think that committed relationship aspect would've influenced their view? What would the difference be do you think? If it was just asking about people having sex when they weren't in a committed relationship? Pause the video and have a think about that.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, there was another survey completed which actually showed that Christians were less accepting if it involved casual sex or promiscuity.

So there's that idea of that committed relationship being what mattered.

Whilst they might have said it's okay for them to have sex when they're not married, as long as they were in a committed relationship, it wasn't that casual sex of having many, many different sexual partners without commitment.

Let's do another check.

Here's the same survey data.

What percentage of evangelical Christians believe it's always acceptable for an unmarried couple to have sex? What percentage? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's 21%.

So they've actually got the lowest number of people in their group that's saying that it's always acceptable for an unmarried couple to have sex, which may indicate to us that as a group, they are the ones least likely to accept sex before marriage.

So as social scientists, we can also use social science methods to find out personal views on ethical questions about sex before marriage.

And this can give us an insight as to how far people follow these Christian teachings.

We could look at interview questions.

So these are open answers which are the responder's own words or qualitative data.

They're longer answers, so might be harder to kind of compare and put into those lovely tables and track across different groups and different times, but they can give us more detailed information and it's sort of richer understanding of the views that people may have.

So the interview questions we are going to have now are what is the purpose of sex? And should people have sex without being married to each other? So Sofia's gonna interview some Christians and ask them these ethical questions and we'll get a sort of deeper understanding of what these views might be.

So Sofia's gonna ask David, "As an Anglican Christian, David," so that's the Church of England.

"What do you think is the purpose of sex? And should people have sex without being married to each other?" And David says, "I believe that sex could be for a loving couple who want to share an intimate relationship.

I don't think they have to be married if they're committed and intend to marry.

My church leaders disagree on this, So I use my conscience to decide." And Sofia's asking Fiona, another Anglican Christian, which is the Church of England.

"As an Anglican Christian, Fiona, what do you think is the purpose of sex? Should people have sex without being married to each other?" And Fiona says, "I believe that sex should be for married couples to enjoy and to have children.

I don't think people should have sex without being married because it's a special act for a man and a wife.

Sex outside of marriage can lead to sexual immorality such as promiscuity that the Bible forbids." Remember that quote from Paul about fleeing from sexual immorality.

And Sofia's asking a Roman Catholic Christian now.

"As a Roman Catholic, Danielle, how would you answer our two questions?" And Danielle says, "I believe that sex is only for a committed couple to share as part of the marriage sacrament that is blessed by God.

That Catechism is clear that sex before marriage is a 'grave sin.

' I believe that having sex before marriage can lead people to being promiscuous and devaluing the importance of sex as part of a loving relationship that's open to procreation." So here we've got that idea of the purpose of sex being to do with procreation and that that should be within a marriage.

So now Sofia's gonna ask Niamh.

And Niamh is also a Roman Catholic Christian.

"Niamh, you are a Roman Catholic Christian.

Do you agree with Danielle?" And Niamh says, "I have a different view as I believe there are times when a person should use their conscience to make decisions about how to live.

There are many reasons why people may not want to marry.

Should they not be able to enjoy sex? I think that as long as someone's not being promiscuous, then sex can be from an unmarried couple that are in a loving relationship." So from these different responses from our different Christians here, we can see why there may be that difference between the teachings of the church and some of the responses in the surveys that have been completed.

Time for another check.

What might some Christians look to when making their own personal decisions about sex before marriage? This is their own personal decision about whether they think it's right or wrong.

We've got the conscience, the Catechism and church leaders.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's their conscience.

Yes, the Catechism and church leaders might inform that too, but if they're making their own personal decision, then their conscience is going to come in there too.

Well done.

So time for a practise task to see what we've learned then.

Here is a full evaluation question using a statement about sex before marriage.

And we're only going to do one section of it.

But here's the full question.

Sex before marriage is always wrong.

And the different things that you would do if you were doing a full question here.

But for me, you're going to write one paragraph that supports the statement using religious arguments.

So look at the statement again, sex before marriage is always wrong.

And you're going to give a paragraph supporting this using some of those religious arguments that we've covered in today's lesson.

So pause the video and off you go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

So I asked you to do a paragraph in response to this statement showing reasons to support it and religious points of view.

Sex before marriage is always wrong.

And your answer may include, some Roman Catholic Christians agree with this because in the Bible, Saint Paul speaks against sexual immorality and calls it a sin.

The Catholic Catechism also calls sex outside of marriage a "grave sin" both of which show that this can be viewed as sinful and therefore against God.

Whilst the Bible teaching might be interpreted differently by different Christians, the Catechism comes from church leaders and gives a definitive up-to-date teaching that confirms for Catholic Christians that sex before marriage is always wrong.

Well done.

So let's summarise what we've learned today then.

Different religious views about sex before marriage.

Attitudes to sex before marriage will depend on someone's view on the purpose of sex and whether sex should only be for married couples.

Many Christians use Bible teachings and look to church leaders for guidance on sex before marriage.

However, some will look to their conscience.

Most Christian teachings are against sex before marriage and class it as sexually immoral and a sin.

Some Christians may believe sex before marriage is acceptable if a couple have a loving and committed relationship.

So well done for all your hard work today and I'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye.