COMMENTARY: Talking ourselves to death as the sexual revolution marches on

c. 1997 Religion News Service (R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.) UNDATED _ Clear your calendar and call your friends _ it’s Sexual Awareness Week in Britain. Actually, this is the very first Sexual Awareness Week in British history, and Her Majesty’s government is all fired […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

(R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.)

UNDATED _ Clear your calendar and call your friends _ it’s Sexual Awareness Week in Britain. Actually, this is the very first Sexual Awareness Week in British history, and Her Majesty’s government is all fired up to do its part.


Americans will be envious of this special week, of course. And the rebellious former colonies will demand to enjoy the special week, too. The observance is certain to cross the Atlantic, just like the Beatles.

But just what is Sexual Awareness Week all about? The main activity, it seems, will be talking about sex.”The government wants us all to talk openly about sex this week in order to improve the health of the nation,”reports the Times of London.

Like the United States, Britain is experiencing the aftermath of the Sexual Revolution, complete with sexually active children, the breakdown of the family, rising abortion rates, and an explosion of sexually transmitted diseases.

The solution, according to the British government and the Family Planning Association: more talk about sex.

No kidding, they are serious about this.

Prudery is the root of the problem, they say.”Sex is a normal, enjoyable part of everyday life and should be treated as such,”explains Anne Weyman, head of the Family Planning Association.”Countries with more open attitudes toward sex have lower rates of unplanned pregnancy and studies show that young people are less likely to have early sex if there is good communication about the subject at home. We are emphasizing that sex is fun and talking is the key to a healthy sex life.” Talking is the key to a healthy sex life? This idea could only come from a family planning bureaucrat.

As the Times reports,”Everyone from 16 to 70 is being urged to talk about sex with wives, lovers, friends and family at least once a day.”Just imagine: young Steven comes home from school, grabs some cookies and milk, and asks grandma about her sex life. In the utopian world of sexual revolutionaries, this is a healthy family conversation.

The idea of Sexual Awareness Week would be laughable if it were not so plausible an example of postmodern moralism. Having overthrown a millennium of sexual taboos by rejecting Christian morality, the new moralists want even more talk about sex.


But the problem is not that we talk too little _ we talk far too much.

Sex talk and explicit sexual images pervade popular culture. Sex is taught in schools, explored on television, celebrated in song and film, and advertised on billboards. Without blatant sexuality, Calvin Klein would be a pauper, MTV would be out of business, and most pop stars would be speechless.

When elementary school students come home talking about safe sex, condoms, and dental dams, we are in serious trouble. Our children have been morally raped by a culture that has stolen their innocence and warped their curiosity.

Stripped of its mystery, sex is just one more topic up for discussion.

Nearly 40 years ago, Christian author A.W. Tozer wrote,”The period in which we now live may well go down in history as the Erotic Age. Sex love has been elevated into a cult. Eros has more worshipers among civilized men today than any other god. For millions, the erotic has completely displaced the spiritual.” This is the heart of our cultural crisis: Having rejected God and overthrown the wisdom of the Christian tradition, many modern men and women worship at the altar of sexual gratification, which offers a garden of sensual delights, but hides the cost of broken lives and ruined dreams.

The consequences of the Sexual Revolution are now plainly visible in high teen-pregnancy and divorce rates, and the plethora of sexually transmitted diseases.

Britain’s Family Planning Association and Her Majesty’s Health Education Authority think the answer lies in more talk about sex. But the problem is that we are literally talking ourselves to death through the hole in our souls.


MJP END MOHLER

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!