Friday, December 03, 2004
The Fallacy Of Abstinence Only Education
I grew up in a super Christian home. My father was a minister for a fundamentalist denomination that believed that musical instruments were not godly, so all worship services were conducted acapella. My mother is the most godly person on earth and was really disappointed when she found out that my first girlfriend and I were having sex. Mind you, we were 18 years old at the time. Not that I would not have taken part prior to that, but it just happened to be the age that I lost my virginity. Anyway, though my mother was dissappointed, she told me to make sure that I used condoms if I was going to continue having sex. I gained the utmost in respect for her at that point and it stood for me as a bellweather of how religion should be played out in ones life. Faith can be lived and expressed, but should never be legislated.
That is the problem that we have with the fundamentalist tendency in Christianity today, they want to legislate morality. Even as they are the fastest growing sects of Christianity, though I believe the numbers to be somewhat suspect, it seems that they do not believe that they have the power to turn the other cheek; turn the channel; monitor their kids internet usage; or teach their kids about sex at home, so they want the government to deny the rights of others to do the things that they "don't" want to do. I know this, as my parents never talked about sex in any way, shape or form, except that sex was bad before marriage.
My experience is one that fundamentalist christians are the ones who have almost frightening preoccupations with the secular world and fall off the fence hard when they "backslide" into sin. Fundamentalist Christians complain about sex education in the schools, but they don't want to teach it at home, either out of ignorance or embarassment of the subject. This failure is why we have sex education in the schools. Now the fundies decide to get on the bandwagon and undermine sex education by their abstinence only initiatives, in order to make up for their lack of parental skills. Sure, abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancies, STD's, and AIDS. The problem is this: Not everyone buys into their brand of religion. So, secular kids and adults are going to have sex. You cannot stop them, although they truly want to prevent others from having a fun and satisfying life. The abstinence only education programs are rife with misinformation and outright lies. This injection of their own beliefs has the risk of reversing the years of progress that we have made in battling teen pregnancy, STD's, and AIDS. The eventual result will be a sick and impoverished nation due to the ignorance of a few, who wish to return to a "more innocent" time. Ironically, abortions have increased under this Republican dominated government, even with the flood of propaganda meant to turn people to abstinence.
California Representative Henry Waxman, has released a study about the Abstinence Only Programs. The Progress Report, reported on the study yesterday:
Factual Abstinence
The Bush administration is pouring hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into programs – billed as abstinence-only "education" – that "teach adolescents false and misleading information about reproductive health."
A study released yesterday by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) found that 11 of the 13 most commonly used abstinence-only programs contain errors. For example, one popular curriculum teaches students that touching another person's genitals "can result in pregnancy." Moreover, these abstinence-only programs have proven ineffective in reducing teenage sexual activity and increase risky sexual behavior among teenagers. Nevertheless, President Bush – apparently more concerned about promoting right-wing ideology than accuracy or effectiveness – has pushed for significant funding increases for such programs, requesting $270 million for 2005.
The full report can be downloaded by clicking on the following link. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report. http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20041201095458-38938.pdf
That is the problem that we have with the fundamentalist tendency in Christianity today, they want to legislate morality. Even as they are the fastest growing sects of Christianity, though I believe the numbers to be somewhat suspect, it seems that they do not believe that they have the power to turn the other cheek; turn the channel; monitor their kids internet usage; or teach their kids about sex at home, so they want the government to deny the rights of others to do the things that they "don't" want to do. I know this, as my parents never talked about sex in any way, shape or form, except that sex was bad before marriage.
My experience is one that fundamentalist christians are the ones who have almost frightening preoccupations with the secular world and fall off the fence hard when they "backslide" into sin. Fundamentalist Christians complain about sex education in the schools, but they don't want to teach it at home, either out of ignorance or embarassment of the subject. This failure is why we have sex education in the schools. Now the fundies decide to get on the bandwagon and undermine sex education by their abstinence only initiatives, in order to make up for their lack of parental skills. Sure, abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancies, STD's, and AIDS. The problem is this: Not everyone buys into their brand of religion. So, secular kids and adults are going to have sex. You cannot stop them, although they truly want to prevent others from having a fun and satisfying life. The abstinence only education programs are rife with misinformation and outright lies. This injection of their own beliefs has the risk of reversing the years of progress that we have made in battling teen pregnancy, STD's, and AIDS. The eventual result will be a sick and impoverished nation due to the ignorance of a few, who wish to return to a "more innocent" time. Ironically, abortions have increased under this Republican dominated government, even with the flood of propaganda meant to turn people to abstinence.
California Representative Henry Waxman, has released a study about the Abstinence Only Programs. The Progress Report, reported on the study yesterday:
Factual Abstinence
The Bush administration is pouring hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into programs – billed as abstinence-only "education" – that "teach adolescents false and misleading information about reproductive health."
A study released yesterday by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) found that 11 of the 13 most commonly used abstinence-only programs contain errors. For example, one popular curriculum teaches students that touching another person's genitals "can result in pregnancy." Moreover, these abstinence-only programs have proven ineffective in reducing teenage sexual activity and increase risky sexual behavior among teenagers. Nevertheless, President Bush – apparently more concerned about promoting right-wing ideology than accuracy or effectiveness – has pushed for significant funding increases for such programs, requesting $270 million for 2005.
The full report can be downloaded by clicking on the following link. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report. http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20041201095458-38938.pdf
