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The difference between abstinence and chastity
One of the subtlest
ways of demoralising sexual conduct is to substitute the notion of
sexual abstinence for the biblical virtue of chastity. Yet many
Christians are deceived into believing that abstinence is consistent
with biblical morality. But this is not the case. Abstinence is a
pragmatic choice to refrain from certain, unspecified sexual activities
for an unspecified period. The abstinence message is fundamentally
amoral and does not recognise the concept of sexual immorality.
An important point to grasp is that virtually all sex
education programmes have their own version of ‘abstinence’. Advising
young people to delay the onset of sexual intercourse until they feel
ready is central to sex education ideology. All sex education programmes
advise those who feel they are not yet ready to say: ‘No, I don’t want
to have sex with you now.’ The essential point to understand about
‘abstinence’ education is that it offers young people the choice between
delaying sexual activity and ‘safer sex’. In other words, young people
are presented with two options and invited to choose the one that makes
them feel most comfortable, and whatever choice they make is right for
them. Hence the advice from sex education literature, ‘Remember, it’s
your body, your choice and your right to say no. Only have sex because
you want to.’ Some people are misled into believing that this message,
which encourages young people to delay the onset of sexual intercourse
until they are ready, is consistent with biblical morality. But this is
a wrong understanding of biblical truth. Delaying the onset of sexual
intercourse, or abstinence, or learning to wait until the right moment,
is a pragmatic decision based on the feelings and desires of the young
people involved, and has nothing to do with biblical standards of right
and wrong.
Chastity is a moral decision to obey God’s will in the
realm of sexual conduct. It is a biblical virtue that is based on purity
of the heart and mind. As a Christian doctrine, it encompasses every
aspect of our life, the way we think, the way we speak, the way we act.
It is a way of life that seeks after God’s holiness in every aspect of
conduct. There is a world of difference between abstinence and chastity.
One is based on the flawed wisdom of man, the other on the moral law
of God.
Compromise around the ABC of sex education
Probably the first
person to coin the phrase ABC in the context of sex education was the
Health Secretary of the Philippines, Juan Flavier. He argued that the
biggest barrier to AIDS prevention was ignorance about condoms.10
Because of the Catholic Church’s
opposition to contraception, he decided to combine condom promotion with
the messages of abstinence and faithfulness (A for Abstain, B for Be
faithful and C for use Condoms), which made it appear that the
prevention strategy was consistent with the moral stance of the Church.
The ABC approach to sex education has become popular
among Christian organisations. The Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) is
in the forefront of a campaign to persuade the British Government to
adopt the ABC approach. According to the General Secretary of CMF, Dr
Peter Saunders, ‘The Government has persistently clung to promoting
condoms as the main plank of its policy to counter the highest rates of
teenage STIs in Europe, when what is really needed are policies aimed at
behaviour change. The best way to counter this epidemic effectively is
to promote real behaviour change through such programmes as the very
successful ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, Condoms) programme in Uganda or
the Love for Life programme in Northern Ireland.’11 The
General Secretary of CMF claims that the ABC model is based on biblical
principles.12
Dr Trevor Stammers, Chairman of the Public Policy
Committee of CMF and a prominent Christian commentator on sex education,
recognises the benefits of the ABC approach. ‘Uganda’s ABC programme has
led to dramatic decreases in HIV infection rates for over a decade. No
country in the world has seen its HIV incidence fall through condom
promotion alone. Changes in primary sexual behaviour are always present
when HIV rates decline. Safer sex is first about partner choice and then
condom use, but both are important. There are valid criticisms of
the ABC approach but its critics and proponents alike should work
together if the Ugandan success is to be maintained and replicated in
other countries.’ Dr Stammers concludes, ‘What the ABC success teaches
is that a range of options is now needed in the UK to help
teenagers to defer sexual intercourse until they are in a secure,
committed and loving relationship; to encourage faithfulness and partner
reduction among the sexually active – and to promote condom use among
those who engage in higher risk sex [my italics].’13 Is
this advice consistent with biblical principles or with the policies of
the WHO?
Remarkably, CMF is also campaigning for churches to
work constructively with the Joint United Nations HIV/AIDS Programme
(UNAIDS) and the WHO in tackling the global HIV crisis. In a press
release CMF actually encourages churches and prayer groups to use the
resources available online from the website of the UNAIDS Programme,
despite the amoral nature of much of the material.14
Christian Aid is an equally ardent supporter of the ABC
philosophy. The report Dying to Learn claims that good quality
sex education reduces levels of pregnancy and STIs, and asserts that
‘condoms, used correctly and consistently, are effective in preventing
HIV infection among young people who are sexually active’.15 While
talking about sex is hard, ‘it is critical that the churches, and others
in contact with young people, engage with them on issues of sex and HIV,
and that they support others in their efforts to do so’. Sex education
needs to be ‘open, frank and supportive, promoting abstinence,
faithfulness and safer sex’.16 In
other words, Christian Aid is in favour of a frank version of ABC.
Oasis Esteem, the largest Christian sex education
programme in England, provides resources and training for volunteers to
deliver sex education in secondary schools. It follows the ABC approach.
According to the head of Oasis Esteem their sex educators have found
that the message of abstinence – ‘you don’t have to have sex’; ‘it’s
okay to wait’; ‘not everyone is doing it’ – is actually very liberating
for young people facing peer pressure to become sexually active.
However, teaching young people solely about the benefits of choosing
abstinence and delaying sex could never be considered complete sex
education. ‘With this in mind, Oasis Esteem has decided to adopt the ABC
model, which teaches the benefits of sexual abstinence, be faithful to
your partner and condom use for those sexually active with more than one
partner. It is the approach favoured by the World Health Organisation
and credited with reducing HIV/AIDS infection rates in countries like
Uganda.’17
Many secular organisations, including Marie Stopes
International (Uganda), are passionate supporters of the ABC approach.
Their leaflet, Life is precious… guard it well, teaches
the range of options that Dr Stammers believes are needed in the UK. The
leaflet advises a young person, ‘You still have a long life ahead of you
and you will want to keep it that way. HIV/AIDS is preventable, so avoid
the virus by thinking carefully before you have sex and choose from
ABC.’
The leaflet explains the ABC approach as follows:
A – Abstain from sex altogether. If you
don’t have sex, you don’t take a risk. This is the only way to ensure
that you don’t get HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections –
it’s 100% effective.
B – Be faithful to one uninfected partner.
If you and your partner have protected yourselves in the past, and stick
with each other in the future without taking other partners, you can
avoid the risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexual transmitted infections.
C – If you cannot be sure of your partner’s
sexual behaviour either now or in the past, and you want to have sex,
then you need to use a condom.
If you choose to have sex, you can avoid the risk
of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections by
using condoms. It’s your future… make your choice.
The ABC approach to sexual conduct propagated by
Marie Stopes and that advocated by CMF, Christian Aid and Oasis Esteem
is one and the same. Moreover, ABC is now at the centre of the HIV/AIDS
prevention strategies of the WHO and the United Nations. The WHO states
that abstinence, faithfulness and condoms are among the essential
components of a comprehensive prevention programme, which include ‘delay
of sexual initiation, abstinence, being safer by being faithful to one’s
partner when both partners are uninfected and consistently faithful,
reducing the number of sexual partners, and correct and consistent use
of condoms’.18
In November 2004 an article in The Lancet, the
prestigious medical journal, signed by nearly 150 experts from around
the world, including many Christian organisations, called for consensus
around the ABC approach to prevention. Among those who have endorsed the
article are Professor Michael Alder (adviser to the British Government
on sexual health), the chief executive of the Alan Guttmacher Institute
and senior officials from UNAIDS, WHO and the World Bank. The article
concludes that ‘the time has come to leave behind divisive polarisation
and to move forward together in designing and implementing
evidence-based prevention programmes to help reduce the millions of new
infections occurring each year’.19 This
consensus around ABC means that Christians can now join with secular
organisations in constructing and delivering sex education programmes. [Halperin
DT et al., The time has come for common ground on preventing sexual
transmission of HIV, The Lancet, 27 November 2004, 364, pp1913–4]
The question arises whether the ABC approach is based
on biblical principles, as claimed by CMF, and therefore should be
promoted and supported by Christians? The answer must be a resounding
no! We have seen enough to understand that ABC is fundamentally amoral.
It simply provides young people with a sexual menu from which to select
the option that most satisfies their sexual needs. Is CMF really asking
us to believe that Marie Stopes International is propagating a programme
that is based on biblical principles? The hidden agenda of ABC is to
compromise the Christian witness against the evil of sex education.
Those Christians seated around the ABC table have come to an
accommodation with the detestable teachings of the sexual revolution.
The real objective of ABC is to entice Christians to compromise their
stand on biblical truth – to replace biblical teaching on chastity with
amoral abstinence programmes. Under the ABC umbrella secular humanists
and Christians, who have abandoned biblical teaching on sexual conduct,
are now working in partnership to design so-called evidence-based sex
education programmes.
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