Top sexual ethics stories of 2011
Sexual ethics news last year abounded in sin, grace, deceit and hope
By Darryl W. Stephens
The year began with a hugely successful sexual ethics summit, “Do No Harm 2011,” Jan 26-29, illustrating the strength of our connectional polity in the United Methodist Church. GCSRW and the Sexual Ethics Task Force trained over 300 leaders from 58 annual conferences. Read “Do No Harm” coverage by GCSRW (February 2011), the United Methodist Reporter (Feb. 4) and UMNS (Jan. 27 and Jan. 31).
Sexual misconduct knows no denominational boundaries. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia suspended 21 priests from active ministry because of accusations of sexual misconduct, and Catholics in Ireland continue to grapple with past abuses by priests. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church was charged with knowingly ordaining a pedophile. In October, a court ruled that the Minnesota Annual (regional) Conference of the United Methodist Church must pay a portion of a $1.4 million settlement against a United Methodist clergyman found guilty of felony sexual abuse of a congregant.
Why do bad things happen in church? In May, the Roman Catholic Church released a report, “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010.” The “John Jay Report” found that “individual characteristics do not predict that a priest will commit sexual abuse of a minor. Rather, vulnerabilities, in combination with situational stresses and opportunities, raise the risk of abuse.” Religion News Service concluded, “The doctrine of the undiluted authority of the bishop, combined with the hierarchy’s track record as a group of crisis managers concerned with protecting the institution, may be the central problem for the bishops revealed by the sex abuse crisis.”
Church can also be redemptive. In March, Presbyterian leaders in a Virginia congregation admitted their initial failure to respond adequately to victims of sexual abuse by a former youth pastor. The public apology by the senior pastor serves as a grace-filled, risky and hopeful model for redemption, education and healing for survivors as well as congregations wounded by those who violate the sacred trust of the ministerial office. In June, the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) published a three-part series by GCSRW General Secretary Garlinda Burton challenging the United Methodist Church on Countering institutional sexism, Politics of language, gender and Misuse of power to keep women in their place.
Throughout the year, the U.S. society seemed captivated by reports of sexual sin, for both moralistic and voyeuristic reasons, on a variety of topics: pornography and prostitutes (next door or wrong score?), sexual addiction (epidemic or panic?), and misconduct by politicians and public figures (e.g., Weiner, Cain, and Strauss-Kahn). In this category, the Penn State scandal provided the best learning opportunities for churches.
Good sex was also a hot topic in the media, and churches are being challenged to talk about it. “What if our kids really believed we wanted them to have great sex?” asks a Philadelphia sex educator in The New York Times. The Christian Century considered “sacramental sex.” GBCS reports that What young adults need is “access to information and services about sex and sexuality.” Barna Group concurs: one of the top Six Reasons Why Young Christians Leave Church is, “Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.”
Several research studies round out our top news stories for 2011. United Nations Women’s first global report offers a comprehensive global review of women’s rights around the world, on issues from gender-based violence to equal pay, from representation in government to post-conflict justice: Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice. In the United States, sexting by minors may not be as common as you suppose (2%), and the prevalence of pornography on the internet might also be lower (4% to 13%). However, sexual harassment of and by students is widespread (download the entire report: Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School), and the nature of workplace sexual harassment complaints to the EEOC has changed in the past 20 years: charges filed by men have increased, use of online technology makes documentation easier in some cases, and the number of claims has decreased during the current recession.
Darryl W. Stephens is assistant general secretary for sexual ethics for GCSRW.
