Hugo Hollerorth, who once wrote, "To be a human
being is to be a dwelling place of power. To move about the world, and interact
with it, is to encounter power. We live in a world inhabited by power – power
which impinges upon us and affects us every moment of our existence....
Religion arises ... out of the effort of human beings to make their way in a
world of conflicting powers."[1]
Hollerorth was the director of curriculum development
at the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Association (UUA) and in 1968 he recruited
Calderwood to develop a UU sexuality education curriculum, called “About Your
Sexuality” and it was the first faith based sexuality curriculum of its kind
that included issues like masturbation, making out, and homosexuality.[2]
Last year I had the great opportunity of meeting
Hollerorth to thank him for his vital contribution to our religious education.
Having human sexuality program in our association speaks to the continued
commitment to the spiritual, emotional and physical health we have to our
youth. Thousands of our Unitarian Universalist youth have acquired the skills
to make moral and healthy decisions about relationships as a result of
participating in our UU sexuality programs.
Early on in a small town, where a Unitarian
Universalist congregation was using “About Your Sexuality”, a county district
attorney wanted to review the material to see if it violated the state’s
obscenity law, but the congregation refused. The case was appealed to the
United States Supreme Court there it was remanded back and dropped. “The
decision was rendered in favor of the congregation to teach its children as it
saw fit, an advance for religious freedom”.[3]
Soon after “About Your Sexuality” or AYS, became
popular, other religious institutions created their own curriculum that
reflected their religious beliefs and values about human sexuality. Some
schools included similar comprehensive sexuality education as an integral part
of training our youth towards adulthood.
Then came the early 1990s. With the AIDS epidemic,
the rapid increase of other sexually transmitted diseases among youth, the
rising teen pregnancy, the explosive debate over abortion, the growing
knowledge of the tragedy of sexual abuse, some change needed to occur.
The government shifted its support from comprehensive
sexuality programs to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
The Unitarian Universalist (UU)
Association partnered with the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination to
create “Our Whole Lives” (OWL), a life long learning curriculum to affirm human
sexuality throughout our lives as a healthy expression of who we are as
religious people in these times.
Our sexuality and our body are sacred parts of who we
are and we are called to good stewardship of these gifts.
Judith Frediani, the UUA curriculum development
director said that as AYS was the best we had for its time, Our Whole Lives
was also the best we have for our time[4]. “Our Whole
Lives” provides an opportunity to step
back, reflect and evaluate the mixed messages that the culture is bombarding us
with about human sexuality.
The teachers are well
trained and the curriculum helps participants make informed and responsible
decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with
accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development,
relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and
culture[5].
It is my deep held belief that “Our Whole Lives” or
OWL is the best gift that a religious community can give to our children and ourselves because it gives us tools to
help make sense of our sexuality, which is an integral part of our way in the
world. A religious community is here to help us live out and reach our highest
ethical values. And how we treat our human relationships and ourselves is a
behavior based in those values.
We need to be able to celebrate our sexuality with
joy, holiness and integrity with understanding, respect and self-discipline. We
need to ethically discern with our freely informed conscience how will live in
the world as sexual beings and OWL gives us a framework do that. Like
Hollerorth says we need make our way in the world of conflicting powers and the
images we get all around us about sexuality in our culture IS conflicting.
We need to able to make sense of it all.
So the government went one way and we as religious
people went another.
Since 1996, congress has committed over $1.1 billions
dollar through both federal and state matching funds to abstinence-only
education and to what end?
A recent study indicates that 8 million young people
under age 19 are sexually active[6] and each year
about half of them acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Experts
estimate 2 young people are infected with HIV every hour of every day in this
country[7]. And while teen
pregnancy is declining, there are about 800,000 pregnancies each year and 75-90
percent of these pregnancies are “UNINTENDED”[8].
The reading suggests that youth are turning to their
religious communities to help them make sense of their changing times and
bodies, and churches and temples are responding. Youth are being taught what
their faith says about sexuality, but what about youth without religious homes,
where should they turn for this education?
May is Teen pregnancy prevention month.
We need to be able to stand up and say, the shame,
fear –based and abstinence only sexuality education in our schools is NOT
working. These programs receiving federal abstinence-only monies are prohibited
from discussing the health benefits of contraception and condoms, and our young
people need access to this information to make responsible, life saving
and life changing choices.
Having our schools provide a non-judgmental, accurate
comprehensive sexuality education is a civil rights issue and a religious one.
Our faith calls us to speak out about this injustice.
We as Unitarian Universalists would be screaming at
the top of our lungs if another group
of marginalized communities were denied access to information that treated them
with inherent worth and dignity, why are we not standing up for justice for our
youth to demand that they get information about pregnancy and sexually
transmitted infection prevention?
We as Unitarian Universalists have been involved in
the debate about prayer in schools, but we have done very little to speak
about the Christian texts and values
that are written into the abstinence - only-until- marriage programs used in
our schools without the same regard for other religious and ethical positions.
We as Unitarian Universalists respect and value all
loving relationships and many of our congregations are welcoming, how
can youth who do not express themselves as heterosexual be treated fairly in an
abstinence - only-until- marriage program, when marriage is not a legal option
yet for them?
Or what about the stigma other youth might feel in
this environment when they are being raised say by a single parent who chooses
to remain single rather than put up with abuse from the other parent? And what
about that a single parent’s right to a relationship that is consensual,
non-exploitive, honest, mutually pleasurable and protected? [9]
My heart cries for the youth of today, because we as
adults are letting them down. But I found a good way to do something about the
situation that changed my life forever.
On March 28th, I lobbied for a new
approach that the youth of this country deserve, a more comprehensive sexuality
education in their schools. I went to Senator Allen and Senator Warner’s office
to encourage them to sign on to the Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL,
H.R. 2553 and S. 368) which provides the first federal funding stream for
medically accurate, age appropriate, comprehensive sexuality education in
public schools that includes information about both abstinence and
contraception, from both a values and public health perspective.
I went to thank representative Moran for already
supporting this bill that would allow states the option to receive
funding for programs that provide a fuller approach to sexuality education
without the promotion of one particular religious bias.
The lobby visits were the end of a gathering that
brought members of our UU association together with members from the United
Church of Christ[10].
Over 35 people came from all across the country to
partner on the issue of comprehensive sexuality education. It was remarkable.
We were gay, lesbian, heterosexual, bisexual,
transgender, white, people of color, male, female, transsexual, theist,
humanist, pagan, youth, young and older adults. We worshipped, we learned, we
listened, We talked, we laughed and we cried.
Most of the youth had either taken or were taking OWL
and could speak eloquently as to how this education helped tremendously in
their life. Most of the young adults as a result of OWL have been able to
negotiate clearer choices for themselves in college.
Most of the older adults were OWL trainers who also
had wonderful stories to tell.
And when we lobbied on the Hill we could draw from
these personal stories.
I have been trained as an OWL teacher but I have yet
to teach OWL but I hope to
in the fall, but as a black out lesbian Unitarian
Universalist seminarian I can speak to our associations’ commitment to family values. Our values support personal
relationships that express love, justice, mutuality, commitment, consent and
pleasure[11].
March 28th was the most profound experience in my
life to date.
Recently I have been feeling a sense of hopelessness
and doubt about the democratic process.
As a person of color, a woman, and a lesbian, I have not been looking at the
government highly since it has not address my needs or communities
adequately. Law after law, or
appointment after appointment lately seemed to be taking away my rights
and hope and not adding to them.
but my calling pushed me into speaking up for rights
of a group I really care about, youth. When I had the courage to put my faith
in action and talk about my deep held religious convictions about comprehensive
sexuality education, it made a difference.
My faith and truth telling calls me to speak out and
up for full and honest education about sexual and reproductive health. This
time is was not about me directly but something larger, the future, our future,
our children.
I know our Unitarian Universalist sexuality programs
have made a difference to our youth.
A trained UU OWL instructor had spent some time in a
class talking to the youth about breast exams and testicle
exams. One year a parent came to her and said that his son had been doing
testicle exams on himself ever since he took the class the year before.
And he recently had found a growth. Luckily it turned out to be a benign cyst
that had to be removed- but the point is he found it and was not afraid to
talk to his parents about it and have it looked at.
That young man is now in his third year at
Harvard and having the opportunity to take comprehensive sexuality education in
his church helped with his life!!![12]
Comprehensive sexuality education in our schools can
help more youth gain these life long skills.
When we look at our teen data of other countries
where teens have access to this kind of information, like the Netherlands and
France, the comparison is staggering.
While the average age of first time sexual
intercourse is similar, the teen pregnancy is 9 times lower in the Netherlands,
and nearly 4 times lower in France. For a sexual transmitted infection like
Gonorrhea, over 74 times lower in both
Netherlands and France[13].
In Virginia, while teen pregnancy is a little lower
than the national average, teens accounted for 28% of the gonorrhea cases
reported for all ages. Virginia is one of the states that use the
abstinence-until-marriage programs.
Our youth need to know about how to protect
themselves since many of them are obviously sexually active.
On march 28th, many groups were lobbying
on the Hill for different issues and I saw with my own eyes how our democracy
works. It reminded me that congress was accountable to the people and the
people needed to let them know what was important to them.
I could stand and say to the elected Virginians, I
serve a religious community in your state that believes that it is our moral
responsibility and duty to provide young people comprehensive sexuality
education.
And since our schools are denying our young people
this opportunity, we as a congregation, where we covenant to help our neighbor,
best be at the very least, helping our neighbors within.
I so am proud to be a part of a faith tradition that
has a long and strong history of understanding the importance of truth telling,
education and meaning making because we all deserve the right to healthy
sexuality!
So may it be.
Ashe.
[1] From, Relating to Our World: The philosophy of Religious Education undergirding the multimedia curriculum series of the Unitarian Universalist Association (Boston: UUA, 1974), 4.
[3] From the sermon entitled “The Coming Church” by Rev. Samuel Schaal 1/13/02
[6] Position paper from the society for adolescent medicine in journal of adolescent health 38 (2006) 83-87
[7] From “fact about REAL Act”, a the handout by Advocates for Youth
[8] From the REAL Act currently on the floor in the US congress
[9] from Debra Haffner’s blog http://debrahaffner.blogspot.com/2006/03/criteria-for-moral-sexual-relationship.html
[11] see how many UU ministers have signed a statement including this language http://www.religiousinstitute.org
[12] This story is from another conversation I had with a OWL teacher
[13] From “adolescent sexual health in Europe and the US – why the difference?” Advocates for Youth