Christianity and sexuality  

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In Christianity, despite the many variations in modern-day Christian denominations, there was full unanimity that sexuality in general, and sexual union specifically in marriage was a gift from God and that sexual intercourse was reserved for marriage. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant views on sexual union was unanimous until the 1930 Lambeth Conference. This view is simply that the primary end of sexuality is marriage and that the primary end of marriage is begetting children and that non-reproductive sex, as well as premarital and extramarital sex is disapproved of. In defense of the traditional view, Charles Gore, Anglican Bishop of Oxford, noted that Christian churches always taught:

1. That the Church has steadily and constantly taught that generation is the primary end of marriage.
2. That the Church has always declined to say that progeneration is the only end.
3. That married intercourse was never prohibited when the laws of nature make generation improbable or impossible.
4. That sexual intercourse of married people has other recognized ends than the production of offspring.
5. That the attempt to use any devices to separate absolutely the satisfaction of the physical desire from its chief end is to be condemned as sin.
6. That methods of Birth Prevention are not wrong because they are mechanical, but because they do not promote the ends of nature and obstruct and defeat them.
7. That Birth Prevention is sinful because, like other sensual practices commonly called unnatural, it is a deliberate enterprise taken in hand to separate enjoyment of the sexual act from its possible natural result. It is thus regarded as 'unfruitful works of darkness.'
8. That Christians are always and rightly bidden to effect what we propose to do and not isolate our private interest from the general interests of the kingdom of God.

This unanimity was broken at the 1930 Lambeth Conference, the quadrennial meeting of the worldwide Anglican Communion, creating divisions in that denomination and, after World War II, divergence in Protestant teaching on sexuality. Today, the Protestant Episcopal Church USA includes Bishop Gene Robinson, a practicing homosexual. Liberated Christians in a wide number of denominations advocate that the teachings against premarital and extramarital sex were either misread throughout previous centuries or that they applied to ancient, not current, circumstances. Scriptures in the New Testament dealing with sexuality are extensive. Subjects include: divine love (1 Corinthians 13), mutual self-giving (1 Corinthians 7), bodily membership between Christ and between husband and wife (1 Corinthians 6:15-20), honor versus dishonor of adultery (Hebrews 13:4), and condemnation of paganism and homosexuality (Romans 1:24-32).

Protestant and Anglican Churches

In most Lutheran, Reformed and United churches of the EKD in Germany and in the Netherlands or Switzerland view homosexuality as a violation of the 6th commandment. In these Lutheran, United and Reformed churches (Luther/Calvin) gay ministers are not permitted in ministry and gay couples are not allowed in their churches.

In the Anglican church there is a large discussion over the blessing of gay couples and over tolerance of homosexuality. In some dioceses, Anglican (Episcopal) churches in Canada and the USA permit openly gay priests in ministry and allow same-sex blessings, which has drawn much criticism from other parts of the Anglican Communion. Anglican churches in parts of Africa are extremely conservative in their attitude towards homosexuality. Gay priests in most Anglican churches must be celibate if they wish to continue their work as priests.

Most evangelical churches, such as Southern Baptists, for example, see homosexuality as a sin. However, some splinter groups, such as the Western and Eastern Central Baptists Churches, do not follow this teaching.

Some translations of the New Testament forbid fornication: "Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,... will not inherit the kingdom of God". The original Koine Greek word translated as fornication is porneia. The Greek term is used by the church since the time of Christ to include any form of sexual misconduct and there is no debate as to the precise meaning of the word, which in Classical Greek refers specifically to the use of a prostitute for homosexual or heterosexual activities in the Hellenized communities.

Catholic and Orthodox Churches

The Catholic Church affirms the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural death. The Church believes that each person is made in the "image and likeness of God," and that human life should not be weighed against other values such as economy, convenience, personal preferences, or social engineering. Therefore, the Church opposes activities that they believe destroy or devalue divinely created life, including euthanasia, eugenics and abortion.

The Church teaches that Manichaeism, the belief that the spirit is good while the flesh is evil, is a heresy. Therefore, the Church does not teach that sex is sinful or an impairment to a grace-filled life. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." then the human body and sex must likewise be good. The Catechism teaches that "the flesh is the hinge of salvation."

However the Church does teach that sexual intercourse outside of marriage is contrary to its purpose. The "conjugal act" aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul" (Catechism) since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity (Catechism).

Pope John Paul II's first major teaching was on the Theology of the Body. Over the course of five years he elucidated a vision of sex that was not only positive and affirming but was about redemption, not condemnation. He taught that by understanding God's plan for physical love we could understand "the meaning of the whole of existence, the meaning of life." "The body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus to be a sign of it.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church indicates that sexual relationships in marriage as a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity and lists fornication as one of the "Offenses Against Chastity" and calls it "an intrinsically and gravely disordered action" because "use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose."

See also

• Mortification of the flesh
• Chastity
• Thy Neighbor's Wife
• Christianity
• Sexuality
• Homosexuality and Christianity
• Sexuality in Christian demonology
• Religion and sexuality