{"id":303926,"date":"2010-02-10T11:03:51","date_gmt":"2010-02-10T16:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2440"},"modified":"2010-02-10T13:07:17","modified_gmt":"2010-02-10T18:07:17","slug":"sexuality-and-religion-a-disconnect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/303926","title":{"rendered":"Sexuality and Religion: A Disconnect?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousinstitute.org\/\">The Religious Institute<\/a>, a self-described &#8220;multifaith organization dedicated to<br \/>\nadvocating for sexual health, education and justice in faith<br \/>\ncommunities and society,&#8221; yesterday released its new report, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousinstitute.org\/the-ri\"><em>Sexuality and Religion 2020: Goals for the Next Decade<\/em><\/a>, which explores the relationship between sexuality and religion. <\/p>\n<p>The report indicates a disconnect between the faith community&#8217;s views on sexuality and religion and clergy&#8217;s willingness to address these issues from the pulpit. A 2009 survey of mainline Protestant clergy, for example, reported that more than 70% seldom or never discuss sexuality issues.<\/p>\n<p>        In&nbsp;<i>Sexuality &amp; Religion 2020<\/i>, the Religious Institute outlines 10 goals for the decade, urging clergy, denominations and seminaries to:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 20px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; list-style-position: outside; list-style-image: initial; background-repeat: repeat-y; \">\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \">break the silence around sexuality in congregations and faith communities;<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \">improve ministerial training in sexuality issues;<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \">provide better pastoral care on sexuality-related issues and sexuality education for youth<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \">and adults; and<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \">become more effective advocates of comprehensive sexuality education, sexual and<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; \">reproductive health, and the full inclusion of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Learn more about how the Religious Institute plans to accomplish these goals &#8211; and get involved yourself &#8211; at&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.religiousinstitute.org\/\" style=\"text-decoration: underline; \">www.religiousinstitute.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a press release, Rev. Debra Haffner, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Religious Institute, and Timothy Palmer, Director of Communications and Outreach and leader of the Institute&#8217;s LGBT initiatives, say of&nbsp;<i>Sexuality &amp; Religion 2020<\/i>, &#8220;This report is for clergy, congregations, denominations, faith-based organizations &#8211; indeed, for all religious leaders and people of faith who believe we must create a healthier, more positive and inclusive relationship between sexuality and religion.&#8221;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/debrahaffner.blogspot.com\/2010\/02\/exciting-news-from-religious-institute.html\" style=\"text-decoration: underline; \">Read more on Rev. Haffner&#8217;s blog.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What do you think of the report? Do you see the same disconnect between sexuality and religion? As people of faith, what can we do to help bridge the divide?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Religious Institute, a self-described &#8220;multifaith organization dedicated to advocating for sexual health, education and justice in faith communities and society,&#8221; yesterday released its new report, Sexuality and Religion 2020: Goals for the Next Decade, which explores the relationship between sexuality and religion. The report indicates a disconnect between the faith community&#8217;s views on sexuality [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}