The USA elections bring out voices better left quiet.
Religion seems to be the crowd puller. And the Republicans are stellar at this game. LGBTI rights, contraception, abortion, form some of the real rhetoric that they use to win votes. All under the banner of religion. Check what crawled out of the woodwork this week
Are we any better in South Africa? Of course politicians/religious leaders should not get away with these kinds of comments as we have such a strong Constitution that protects our human rights.
But what is the impact of this kind of rhetoric in our own lives, our own bedrooms? What do you do when you have the impulse to masturbate yet know that lightening will strike you if you do? Do you go "underground" and get sex workers to do it for you? A lesser of the sins..What do you do if you feel attracted to the same sex? Pretty cool say more liberal humane religious leaders- as long as you do not have sex. What do you do if you know you can not afford another child but you're told that you will go to hell if you abort? Do you sneak an illegal abortion or kill your child?
My interest in all this lies in the couples who entrust me with their relationships and sexuality. Couples who, like you and me, cannot avoid sexual nor religious messages. And these messages are not always congruent with what people are doing or want to do. The angst this causes breaks my heart. Consider that 24/7 religious tv channels are so easily available- how does anyone actually ever have sex with all that fire and brimstone talk?? I am sure we would all have way bettter and more frequent sex with porn channels in our homes than the news/violence and religious channels..
If you are following the US electioneering, I urge you to counter these sex negative, anti sexual rights messages to which you and your children may be exposed. Take the opportunity to teach them your values- which I hope are of humanity irrespecitve of your religious beliefs. And if you really want to stretch your own box of thinking about religion watch Alain de Boutton on Ted.com. I welcome your thoughts.
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