Last August, Pew Research announced the findings of a new study with a provocative headline: “Half of Christians say casual sex is sometimes or always acceptable.” As is the case with many studies, a “Christian” for the purposes of this study meant anyone who “identified” as one, without taking into account orthodox belief or degree of commitment. Still, the results are disturbing.
In particular, what the study reveals about self-identified evangelicals is especially troubling. According to Pew, less than half of evangelicals surveyed were willing to say that casual sex is never acceptable. Seventeen percent said that casual sex was “rarely” acceptable. Twenty-four percent said that it was sometimes so, and 12% (one in eight!) said that casual sex was always acceptable.
Remember, these are evangelicals talking about casual sex here or, as the survey defined it, “sex between consenting adults who are not in a committed romantic relationship.” We’re talking Tinder and the infamous “hook-up” culture. That any Christian would find this behavior ever acceptable is astounding, but that more than one-third of evangelicals are fine with occasional promiscuity? (The survey also found that nearly three-in-five approve of cohabitation, with two-fifths of them planning to doing so.)
At root, what this survey reveals is a failure of catechesis. Or, to be more precise, a failure of the Church combined with the resounding success of cultural forces to catechize. Specifically, churches have failed to teach young people a true, Christian understanding of sex and the human body.
It will sound ridiculous to some, especially those wounded by or obsessed with “purity culture,” to say that churches haven’t catechized people about sexual morality. The popular assumption is that Christians are always talking about sex!