Americans and infidelity: it’s still not OK
by John Stonestreet, BreakPoint.
[…] In contrast to the shift in beliefs on almost all the other issues concerning marriage and sexuality, Americans are steadfast in their condemnation of extramarital sexual relations. In fact, they’re slightly more likely today than in 1973 to say that a “married person having sexual relations with someone other than the marriage partner” is “always wrong.”
What’s more, there’s very little, if any, difference between older and younger Americans on this point.
These results align with the findings of the Gallup organization, which found that only six percent of Americans found adultery to be acceptable under any circumstances.
As I said, this steadfastness stands in marked contrast to shifting attitudes concerning sexual ethics on many other issues.
“Many other” but not all. There are other exceptions to this liberalizing trend, most notably abortion. There, according to Gallup, American attitudes have held steady despite strong cultural messages that sought to normalize the taking of unborn life.
Why? Part of the answer is that it’s easier to articulate and see the harm caused to others by both adultery and abortion. Ideas like “consent” and “avoiding harm to others” are practically the only moral criteria Americans can agree on anymore.
It’s no coincidence, then, that practices where a victim can be readily identified—the innocent spouse and the unborn child for example—are most resistant to the siren songs of the Sexual Revolution.
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