by Heather Tomlinson, Christian Today
Traditional Christian sexual ethics are sometimes perceived as completely unnecessary today, or even harmful. Yet there is a lot of modern research to back old-fashioned values such as chastity and restraint, showing that these principles lead to more flourishing for individuals, for families, and for society.
It might surprise some that such research exists, due to the academic climate that is often perceived to be hostile to Christian and conservative points of view, and the extraordinary left-liberal bias in academia. This must influence what topics are investigated, as well as the conclusions.
Yet even in this relatively hostile context, there is a lot of research supporting the traditional position of reserving sex for marriage, staying in marriage, and staying together.
Some care is needed in trumpeting the data. A challenge when considering any social science research is that conflicting results always exist, depending on what kind of analysis is done, as can be summarised by the old saying: “there are lies, damn lies and statistics.” Different kinds of statistical tests can produce different results, even from the same set of data.
Also, people are not test tubes, so we cannot isolate one factor and manipulate it, keeping all others the same, as we would do in a laboratory when conducting a scientific experiment that proves conclusively what causes what. Humans and their behaviours can be measured and analysed carefully for cause and effect – but conclusions are always debatable and subjective to some extent, as psychology and sociology are not exact sciences.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of interesting research out there about subjects that Christians care about.