Apparently True Love Doesn't Always Wait (fundie failures)

[BR_Parkway]

For all their righteousness, and screaming at the rest of us on how we should be living our lives - a recent study by the Southern Baptists shows that even those under their control don't buy into the message they are sending.

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/292006d.asp

By AFA Journal
March 29, 2006

(AgapePress) - Although signing a formal purity pledge seems to prolong abstinence outside of marriage, the findings of a recent survey of Baptist newlyweds reveal that true love doesn't always wait -- even among Christians.

Byron Weathersbee, interim chaplain at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, conducted a study on the effects of sexual-purity pledges and sex education on abstinence before marriage in a Christian context. Baylor is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

As part of his research, Weathersbee surveyed young married couples of less than five years in Texas Baptist churches to determine the impact churches made on their sexual behavior. The majority of the couples surveyed admitted to having sexual intercourse prior to marriage. However, the study was consistent with previous findings in its suggestion that Baptist couples were more likely to save sex for their wedding night if they took a formal abstinence pledge.

Specifically, of the young Christians surveyed, six out of ten who made purity commitments did not have sexual intercourse until marriage, while only three of ten who did not pledge purity remained abstinent. Additional findings were:

• 100 percent professed faith in Christ
  
• 99 percent attended church
  
• 84 percent grew up in church
  
• 87 percent grew up in a two-parent home
  
• 62 percent of males had premarital sex
  
• 65 percent of females had premarital sex

"To a large degree, we're missing it," Weathersbee says. "The young people are receiving the data, but they're not translating it into values that result in a lifestyle of purity and holiness." Supporting the chaplain's assertion is another finding from his research: only 27 percent of the young people surveyed entered marriage "chaste," having refrained not only from intercourse but also from other sexual practices such as oral sex.

Now that you've seen the data, go read the spin on how successful they're trying to protray the program. http://www.abpnews.com/820.article

All they really succeed in doing is proving that teaching it in the schools isn't the place to do it.

[stevebreeze]

1. the trouble is they are "receiving the data" through a fog of hormones

Religion is after all being used as a way to modify behavior, and works no better or worse then any other way of restricting behavior. Better to arm them with the truth and try to get children to act sexually responsible then to to to force them to act against their impulses.

[Ian David]

2. Abstinence until marriage used to be easy when girls got married at 13

Back then, abstinence until marriage just prevented pedophilia.

Unless, of course, you were part of the Catholic Priesthood's entourage of Catamaties. That was considered okay, becuase you were doing it for Gawd.

[BeyondThePale]

3. Simple answer: These people are fucking insane...

Let's take something natural and wonderful, then let's see how perverted and twisted we can make it in order to control other people.

Obviously, sex has risks and responsbilities that go along with it. Furthermore, it is important that young people not feel coerced. But, let's be open about it and realistic that young people have been having sex for a long time. Let's not make it taboo and dirty, but recognize that it is another aspect of life about which people (young and old) need to be educated.

[paineinthearse]

4. 62% males, 65% females?

"62 percent of males had premarital sex
65 percent of females had premarital sex"

Is there some deeper explanation, perhaps a larger number of females are having same-sex premarital sex???

:shrug:

[CTyankee]

5. Perhaps it is because marriage is in the offing

for them so they indulge their desires. It sounds risky to us, but within their world, they "know" they are going to marry the guy and go for it. I can't explain the lower percent of males, however.

As for same-sex sexual activity, perhaps you are right, but remember this was a prior to marriage question. If some of these women are gay, would they go ahead, marry a hetero male, and "admit" to same sex activity in this survey? Possible, but a bit tortuous. Young lesbians in that environment must have a terrible time. I shudder to think what happens to gays of either sex in that right wing fundie hell.

[gratuitous]

7. I'd surmise

That the sexually active young women are active with men who aren't their peers. High school girls who wouldn't go past second base with the boys in their school seemed a lot more pliant with the college men and the older guys who had cars.

[elehhhhna]

6. The divorcee who ran True Love Waits here quit when she got pregnant

from her live-in BF.

[Doctor_J]

8. MUAHAHAHA

that's good, ele

[ihelpu2see]

9. The bigger problem is that they receive the info to abstain but

when they don't they are 90% less likely to use a condom verses a teen who has had proper sex education.

I have a couple of anecdotal examples. I have worked with 3 young ladies, all of who were home schooled through high school for religious reasons. All went to a christian college Bob Jones or whatever, 2 of the 3 came back pregnant at the end of their freshman year. I know it is not scientific and it is only anecdotal but to me it speaks volumes!!! Condoms are not anti-christian and they do cut down on the number of unwanted pregnancies that may end in abortions!!

just my rant for the day...

[musical_soul]

10. I think....

I think their real fear is that we'll all be "whores" and just sleep around. Little do they realize
that the average person (even non-Christians) don't sleep around and don't need their help to
stay that way.

[Felix Mala]

11. The failure rate for abstinence is about 40%. Four out of ten kids who

learn only "abstinence" will eventually have sex anyway and usually unprotected sex at that. If condoms failed that often, they couldn't be advertised as preventing pregnancy.

[yellowcanine]

12. In the denomination I grew up in my personal unscientific observation was

that the more conservative the church, the higher the rate of "shotgun" marriages. This is based on the number of full term "premature" babies that made their appearance. I have no idea what it means. Maybe the liberals practiced "safe sex" more religiously, so to speak.

[yellowcanine]

13. Those who made the "purity committment" probably lie more also so

that should be factored in.