The Impact Of The Sexual Sins On This Society: ...

The Impact of the sexual sins on this society: Noel Hornor states: Sex is everywhere. It permeates the movies and the television programs we watch, the music we hear, the magazines and books we read, the talk shows we listen to. Society, it seems, is obsessed with sex. Perhaps never has society had access to so much knowledge about sex but understood so little about it. Seldom have people suffered so much through sexual ignorance.

Recently in the U.S. it was reported that the sexually transmissible diseases, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and AIDS, were the three most commonly reported infectious disorders in 1995. And now even herpes is back with a vengeance. The British newspaper, The Independent, recently reported that "genital herpes, the incurable sexually transmitted disease that was lost from sight in the shadow of AIDS, is infecting record numbers of people in Britain" (Feb. 2). Experts estimate that "about one in ten women in London carry the virus," and in America "it is estimated that 500,000 people contract genital herpes each year." Nancy Herndon of the American Health Association commented that herpes is much more contagious than the HIV.

Statistics show that adulterous behavior is out of control… The Kinsey Institute estimates that, during their married lives, 37 percent of American males will prove sexually unfaithful to their wives and 29 percent of American wives will commit adultery (June M. Reinisch, St. Martins Press, New York, 1990, p. 7, 73). Adultery is family-obliterating behavior that destroys the very heart of society, with devastating consequences for children. According to social critic William Kirkpatrick, divorce is "up 700 percent in this century, with most of the rise occurring in recent decades" (Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong, Touchstone, New York, 1993, p. 249). He also notes that "the pain of parental divorce is more difficult for a child to overcome than the death of a parent" (ibid., p. 250). An astonishing three in five American children born in 1986 will live with a single parent by age 18.

Teen sexual behavior according to research by Noel Horner states:

Equally disturbing developments are the levels of premarital sexual activity and pregnancy in Western nations. How many American teens are engaging in sex? "Data on teenage sexual activity are inexact . . . But most experts in the field agree that somewhere over 60 percent of American teenagers have had sexual intercourse by the time they finish high school" (Lillian B. Rubin, Erotic Wars, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1990, p. 61, emphasis added).

What does this mean in terms of premarital pregnancy? In the United States estimates are that "nationally 11 percent of unmarried teenage girls become pregnant each year" (Rubin, p. 75). To put it another way, "every 64 seconds . . . a baby is born to a teenage mother . . ." (Children’s Defense Fund, The Adolescent & Young Adult Fact Book, Washington, 1991).

iii. According to William J. Bennett, former U.S. secretary of education, illegitimate births increased in the U.S. 400 percent from 1960 to 1990 (The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, March 1993). Based on current trends, U.S. News & World Report reports that "early in the next century, unless we change, 1 out of every 2 American children will be born out of wedlock" (October 2, 1995, p. 88, emphasis added).

Troubling trends says Horner and a frightening future:

The costs and implications of these trends are truly alarming: "In 1997 almost 1 m[illion] American teenagers will become pregnant, nearly 75% of them out of wedlock. About 80% of these new mothers will end up in poverty, dependent on welfare payments.

The problem costs the American taxpayer $7 billion a year . . . Every day in America there are 1,300 teenage births and 1,100 teenage abortions. Last year 3 m[illion] teenagers had sexually transmitted diseases" (The Sunday Times, January 12, 1997).