Before launching into his “research” on human sexuality, Dr. Alfred Kinsey was a confirmed atheist, eugenicist and evolutionist who believed that “religious-based,” “ancient taboos” were to blame for America’s supposedly repressive sexual attitudes and resulting social disorder. The unsuspecting victim of Kinsey’s sexual revolution bomb, America respected fatherhood, motherhood and marriage, and protected its children. Kinsey saw any sexual taboo as abnormal repression and set out, by using science, to break down those barriers to sexual “freedom.” He used and abused science much as the South Korean researcher Hwang did by claiming to have achieved human cloning.
Ideas and Their Consequences
Ideas always have consequences, and Dr. Kinsey’s ideas surely caused irreparable harm to men, women and families; but the worst harm has come to our children. Kinsey, through flawed interviewing techniques, skewed sampling, and abuse of children, “discovered” that children are sexual from birth, can give “consent” to sex, and are even “helped” by sexual encounters with adults. His findings changed laws concerning human sexuality and gave rise to unprecedented sexual “freedom.” To illustrate how far we have come: The Kansas Supreme Court recently opined that the state does not have an interest in legislating morality – including bestiality, polygamy, incest, etc. This came on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision stating that the right to privacy trumps sodomy laws. This is a far cry from the stringent laws in territorial Kansas and early statehood that protected women and children from rape, sodomy and incest. “We’ve come a long way, baby” means more than anyone at the dawn of the sexual revolution could have imagined.
Natural Law and Self-Deception
I recently read an interesting essay by J. Budziszewski exploring natural law and moral self-deception. Budziszewski teaches at the University of Texas in Austin and specializes in the relationship between ethical and political theory and Christian theology. The provocative title of his article, “Designed for Sex,” leads one to believe it will idealize sexual promiscuity. But his premise says that path has led us to self-annihilation. In his research, he came across a quote by Katie Roliphe in her book Last Night in Paradise, where she wonders what went wrong in our society: “It’s not the absence of rules exactly, the dizzying sense that we can do whatever we want; but the sudden realization that nothing we do matters.”
That statement bemuses Budziszewski; but the alarming self-destructive bent of our society, particularly among our youth who seemingly have all the freedom in the world, appalls him. While Kinsey promised fulfillment and pleasure, the sexual revolution brought a dulling of the sense of pleasure, of degrading the sex act. This led to a frenetic pursuit of bodily pleasure that has resulted in skyrocketing teen suicide, a sense of nihilism, drug and alcohol abuse, lifelong sexually transmitted diseases, abortion and its legacy, bulimia, anorexia, and on and on. Instead of sex being an act of giving, it has become an act of getting, using and sometimes abusing another person for self-gratification.
A Transaction
Evolutionist Kinsey has achieved his wish: Mankind has “devolved” to animalism. Mankind has rejected its creation in God’s image, designed to follow His purpose rather than self-fulfillment. In fact, Kinsey’s science combined with man’s own sinfulness has devalued God’s gift of procreation, the opportunity to participate in the creative process. Men and women are left with a void that can only be filled with more sensory pleasures. The sex act, Budziszewski says, has become for many of our youth a “transaction with their bodily parts,” costing the participants more than they ever thought they would have to pay.
Bonding Loses Out
The loss affects the family, children and our society as a whole. If the sex act becomes merely a contractual arrangement, what happens to the family? The bonding that occurs from an act of intimacy and mutual giving does not occur; intimacy and trust are lost. Our society’s children know that it is only by the grace of their parents they escaped abortion because choice now trumps commitment, self-sacrificing love and responsibility. Budziszewski says this produces immense anxiety in children … if they really think about it. (I can tell you from talking with kids from pro-choice homes in the crisis pregnancy center, they do wonder why they survived their parents’ often pragmatic decisions.)
A Manufacturing Process
What happens to the main purpose of sex – procreation? Inevitably it becomes a manufacturing process. Joining two persons to produce a new human being now can include deciding to end the child’s life or manipulating its genes to produce the perfect product.
A Chance to be Heard
Ideas do have consequences. When men and women start acting like animals, they become animals. God intended for us to be His ultimate creation … created in His image with the gift of procreation as an added bonus. If we reject that gift, we must be prepared to pay the cost.
This article is adapted from the newsletter of Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Kansas, where Judy Smith is State Director. To receive their e-mail alerts, subscribe here. For information about CWA in your state, click here.
