photo by Brocken Inaglory en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Owl_eyes.jpg#/media/File:Owl_eyes.jpg

It always seems a little odd to me that sex and religion are seldom talked about in the same breath. When most religious groups speak out on a sexual topic, it’s usually a negative, something people “shouldn’t” do. But sex is such an integral part of our humanity—and can be such a profound, even spiritual experience—that focusing on the negative just doesn’t make sense to me.

So I think it’s great that the Unitarian Universalists do a fantastic job talking about how expressing one’s sexuality is healthy, spiritual, and human. Their Our Whole Lives program, developed in conjunction with the United Church of Christ, provides comprehensive sexuality education from kindergarten into adulthood (with a core class aimed at grades 7 to 9). The program is accurate, progressive, and comprehensive. It covers the biology of puberty, procreation, etc.—and the social, spiritual, and emotional aspects of lovemaking. It encourages participants to think deeply about how their sexual decision-making aligns with their personal values, with how they want to be in the world. Just, wow.

If you’d like to know more, here’s a link: www.uua.org/re/owl  Even if you’re not a Unitarian Universalist (I’m not), your local UU community would be happy for you to visit; they welcome all seekers. In any case, we can all learn from the good work they’re doing integrating sexuality and spirituality.