Sexual Ethics Test

One Hundred Plus Questions

Related to Sexual Right and Wrong

Cluster 8

Version 1.5

1. Regarding the sex lives of the clergy or other leadership of your religious tradition, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. Members of the clergy should practice what they preach regarding sexual behavior, so long as what they preach conforms to the Bible.
2. Members of the clergy should practice what they preach regarding sexual behavior, whatever that may be.
3. Members of the clergy should be sexual adepts and should be trained accordingly.
4. The clergy should live under the same rules and principles for sexual behavior as everyone else, which means, in part, that either choosing to be celibate or declining to be celibate should not be tied to one's profession.
5. The clergy should practice celibacy, because it adds a measure of holiness and authority in the eyes of others.
6. The clergy should practice celibacy for other reasons. Please elaborate.

7. I don't know.
8. Other. Please elaborate.

2. Regarding a member of the clergy joining other people together as partners, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. The clergy member should not join other people in marriage if the marriage offends his or her conscience.
2. The clergy member should join other people in marriage only if the marriage conforms to the policy of the religious organization to which he or she belongs.
3. The clergy member should join together in marriage any who may legally marry.
4. The clergy member should officiate at ceremonies of mutual commitment between gays, if asked to do so.
5. The clergy should not be joining people together in marriage.
6. I don't know.
7. Other. Please elaborate.

3. If one disagrees with one's religious tradition on sexual morality, one should:

1. Leave well enough alone, for the life of a tradition is bigger than and separate, in a categorical sense, from personal lives.
2. Change one's mind to conform to one's religious tradition.
3. Tolerate the traditional stance and work to have one's own stance tolerated.
4. Work to reform it from within, by showing that a different stance can integrate better with its other principles.
5. Work to reform it from within, even if it means changing some of that tradition's fundamental principles.
6. Conscientiously disobey.
7. Join a different religion or denomination that is more consistent with one's own values or else establish a new one.
8. Abandon institutionalized religion and focus on personal spirituality.
9. Abandon religion and spiritual matters altogether.
10. I don't know.
11. Other. Please elaborate.

4. Regarding discrimination by religious institutions on the basis of people practicing their sexuality according to their sexual orientation, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. Religious institutions should be allowed by their constituencies to discriminate against people on such a basis.
2. Religious institutions should be allowed by their constituencies to discriminate against people on such a basis, but only insofar as such discrimination pertains directly to the religion, for example, to eligibility for being a member of the clergy.
3. One should work to keep one's own religion from discriminating against people on such a basis.
4. Such discrimination is of God, which means that one has no power and should not seek the power to overturn it.
5. I don't know.
6. Other. Please elaborate.

5. Regarding the relation of religious traditions to sexual ethics, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. The rules of sexual morality have been established for all time (or, at least, for the present era), and my religious tradition promulgates them.
2. The principles of sexual morality have been established for all time (or, at least, for the present era) but are imperfectly understood, especially as they are to apply to the present day; my religious tradition should be open to changing its mind on the basis of better understanding of those anciently established principles.
3. As scientific knowledge and cultural understanding have increased, we are able to develop better codes of sexual morality. My religious tradition should adopt the best code of sexual morality that can be developed, without being tied to past teachings on sexual morality.
4. My religious tradition should adopt the best code of sexual morality that can be developed, but that code needs to have some core of continuity with past teaching.
5. Sexual morality must change progressively, even in our own times, for theological reasons.
6. It is pointless for religion to concern itself with sexual morality, for that is comparable to telling nature to let the rain fall only where it will do good. If religion should concern itself with morality at all, it should concern itself with how to make decisions that advance goodness and prevent harm.
7. I don't know.
8. Other. Please elaborate.

6. Regarding the relation of religious traditions to human sexuality, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. My religious tradition's teachings regarding human sexuality are essential to the religion, because it is a religion of the Book.
2. My religious tradition's teachings regarding human sexuality are essential to the religion, because a living religious principle is involved.
3. My religious tradition's teachings regarding human sexuality are essential to the religion, but simply because of the need for consistency with the past for purposes of religious identity.
4. My religious tradition's teachings regarding human sexuality can be changed without changing the core of the religion.
5. I don't know.
6. Other. Please elaborate.

7. Regarding the applicability of the moral teachings of your religious tradition on human sexuality, with which statements do you generally agree?

1. They should be applicable only to adherents.
2. They should be applicable only to adherents that agree to them.
3. They should be applicable to all of humankind and ought to be enforced even among non-adherents of my religious tradition.
4. They should be applicable to all of humankind and might be shared with but should never be imposed upon non-adherents of my religious tradition.
5. They should be applicable to the culture(s) of which my religious tradition is part of the warp and woof.
6. They are not applicable to anybody since my religious tradition should not be in the business of providing moral teaching on human sexuality.
7. I don't know.
8. Other. Please elaborate.

8. Regarding the relation of spirituality to human sexuality, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. Human sexuality and true spirituality are in natural conflict and tension with one another and are so fundamentally.
2. Human sexuality and true spirituality are in natural conflict and tension with one another, unless sexuality is brought into conformity.
3. Human sexuality is an avenue of true spirituality.
4. Human sexuality and true spirituality have nothing to do with one another.
5. I don't know.
6. Other. Please elaborate.

9. Regarding inter-religious marriage, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with inter-religious marriage, since love and marriage transcend religion.
2. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with inter-religious marriage, since it benefits society by breaking down barriers.
3. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with inter-religious marriage, since religion can be compartmentalized or ignored.
4. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with inter-religious marriage, since at bottom all religions are the same.
5. Inter-religious marriage, at least of some kinds, is wrong, because it injects a fundamental disharmony into marriage and child-rearing.
6. Inter-religious marriage, at least of some kinds, is wrong, because it diminishes the religious group.
7. Inter-religious marriage, at least of some kinds, is wrong, because it introduces idolatry into the homes of those who believe in the truth.
8. Marriage between people of different religions is wrong, but not between people of different denominations of the same religion.
9. Marriage between people of different denominations is wrong.
10. Marriage of adherents of one particular religion outside of their religion is wrong, that religion being:
11. For the adherents of any particular religion, the morality of inter-religious marriage depends upon the teachings of their religion and their denomination.
12. The morality of inter-religious marriage depends upon the nature of the spiritual bond the partners-to-be share with each other.
13. I don't know.
14. Other. Please elaborate.

10. Regarding interracial marriage, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with interracial marriage, since love and marriage transcend race.
2. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with interracial marriage, since it benefits society, for instance by breaking down barriers and by diversifying the gene pool, thus making humankind more survivable.
3. Fundamentally, there is no such thing as race within our species, only a continuum of physical features; and so the question is irrelevant -- people should marry without regard to what is called race.
4. Interracial marriage is wrong, because of the risk that people will ultimately find they prefer partners and children more similar to themselves physically.
5. Interracial marriage is wrong, because it diminishes the racial group.
6. Intermarriage between certain races is wrong, but not between all races.
7. Intermarriage of one particular race with other races is wrong, that race being:
8. Interracial marriage is wrong, but not interracial sex.
9. Whether or not interracial marriage is wrong depends upon practical matters, such as the presence or absence of social support.
10. I don't know.
11. Other. Please elaborate.

11. Regarding the relationship between sexual ethics and sexual mores, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

1. Sexual ethics should support the prevailing mores, whatever they may be.
2. Sexual ethics should support the traditional mores of my culture, but not the conflicting mores of other cultures.
3. Sexual ethics merely help explain what God has said, and mores should be supported insofar as they reflect what God has said.
4. Sexual ethics should stand in judgment of and shape mores.
5. We should be free of sexual mores and live by sexual ethics instead.
6. Forget both sexual ethics and sexual mores!
7. I don't know.
8. Other. Please elaborate.

Go to test instructions.

Go to cluster 1.

Go to cluster 2.

Go to cluster 3.

Go to cluster 4.

Go to cluster 5.

Go to cluster 6.

Go to cluster 7. (Previous)

Go to cluster 8.

Go to cluster 9. (Next)

Go to cluster 10.

Go to personal information questionnaire.

Go to report: The Theory of Human Sexuality and Marriage.

Go to home page.

Your feedback is welcome!

First draft completed, December 21, 1998; posted, December 21, 1998; new url, January 28, 2004; last modification, December 7, 2008

Copyright ©1998-2008 by Norman E. Anderson