I often get dream submissions from teens regarding their sexuality and their religion or relationship with God, and the moral dilemmas faced when the two meet. Though these concerns may persist throughout a lifetime, they seems especially potent for teens, when these experiences and choices are first being made. These quandries are then reflected in the content of their dreams.
With that in mind, here is an interesting article I came across regarding the topic of sexuality and a person’s relationship to God. While the article doesn’t pertain to dreams directly, the topic certainly does so I found it worthy of posting.
A recent study in the journal Sociology of Religion looks at American’s beliefs about divine intervention in their daily lives. Based on two large surveys of Americans (one of which was nationally representative) the paper reports on how much or little people believe God is involved and influencing the events and activities of their daily lives. Among the findings, the study documented that:
- 82% of participants say they depend on God for help and guidance in making decisions
- 71 per cent believe that when good or bad things happen, these occurrences are simply part of God’s plan for them
- 61 per cent believe that God has determined the direction and course of their lives
- 32 per cent agree with the statement: “There is no sense in planning a lot because ultimately my fate is in God’s hands.”
There are all sorts of critical questions to ask about what these numbers mean, especially since, if I understood the paper correctly, participants responded to questions whether or not they actually believed in God (so they were asked to report what they thought God was like, even if they didn’t believe in God).
But that’s not why I’m sharing this information. Even if these numbers are off, and they are much lower, it got me thinking. If you believe that God is at all involved in your daily life, if you believe there is a God who is making decisions or has a plan, and exerts an influence on your path, do you believe that God is involved in your sex life? Is it God who influences your choice of sexual partners? What does God have to say about how much you like sex, or the kind of sex you like?
I know a little bit about the various positions organized religions take on sexuality (positions that are never uniform, even within one religious faith or practice). I also know that there’s a whole Christian sex self-help industry. But what I’d like to know more about is whether people who feel God’s presence in their daily lives also feel that presence in their sex lives.
I talk with lots of people about sex every day. And thinking on this question I’m aware that sex is usually compartmentalized off from other kinds of God-ish experiences.
So there are people who engage in specific kinds of sexual practices that they call spiritual (things like Tantric and Taoist sexual practices). And they often talk about feeling as if sexual activities are a form of worship, that sex makes them feel closer to God. But I don’t hear those people talking so much about God outside of their sexual practice.
And then there are people who (as this study suggests) feel as if God is influencing their daily lives, but those folks don’t talk so much about sex.
This may or may not be the best place to ask (and for goodness sake, if you’re going to leave a comment below please be kind) but it seems to me that there must be all sorts of voices missing from these conversations, and I’m genuinely curious. If you do believe that God is involved in your everyday life, how much do you think about that when you think about sex and sexuality?
The article is posted here:
http://sexuality.about.com/b/2010/03/15/is-god-your-sexual-co-pilot.htm?nl=1
Read more – Schieman, S. “Socioeconomic Status and Beliefs about God’s Influence in Everyday Life” Sociology of Religion. Volume 71, No. 1 (2010): 25-51. Accessed March 11, 2010.
