Written by Alex Chediak

Americans are becoming more permissive on moral issues like smoking pot, same sex relations, divorce, pornography, even polygamy. That’s according to Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, which was conducted May 1-10 and released this week. The trends are the interesting part.

Smoking Pot

In 2018, support for smoking pot was at 65 percent. That’s really high (no pun intended) when you consider that less than half the country was supportive less than a decade ago. It’s not a perfect comparison, because the question was asked a bit differently in previous Gallup surveys (morally acceptable vs. should be made legal). Still, there seems to be a correlation between the legalization of recreational pot and people finding its usage to be morally acceptable.

Is it just young people? No. Even 58 percent of those 55 and older think smoking pot is morally acceptable. It’s higher (77%) for younger adults (18-34). But the split is even greater when you look at religiosity. Among those who attend church every week, only 41 percent find pot usage to be okay. Among those who seldom or never go to church, it’s 75 percent. Political ideology makes a big difference, too. Among conservatives, support is at 47 percent. Among liberals, 81 percent.

Same Sex Relations

Two-thirds of respondents (67%) said that gay or lesbian relationships are morally acceptable. I wish Gallup had broken this question down by religiosity and political ideology, but apparently they didn’t. Support is up from 40 percent in 2001. It was 48 percent in 2008, when Obama first ran for President. And 54 percent in 2012 when Obama was reelected — having “evolved” on this issue, like his constituents.

Sexual Ethics

Support for divorce has risen from 59 percent in 2001 to 76 percent today. Support for having a child outside of marriage has risen from 45 percent in 2002 to 65 percent today.

Pornography is now considered morally acceptable by 43 percent of adults — up from 30 percent in 2011. That’s a quick increase and one that does not bode well, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement. I would hope a renewed interest in the dignity of women would include a consideration that porn cheapens and degrades sex, typically through the objectification of women.

Even more bizarre: Polygamy support now stands at 19 percent. That’s up from 7 percent in 2010. In fact, from 2003 to 2010 there was no increase in support for polygamy. But since 2010, it’s shot up big time. Think of five random people in a grocery store. One of them thinks it’s okay for a man or woman to have more than one spouse.

Many would say that support for polygamy is a logical extension of the Supreme Court’s 2014 Obergefell ruling. We’ve also seen it popularized — or rather, glamorized — on television. In practice, though, polygamy is horrific for women and children.

Sex between teenagers is another issue on which support is still in the minority, but rising rapidly. In 2013, almost one in three (32%) thought sex between teenagers was morally acceptable. Just 5 years later it’s up to 42 percent.

A glimmer of hope: Infidelity is still very unpopular — meaning that concepts like “open marriages” and “polyamory” are not gaining traction. Only one in ten (10%) think it’s morally acceptable for a married man and woman to have an affair. That’s really low when you consider that 76 percent say it’s okay to divorce, 69 percent are okay with sex between two unmarried adults, and 19 percent are okay with having a second spouse.

Suicide

Support for doctor-assisted suicide is at 54 percent. That’s high, but a small increase from 49 percent support in 2003. This one has gone up and down over the years. But support for suicide in general has been rising more steadily and rapidly. In 2003, 14 percent thought suicide was morally acceptable. Today, 20 percent say it is.

Don’t think of that as a 6 percent increase. Think of it as an almost 50 percent increase, because 20 percent is almost 50 percent greater than 14 percent. It’s a significant increase, but a necessary inference from a growing materialistic mindset. If all we are is blobs of flesh, come up from the primordial soup by a meaningless, naturalistic process, taking one’s life is just another act of personal autonomy.

Our Response

Christians have a worldview that promotes human flourishing. We recognize that every person is made in the image of God. Therefore every person has dignity and worth. The God who made us knows how our bodies and minds work best. Recreational drug usage is destructive to the body and the mind. Sexual intimacy is meant to be an expression of lifelong commitment between a husband and wife.

Divorce, pornography, polygamy — these things are destructive to individuals, families and society as a whole. As the gospel is clearly taught in churches throughout the country, may God be pleased to awaken more people to a saving relationship with Him and to the goodness of a biblically ordered life.

Dr. Alex Chediak (Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley) is a professor and the author of  Thriving at College (Tyndale House, 2011), a roadmap for how students can best navigate the challenges of their college years. His latest book is Beating the College Debt Trap. Learn more about him at www.alexchediak.com or follow him on Twitter (@chediak).

This article originally posted at Stream.org.

Given the headlines today, lots of secular folks are starting to wonder if they ought to rethink sex. Wow—ya think?

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few weeks, you’ve heard about the plethora of #MeToo reports of sexual harassment and abuse perpetrated by politicians, actors, and the news media. The accused run the gamut from liberal to conservative, Christian to skeptic. While the stories are different in detail and gravity, there’s a common thread—people in positions of power, mostly men, taking advantage of less powerful people, mostly females, to satiate their sexual whims.

Many secularists and cheerleaders of the sexual revolution are now shocked that so many people are giving free rein to what one writer calls the “brutality of the male libido.”

In surveying the wreckage, it’s hard to miss the bitter irony here. I’m reminded of C. S. Lewis in “The Abolition of Man” in which he writes, “In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function.  We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”

But I’m glad that growing numbers are finally beginning to wake up to the ugly results of their secular worldview. A great example is an opinion piece called “Let’s Rethink Sex” by Christine Emba in The Washington Post. Emba, an opinion writer and editor there, correctly notes that the culture got off track in matters sexual by making the dual assumption that we all deserve a certain amount of sex, and that nothing should get in the way of us satisfying our desires—“even,” she says, “when reciprocity is unclear.”

“It’s not that sex in and of itself is the problem,” Emba writes. “But the idea that pursuing one’s sexual imperatives should take precedence over workplace rules, lines of power or even just appropriate social behavior is what allows predators to justify sexual harassment and assault.”

Amazingly, she says that we ought to return to some of the old virtues—including “prudence, temperance, respect and even love.” Well, imagine that! So far, so good.

But Emba, who has started down the path of wisdom, is hesitant to go too far, saying, “It’s unlikely that we’ll return to a society in which sexual encounters outside of marriage are disallowed or even discouraged—that sex train has already left the fornication station, if it was ever properly there to begin with.”

Okay, but why not return? As Lewis also wrote, “We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.”

So if we’re to rethink sex as Emba and others are beginning to advocate, it makes perfect sense to look to the One who gave us sex in the first place, God Himself, and see what He says about it—and it’s certainly not about satisfying our selfish desires.

Way back in the book of Genesis, we see the two main functions of sex identified by theologians across the spectrum of Christianity—the unitive and the procreative—and they are inseparably linked with marriage.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” That’s the unitive aspect of sex, bringing husband and wife together for mutual benefit.

“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain”—that is the procreative aspect, which far too often in our culture has been completely divorced from the sex act—with disastrous results.

So come to BreakPoint.org and I’ll link you to Emba’s article. What a great discussion starter to engage our secular friends and acquaintances—but only under appropriate circumstances, of course.

Let the re-thinking begin.