“We are seeing, in state legislatures across the country, an attack on women’s sexuality and women’s reproductive rights that far surpasses anything” that has come before it, alleged Debra Haffner, a Unitarian Universalist minister and self-described “sexologist.” Haffner is president of the Religious Institute, a “multifaith organization dedicated to advocating for sexual health, education, and justice in faith communities and society.” On March 21, 2012, Haffner discussed her dissatisfaction with traditional Christian teachings on sexuality on the radio show, Culture Shocks with Barry Lynn. Lynn is a United Church of Christ minister whose group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, opposes orthodox Christian expression in public life.
Much of the discussion centered around the Health and Human Services (HHS) provision in the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, requiring most employers, including those who object on moral and religious grounds, to provide health insurance coverage for contraception and abortifacients. Haffner asserted, “The argument that this [debate] is about religious freedom is a complete smoke screen. The fact that it’s now about birth control shows that it’s much bigger than a concern about embryos,” and supposedly, “about the Catholic hierarchy.” According to Haffner, opposition to contraception is not about genuine religious convictions, but “really about women and their sexuality. It’s about sexuality for pleasure, not just for procreation.”
Haffner ignored the possibility that Catholic believers still accept long-standing teachings on sexuality and contraception, and said “the science is very clear that modern methods of contraception do not act by causing women to miscarry fertilized embryos.” She questioned, “When is it that the Catholic hierarchy, because it’s not about the Catholic laity, it’s clearly about the Catholic hierarchy, is going to understand that we live in a different world than 100 and 200 AD?”
“For a religious denomination that is so pro-life to be working so hard against contraception makes no sense at all, because ultimately, it ends up in more unintended pregnancies and more abortions. So surely if there was an area we could agree on, it would be that life is precious and it should be created intentionally,” Haffner asserted. Rhetorically, Haffner asked, “Who do these men like Rush Limbaugh think women are having sex with?” She answered: “In effect it’s an attack on the whole concept … that we went through a contraception revolution in the 1960s that enabled people to have sex for pleasure without the risk of unintended pregnancy.”
Instead of respecting Catholics for following their moral teachings and convictions, Haffner blamed opposition to contraception on an irrational power struggle, and said, “My sense is what the Catholic bishops are now trying to do, is they’re trying to use their political power to do what they cannot do from the pulpit.”
“I think most thinking people would agree, that contraception care is basic preventive health care for women,” Haffner declared.
Haffner also expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of “training” on sexuality in the Church. Although the United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalists, and other liberal denominations already require “sexual ethics” training, Haffner reported in a recent article: “Other denominations, including The United Methodist Church, are currently preparing stronger requirements on sexual ethics and misconduct prevention.” In her radio interview, Haffner explained: “At the Methodist meeting [UMC General Conference 2012] coming up, they will vote on whether it [sexual ethics training] should be a requirement for all candidates.” According to Haffner, this training is important because people “would like to turn to their clergy for support on [sexuality] issues, but they’re afraid their clergy will not be open to discussing them.”
“Today’s clergy are faced with ever-complex sexuality issues, ranging from congregant online affairs, to welcoming transgender people. The sexuality issues that clergy must sort out over the course of ministry aren’t going to go away,” Haffner wrote. To address this issue, the Religious Institute began a program to “designate seminaries as sexually healthy and responsible.” Haffner reported: “The number of seminaries that meet our criteria has doubled since 2010. There are now twenty seminaries that meet the majority of criteria, which includes the fact that no clergy should graduate without being able to have had some sexuality education.”
As an example, Haffner wrote that “Brite Divinity School, a Disciples of Christ seminary in Fort Worth, Texas … has revised their community inclusion statement to be inclusive of sex, gender identity and orientation; and requires all field education supervisors, students and lay committees to address sexuality-related training needs.” On the radio, Haffner expressed her hope to “[move] toward a time when all seminaries meet these criteria.”
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