Religious Institute News

On January 30, 2009, the Religious Institute sent the following letter to President Obama:

January 30, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As religious leaders who advocate for sexual justice in our society, we welcome your leadership on an array of critical issues affecting the health and well-being of our fellow citizens. 

The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing is a national, multifaith organization dedicated to promoting sexual health, education and justice in faith communities and society.  Our network of more than 3,000 clergy, theologians and religious leaders supports reproductive choice, access to sexual and reproductive health care, comprehensive sexuality education, and the elimination of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity. 

We are encouraged by the agenda you have set forth for your administration, and we pledge our support to your efforts, and those of the Congress, in advancing the following priorities:

• An end to more than 10 years of federal support for ineffective, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and a renewed commitment to comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education throughout the life span. 

As religious leaders, we hope that young people will learn about their sexuality not primarily from the entertainment media or their peers, but from their parents, faith communities and school-based programs that address the biological, psychological, cultural, ethical and spiritual dimensions of sexuality. 

The research is conclusive:  Abstinence-only education has no impact on reducing teen pregnancy, delaying sexual initiation or reducing sexually transmitted infections (STIs).  Adolescents who receive comprehensive sexuality education have a substantially lower risk of teenage pregnancy than those who receive abstinence-only education or no sex education at all.  Teaching about contraception is not associated with an increase in sexual activity or STIs. 

• Full access to affordable, high-quality sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, emergency contraception, abortion, prenatal care, adoption, HIV/STI prevention and treatment, and safe and proven assisted reproductive technologies. We also urge support for a global HIV/AIDS program free of abstinence-only restrictions.

It is precisely because we regard life as sacred that we believe it should not be created carelessly.  As religious leaders committed to women's moral agency, we cannot support any strategy to make abortion more difficult to obtain.  Rather, we must ensure that women have both the motivation (good education, jobs and hope for their futures) and the resources (including comprehensive sexuality education and access to high-quality family planning services) that will enable them to avoid unintended pregnancies.  Knowing of your commitment to women’s reproductive health, we were disheartened by the ease with which family planning services were eliminated from the stimulus package.

Recognizing that rates of unintended births are five times higher among low-income women, that more than half of the unwanted children in the U.S. are born into poverty, and that HIV/AIDS infections disproportionately affect poor communities and people of color, we must ensure that all citizens, regardless of income or geography, have access to sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services.

We applaud your decision to rescind the Mexico City Policy, and support your intention to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the goal of which is to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries.   We further support your call for a comprehensive, national HIV/AIDS strategy that will help reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and eliminate economic disparities in HIV-related health care.

• Full equality – including marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act – for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons and their families. 

Living in a time of rapid social change calls us to recognize the diversity of God’s creation and to honor the many ways in which people live and love.  As advocates for the full equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens, we strongly endorse your commitment to an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protects both sexual orientation and gender identity, equal adoption rights for lesbians and gay men, and repeal of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act and the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

While we agree with your commitment to ensure that same-sex couples have the same legal rights and benefits as other married couples, we hope you will consider that the best way to achieve this goal is not through civil unions, but full marriage equality.  Civil marriage is a gateway to a vast array of legal protections, responsibilities and benefits, most of which cannot be replicated in any other way.  Civil unions and domestic partnerships are not portable from one state to another, and they do not provide the same economic security and legal protections that civil marriage affords. 

Civil rights protections and the legal benefits of marriage strengthen families, enabling them to build stable, empowering and respectful relationships.  Equally important, because marriage represents the ultimate expression of love and commitment between two people, it confers a measure of dignity and social recognition that civil unions do not.  Surely our lesbian and gay citizens deserve this measure of equality as well.

Last summer, ahead of the vote on Proposition 8 in California, more than 2,200 ordained clergy from 50 faith traditions and all 50 states (as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) endorsed our Open Letter to Religious Leaders on Marriage Equality.  Seven denominations, from Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist traditions, also have called for marriage equality for same-sex couples. 

Our positions on these issues are grounded not only in social and scientific research, but also in the experience of individuals and communities who are frequently overlooked or marginalized in our society.  Our positions uphold a consistent Biblical mandate, also expressed in other sacred texts, to love, do justice, seek equality, and act with compassion.  Most important, they reflect a faithful affirmation of sexuality as a divine blessing, an embodied capacity for expressing love and generating life, for building relationships of mutual respect, and for promoting the well-being of people and society. 

In the last nine years, over 3,500 religious leaders from more than 50 faith traditions have endorsed the Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, which recognizes sexuality as “central to our humanity and integral to our spirituality.”  In that time, the Religious Institute has published a series of Open Letters to Religious Leaders, articulating progressive, theologically informed positions on sexuality education, abortion as a moral decision, marriage equality, adolescent sexuality, sexual and gender diversity, and assisted reproductive technologies.  Together the Religious Declaration and Open Letters – written in collaboration with prominent theologians from a range of religious backgrounds – constitute a platform for sexual justice that we encourage your administration and the Congress to adopt and actively promote. 

Mr. President, congratulations on an auspicious start to a historic Presidency and a promising new era for our nation.  The Religious Institute is eager to serve your efforts to create a sexually healthy, sexually responsible, and sexually just society for all of our people.  I hope you will call on me if I can be of service.

Sincerely, 

Rev. Debra W. Haffner

Director