Christian Faith

and

Sexual Relationships

The main concern of the Church, when it is being true to itself, has always been to foster the relationship of individual Christians with God, and to set forth this relationship as the most important element in the life of the individual. As a convinced Christian, I believe that this aim is absolutely right. But I am persuaded that in trying to attain it both the Church as a whole and individual Christians have taken a line which is both unintelligent and, though they would be the last to admit it, unchristian. This is not always due to narrow-mindedness or intolerance, but to an over-restricted zeal to foster the most important element in human life at the expense of others which may, in their place, be equally important.

Two of the most important factors in the make-up of human beings are their capacity for rational thought and their emotional relationships with other human beings, in which sexual feeling plays a great part. If the Chris-

tian religion is true, these two elements must be harnessed to the supreme aim of communion with God. But from the very beginning the Church has been inclined to make the mistake of harnessing them by trying to abolish them, or at least by tolerating them only within very narrow limits. The result has been that in most denominations there has been a gradual retreat before the advance of scientific thought, until the Church has been forced to realize that understanding of objective truth, far from making knowledge of God more difficult, is an integral part of it. There is a risk, of course, that a number of people will be deflected by their thinking from a concern with religion or from belief in God: but that is a risk which any religion which claims to be true ought to be only too willing to take. This process has been going on since the Reformation to some extent, and at a great rate during the last hundred years. But it is only recently

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