Sex & the Church

In a challenging and plain-spoken document, the Church of England last week called on all Britons to revise their think ing about sexual offenders. A special council set up to study the problem said that the church sternly and without reservation "condemns all infractions of the Christian teaching on sexual chastity," but nevertheless contends that "long experience has shown that it is futile to attempt to crush sexual immorality by statutory measures and police action." Because consideration of the subject "is repugnant to many thinking people, for many years much-needed reforms in the laws relating to homosexual offenses and prostitution have been postponed."

Laws and policemen, said the report, are right to "punish procuration, the keeping of brothels and offenses against decency," but sexual malpractice itself can in the end "only be defeated by education." A first step in the educational process, according to the churchmen, would be to erase "the double standard of sexual morality which condemns in women what it condones in men."

Specifically, the church report recommends that:

Existing laws providing prison sentences (up to life imprisonment) for homosexual offenses between consenting adult males be abolished from the statute books completely.

New laws be drafted to penalize homosexuality with children or when it affronts public decency, involves assault, violence, fraud or duress. In assessing penalty, "regard shall be paid to the physical and psychological condition of the offender."

A uniform law be passed, effective throughout the nation, for dealing with solicitation of one sex by another.

"There should be no departure from the generally accepted principle that the law does not concern itself with the private irregular or immoral sexual relationships of consenting men and women." But there should be stricter safeguards for the young, and the age of consent should be raised from 16 to 17 years.

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