THE BATTALION MAROON LIFE 14
Religion, prayer, sex, oh my!
Hannah Shaffer— THE BATTALION
The conversation about sexual education should be had regardless of religious beliefs, as many students use college as a time to experiment sexually with partners.
Students of different faiths describe their thoughts, practices regarding sexual activities, religious beliefs By Michaela Rush @Michaela4Batt
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ith nearly 100 religious student organizations and ministries of all faiths across Bryan-College Station, Texas A&M has no shortage of students of faith. Despite this openness, college students contin-
ue to grapple with how their faith influences their sexual choices and activity. As the campus minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America for A&M, more commonly known as Treehouse Ministries, Pastor Jerry Wirtley said discussions surrounding sex within the Lutheran context are frequent among his congregation. “The Biblical understanding of marriage is consummation,” Wirtley said. “So how does [sex outside of marriage] work, and how do we still understand that God knows us and loves us regardless? Some of that conversation is knowing that we’re still loved and we’re still good. It doesn’t mean that what we did was bad.” Wirtley said, in addition to the modern-day
implications, when it comes to the text of the Bible, it’s difficult to extract the full meaning of text from passages. “The Bible talks a lot about sex, even when [we] think it’s not talking about sex,” Wirtley said. “There’s a lot of times in the Bible when it talks about someone knowing someone else, especially in the Old Testament. When it says, ‘a person knew a person,’ that carries a sexual connotation: an intimate connotation with it that we don’t think about or remember.” Wirtley said he believes the choice for students to participate in sexual activity should be taken seriously, but ultimately it is their choice. “I don’t believe God is going to look at you any differently if you have relationships
here and now,” Wirtley said. “Know there are ways to protect yourself from some of these consequences, and take those precautions. Understand what could happen, and be ready to accept that. To me, that’s the hardest part of the conversation. It’s not about the religion or the shaming; it’s about [being] ready for the consequences that [may] come.” Though many on-campus ministries are based in the Christian tradition, A&M is home to students of every world faith. For education junior Aminah Abodunrin, being Muslim has allowed her to acknowledge how differently each student takes their family and religious values into college, she said. “Everybody’s different, their experiences are different, so based on how you were
