Abstinence-Only Education Analysis

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In the documentary Abstinence Comes to Albuquerque, abstinence-only education stirred up a controversy. The controversy brought a variety of social and political issues out into the light. One social issue is the stigma associated with sexual behavior or sexual experience and a policy concern is that religion is influencing public policy. Even after a federally authorized Mathematica study exposed the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education both Congressional Democrats and Republicans continued to fund these programs. The reasons behind this action includes fear of the topic of sex and not wanting to do anything that will upset their constituency, thus hurting their chances of reelection. The stigma associated with sex has a long history that is based around the Christian roots of this country. Evangelical Christians look at sex before marriage and any talk about sex as inappropriate and sinful. As much as 81 percent …show more content…

The First Amendment to the Unites States Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This principle is better known as the separation of church and state government. Forcing public policy based around religious beliefs is against these founding principles. If there was some science supporting the push for abstinence-only education then it would be justified, but there is none. Ideology should not be put above science. Policy needs to be value free and not pushing a moral based ideology. Religious beliefs are fine for ones private life or a particular community, but it needs to be kept out of public policy. Governing based on the guidelines of religion undermines the best interests of a country, as these precepts are based on faith, not logic, evidence, or rational thinking. Religious beliefs cannot be what a policy is based

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