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36 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, November 5, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 20, 2004 Church teens want more sex info By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Teens who are religious would like more information about sex, and they would be happy to get it from their churches, a researcher said Tuesday during a visit to Southern Oregon. "If our churches will do more, young people will respond to it," said Steve Clapp, author of a study that polled nearly 6,000 teens, all active in their congregations, about their sexual attitudes and practices. Clapp’s book, "Faith Matters: Teenagers, Religion & Sexuality," uncovers some surprises about religious teens: Three in 10 of those surveyed said they had engaged in sexual intercourse or oral sex or both by the 12th grade; and about one in 10 described themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation. The vast majority (94 percent) of respondents said their church teaches that intercourse before marriage is wrong, but barely more than half (54 percent) share that belief. "Kids have tremendously mixed feelings about these things," Clapp said during an interview. "Young people wrestle with whether what they do is right." Advertisement Clapp came to the Rogue Valley at the invitation of Planned Parenthood to talk to local pastors about providing sexuality information to the young people in their congregations. He spoke to pastors Tuesday evening at Medford’s First United Methodist Church and was scheduled to meet with pastors and church members again early today. He said the survey indicated that specific, detailed information about sexuality did not encourage religious teens to have sex, but it did prevent them from getting pregnant or contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Those conclusions were based on responses from congregations that provided teens with comprehensive information about sex. Among those congregations (which represented 8 percent of the total), respondents reported no pregnancies or cases of sexually transmitted diseases. Among the other congregations in the study group, 11 percent of the sexually active teens had experienced a pregnancy, and 9 percent had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, he said. "We need to have confidence in the ability of teens to make responsible decisions if they’re given accurate information and guidance," he said. "We tend to underestimate their ability to make decisions." Clapp’s book is based on interviews with teens from 635 religious congregations across the United States. Researchers surveyed high school-age students from 38 Protestant denominations, as well as Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Unitarians. It’s published by LifeQuest Publications, a division of Christian Community, a nonprofit church-support group based in Fort Wayne, Ind. He said Southern Oregon congregations were included in the survey, but he could not identify them without violating the confidentiality promise that was given to all churches that agreed to participate. Clapp said religious teens, like their secular peers, get much of their information about sex from friends and the media. Religious teens are "unquestionably" less likely to have sex than non-religious teens, but it’s hard to say whether teens’ connection to a church makes them less sexually active, or if teens who are by nature less likely to experiment sexually remain active in their congregations, he said. "Young people in faith-based institutions all take sexual intercourse very seriously," he said. "They don’t all accept what their church teaches about it, but they are not casual about it." Copies of "Faith Matters" are available for $15 at Christian Community’s Web site:www.churchstuff.com or from Planned Parenthood, 770-3331. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. 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