Saturday, March 10, 2018

Hypocrisy Alert: Trump Administration Pushes Abstinence-Only Education

Coincidence?  Not at all.


A serial adulterer who has boasted about sexually assaulting women occupies the White House thanks to evangelical Christians. So what are these "godly folk" pushing?  Abstinence only sex education which study after study have found NOT to work.  Indeed, industrial nations with science based comprehensive sex education programs have far lower teen pregnancy rates than the United States.  Likewise, states with the most comprehensive, fact based sex education programs have far lower teen pregnancy rates than deep red states in the so-called Bible belt which has the highest teen pregnancy rate and the highest divorce rate  - and the highest usage of Internet pornography - which suggests that evangelicals ought to be worrying more about their own sex lives (and that of their "dear leader") than those of others.  The idiocy and hypocrisy is off the charts.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at this batshitry (I have edited out the false term "social conservatives):

Abstinence-only sex education — long-championed by [Christian extremists] social conservatives — is reemerging as the preferred approach during the Trump administration, a political era in which there's increasing attention to the alleged past sexual activity of its leader.
[Christian extremists] Social conservatives at the Department of Health and Human Services say the current White House is more supportive of abstinence education than the Obama administration.
In addition to allocating millions of dollars to programs that encourage teens to abstain from sex, groups seeking Title X federal family planning funds are being asked to place a “meaningful emphasis” on “the benefits of avoiding sex” in their sex education and to avoid programs that “normalize sexual risk behaviors.”
But data shows that teens are having sex less and that the teen pregnancy rate has declined, arguably in part because of the more comprehensive sex education programs of the Obama era.
Births among Hispanic and black teens have dropped by nearly half since 2006, according to the CDC.
And the most recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics reported that the teen birthrate in the United States is at a record low, dropping below 25 births per 1,000 teen females for the first time since the government began collecting consistent data on births to teens ages 15 to 19.
Perhaps support for abstinence-only education is in part rooted in what is happening in the communities of [Christian extremists] social conservatives. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof said:
“When evangelical kids have sex, they’re less likely to use birth control — and that may be a reason (along with lower abortion rates) that red states have high teen birthrates.
Nine of the 10 states with the highest teen birthrates voted Republican in 2016. And nine of the 10 states with the lowest teen birthrates voted Democratic.”
[T]he 10 states with the highest teen birthrates are: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee. President Trump won in all those states except New Mexico.
Despite the interest in teens' sex lives from some affiliated with [Christian extremist] socially conservative groups, others from those same organizations appear to have little concern about the sex life of the president they support.
Robert Jeffress, who also is one of Trump’s most high-profile faith advisers, told Fox News: “Evangelicals still believe in the commandment: Thou shalt not have sex with a porn star. However, whether this president violated that commandment or not is totally irrelevant to our support of him.”
Trump has failed to be a strong leader when it comes to morals, especially sexual ethics. In addition to reports about his infidelity, nearly 20 women have accused the president of sexual misconduct.


It is far past time that the deceptive term "social conservatives" cease being used by the media.  These groups and their followers need to be accurately called what they are, Christian extremists.  As for their claims of moral superiority, their loyalty to Trump underscores their utter hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy.  Give me a moral atheist any day over a "godly Christians."

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