When Fellowship Church Rev. Ed Young last month called for members of his evangelical mega-church to have seven days of sex, he said it was to foster intimacy and faithfulness. But I wondered what else the quirky young pastor might turn up—on purpose or not—with his new headline-grabbing campaign.
Having frequent sex is believed to help ward off prostate cancer, heart problems, depression, and even outward signs of aging. So even if just a core group of Fellowship’s 20,000 members manage to double their rates of “congregational copulation”—as Young suggested—they might reap some physical benefits too.
(The anti-aging part: A 10–year study found that couples who do it three or more times a week look 10 years younger than their less-active peers. “Love” is required for this particular boon, by the way, so masturbation and casual sex don’t count.)
But Young is more interested in spiritual health. His idea that “sex is the superglue” of marriage is hardly controversial, not even among churchgoing Protestants. At least one other church is doing the same, and you may remember the Christian couple who came out with a book about having sex 365 days in a row.
None of these campaigns constitutes a let-down-your-hair love-in, considering the very specific rules about who should be jumping in the sack more (spouses) and who can get married in the first place (straight people). But it’s hard to argue with a message that fosters more communication.
“I think it was really brilliant for this pastor to do that if it gets those congregants talking about sex,” sexologist Pega Ren, EdD, tells me about Fellowship’s new campaign. “If they are having discussions with each other about what does this mean in our relationship, and do we meet each others’ needs…well then, I think it’s wonderful.”
And there is a national intimacy shortage. Americans have sex less often than many other nationalities (not just the French and Greeks), according to a new 26-country survey about sex habits worldwide from the Durex condom company. Our numbers are actually dropping: In 2004, Americans reported having sex 111 times a year compared with 86 in early 2008.
But why the concern among Christian leaders?
I wonder if the pulpit’s extra attention to marriage might have something to do with nervousness about gay Americans wanting in on the institution. (“I cannot believe that our nation is trying to redefine marriage,” Young has said. “God has said from cover to cover, marriage is for one man and one woman in this commitment.”)
It’s an institution in disarray that’s sometimes hard to exalt as godly: The U.S. divorce rate is the highest in the world and the proportion of children living with their biological parents is among the lowest.
Will seven days of church-sanctioned nooky spark a movement to reverse those numbers? I don’t know, but some of them will sure have fun trying.
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