Religion and Sexuality

Robert Warren Cromey’s “Celebrate, and Guide, Sexuality” (Column Left, May 31) contains some very uncomfortable truths. While many religious groups spend their considerable resources and energies trying to stamp out “forbidden sex” (in one form or another), they seem strangely mute on the really crucial issues of the times. That list is very long and very familiar: hunger, war, drugs, homelessness, battered wives and children, white-collar crime, prejudice and, of course, AIDS.

Given the fact that sexual abstinence (i.e., just say “no”) has proven itself to be highly unrealistic in today’s world, it would appear some religious leaders prefer death by AIDS rather than condoning something that (along with education) could eventually wipe out the disease: condoms. At the same time, these birth-control devices would, more than any other single thing, make a major impact on hunger and poverty in Third World countries.

And the price for this? More people would enjoy sex. Not a pleasant thought!

RON WHITTAKER, Simi Valley