Editing Religion and sexuality (section)

===Christianity===
{{main category|Sexuality in Christianity}}
{{See also|Fornication|Christianity and sexual orientation|Homosexuality and Christianity|Phallic saints}}
The [[Old Testament]] and [[Christianity]] have historically affirmed and endorsed a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] and [[Heteronormativity|heteronormative]] approach toward [[human sexuality]],<ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/><ref name="Leeming 2003"/> favouring exclusively [[Heterosexual intercourse|penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women]] within the boundaries of [[marriage]] over all other forms of [[human sexual activity]],<ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/><ref name="Leeming 2003"/> including [[autoeroticism]], [[masturbation]], [[anal sex]], [[oral sex]], [[Non-penetrative sex|non-penetrative]] and [[Homosexual sexual practices|non-heterosexual]] sexual intercourse (all of which have been labeled as "[[sodomy]]" at various times),<ref name="Sauer 2015 74–78"/> believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they're considered [[sin]]ful,<ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/><ref name="Leeming 2003"/> and further compared to or derived from the behavior of the alleged residents of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]].<ref name="Gnuse 2015">{{cite journal |last=Gnuse |first=Robert K. |date=May 2015 |title=Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality |journal=[[Biblical Theology Bulletin]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc. |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=68–87 |doi=10.1177/0146107915577097 |issn=1945-7596 |s2cid=170127256}}</ref><ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/>

In the [[New Testament]], [[Jesus]] discussed little about [[Sexual intercourse|sex]], and most of the information about sex comes from the [[Old Testament]] and [[Pauline epistles|Paul's writings]], and some are controversial today.<ref name="Section I.10 - Human Sexuality">{{cite web|title=Section I.10 - Human Sexuality|url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/document-library/lambeth-conference/1998/section-i-called-to-full-humanity/section-i10-human-sexuality|website=anglicancommunion.org|access-date=4 January 2020}}</ref>

Sexuality carried out between [[Heterosexuality|different sexes]], between 2 people ([[Monogamy]], although [[Polygamy in Christianity|polygamy]] is not forbidden) and in particular [[procreation]], is generally understood as the ideal state.<ref>Tuovinen, Liisa (Sexuality in Different Cultures, 2008), p. 15.</ref><ref name=BOS>{{Cite book |last=Boswell |first=John |title=The Marriage of Likeness: Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe |publisher=Fontana |year=1996 |isbn=9780006863267 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3MiAQAAMAAJ |access-date=April 20, 2021}}</ref>

There is [[conjugal love]] through ''[[Song of Songs]]'' in which it is about [[eroticism]] and [[Romance (love)|romance]].<ref>Guy Bechtel, The Four Women of God, Zeta Editorial, ISBN 978-84- 96778 -78-8</ref>

====New Testament====
{{see also|The Bible and homosexuality}}

[[Paul the Apostle]] stated in [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practising self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion."<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|7:8–9|NRSV}}</ref> Importantly, Paul's view of sex is also that it is actually unnecessary for those with certain gifts<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%207&version=NIV|title=Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 7 – New International Version|website=Bible Gateway}}</ref> (presumably [[Celibacy#Christianity|"celibacy"]]). [[Jennifer Wright Knust]] says Paul framed desire a force Christians gained control over whereas non-Christians were "enslaved" by it.<ref name="Knust2005">{{cite book|author=Jennifer Wright Knust|author-link=Jennifer Knust|title=Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AUEAmdWwuUC&pg=PA1|date=9 November 2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51004-2|pages=51, 67, 78}}</ref> Further, Paul says the bodies of Christians were members of [[Body of Christ|Christ's body]] and thus sexual desire must be eschewed.<ref name="Knust2005" />

New Testament scholar [[N. T. Wright]] asserts that Paul absolutely forbade fornication, irrespective of a new Christian's former cultural practices. Wright notes "If a Corinthian were to say, 'Because I'm a Corinthian, I have always had a string of girl-friends I sleep with, that's part of our culture,' Paul would respond, 'Not now you're a Christian you don't.'... When someone disagreed with Paul's clear rules on immorality or angry disputes, the matters he deals with in Colossians 3.5–10, he is... firm, as we see dramatically in 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. There is no place in the Christian fellowship for such practices and for such a person."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Communion_Koinonia.htm |title=Communion and Koinonia: Pauline Reflections on Tolerance and Boundaries |website=Ntwrightpage.com |date=12 July 2016 |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref>

Some have suggested that Paul's treatment of sex was influenced by his conviction that the [[Christian eschatology|end of the world]] was imminent. Under this view, Paul, believing that the world would soon end, took it as a corollary that all earthly concerns,<ref name="biblegateway1">{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%207 |title=1 Corinthians 7 – Concerning Married Life – Now for the |publisher=Bible Gateway |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref> including sex, should hold little interest for Christians.<ref>{{harvp|Brundage|1987|pp=59–61}}</ref> [[Pauline epistles|Paul's letters]] show far greater concern with sexual issues than the gospel writers attributed to Jesus, since Paul was building Christian communities over decades and responding to various issues that arose.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church at Corinth |url=https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/church-at-corinth |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=bibleodyssey.org |archive-date=2022-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725181324/https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/church-at-corinth |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The theologian Lee Gatiss states that "the word 'fornication' has gone out of fashion and is not in common use to describe non-marital sex. However, it is an excellent translation for [the Biblical term] {{Lang|grc-Latn|porneíā}}, which basically referred to any kind of sex outside of marriage... This has been contested... but the overwhelming weight of scholarship and all the available evidence from the ancient world points firmly in this direction. 'Flee sexual immorality ({{Lang|grc-Latn|porneíā}}) and pursue self-control' (cf. 1 Thess 4:1–8) was the straightforward message to Christians in a sex-crazed world."<ref name="theologian.org.uk">{{cite web |title=The Issue of Pre-Marital Sex |author=Lee Gatiss |publisher=The Theologian |year=2005 |url=http://www.theologian.org.uk/pastoralia/premartialsex.html}}</ref>

====Early Christianity====
In [[early Christianity]], reflection on scriptural texts introduced an [[eschatological]] [[hermeneutic]] to the reading of the [[Book of Genesis]]. The [[Garden of Eden]] was seen as a normative ideal state to which Christians were to strive; writers linked the future enjoyment of [[Heaven]] to the original blessedness of Adam and Eve in their reflections.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Gary |title=Celibacy or Consummation in the Garden? Reflections on Early Jewish and Christian Interpretations of the Garden of Eden |journal=Harvard Theological Review |date=April 1989 |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=121–148 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000016084 |s2cid=161371876 }}</ref>

The valuation of [[virginity]] in the ancient church brought into relief a tension between the Genesis injunction to "be fruitful and multiply"<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|1:28}}</ref> with its understood contextual implication of marriage as a social institution, and the interpretation of the superiority of virginity over marriage, sexual activity and family formation from the Gospel texts [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt+19%3A11-12&version=NIV Matt 19:11-12], [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19:29&version=NIV Matt 19:29]. One way patristic thinkers tried to harmonize the texts was through the position that there had actually been no sexual intercourse in Eden: on this reading, sex happened after the [[fall of man]] and the expulsion from Eden, thus preserving virginity as the perfect state both in the historical [[Paradise]] and the anticipated Heaven. [[John Chrysostom]], [[Gregory of Nyssa]], [[Justin Martyr]], [[Epiphanius of Salamis]], and [[Irenaeus of Lyons]] all espoused this view:
* [[Gregory of Nyssa]], ''On Virginity'', 12 "He did not yet judge of what was lovely by taste or sight; he found in the Lord alone all that was sweet; and he used the helpmeet given him only for this delight, as Scripture signifies when it said that 'he knew her not' till he was driven forth from the garden, and till she, for the sin which she was decoyed into committing, was sentenced to the pangs of childbirth. We, then, who in our first ancestor were thus ejected, are allowed to return to our earliest state of blessedness by the very same stages by which we lost Paradise. What are they? Pleasure, craftily offered, began the Fall, and there followed after pleasure shame, and fear, even to remain longer in the sight of their Creator, so that they hid themselves in leaves and shade; and after that they covered themselves with the skins of dead animals; and then were sent forth into this pestilential and exacting land where, as the compensation for having to die, marriage was instituted".<ref>St. Gregory of Nyssa, "{{Lang|grc-Latn|Contra fornicarios oratio}}," trans. by William Moore & Henry Austin Wilson, in Philip Schaff & Henry Wace, eds., ''Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers'', Second Series № 5 (Buffalo, N.Y.: Christian Literature Publishing, 1893) [revised & edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight (2017), "[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2907.htm Church Fathers: On Virginity]," accessed 2019‑10‑07].</ref>
* [[John Chrysostom]], ''On Virginity'', 14.3 "When the whole world had been completed and all had been readied for our repose and use, God fashioned man for whom he made the world... Man did need a helper, and she came into being; not even then did marriage seem necessary... Desire for sexual intercourse, conception, labor, childbirth, and every form of corruption had been banished from their souls. As a clear river shooting forth from a pure source, so they were in that place adorned by virginity." 15.2 "Why did marriage not appear before the treachery? Why was there no intercourse in paradise? Why not the pains of childbirth before the curse? Because at that time these things were superfluous."<ref>{{harvp|Miller|2005|p=290}}.</ref>
* [[Irenaeus]], ''[[Against Heresies]]'', Book 3, ch 22:4 "But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise they were both naked, and were not ashamed, inasmuch as they, having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to adult age, and then multiply from that time onward), having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103322.htm |title=CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, III.22 (St. Irenaeus) |website=Newadvent.org |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref>
* [[Epiphanius of Salamis]], ''[[Panarion]]'', 78.17–19 "And as in paradise Eve, still a virgin, fell into the sin of disobedience, once more through the Virgin [Mary] came the obedience of grace."<ref>{{harvp|Miller|2005|p=293}}</ref>
* [[Justin Martyr]], ''[[Dialogue with Trypho]]'', ch 100 "For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01287.htm |title=CHURCH FATHERS: Dialogue with Trypho, Chapters 89-108 (Justin Martyr) |website=Newadvent.org |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref>

Prof. John Noonan suggests that "if one asks... where the Christian Fathers derived their notions on marital intercourse – notions which have no express biblical basis – the answer must be, chiefly from the [[Stoics]]".<ref name="Noonan_68">{{harvp|Noonan|1965|p=68}}</ref> He uses texts from [[Musonius Rufus]], [[Seneca the Younger]], and [[Ocellus Lucanus]], tracing works of [[Clement of Alexandria]], [[Origen]] and [[Jerome]] to the works of these earlier thinkers,<ref name="Noonan_68"/> particularly as pertaining to the permissible use of the sexual act, which in the Stoic model must be subdued, dispassionate, and justified by its procreative [[intent]].<ref>{{harvp|Noonan|1965|pp=67–68}}</ref>

[[Augustine of Hippo]] had a different challenge: to respond to the errors of [[Manichaeism]].<ref name="Noonan, John Thomas p. 169">{{harvp|Noonan|1965|p=169}}</ref> The Manichees, according to Augustine, were "opposed to marriage, because they are opposed to procreation which is the purpose of marriage".<ref name="Noonan, John Thomas p. 169"/> "The method of [[contraception]] practised by these Manichees whom Augustine knew is the use of the sterile period as determined by Greek medicine",<ref name="Noonan, John Thomas p. 169"/> which Augustine condemns (this stands in contrast to the contemporarily permitted Catholic use of [[Natural family planning]]). [[Elaine Pagels]] says, "By the beginning of the fifth century, Augustine had actually declared that spontaneous sexual desire is the proof of—and penalty for—universal original sin", though that this view goes against "most of his Christian predecessors".<ref name="Pagels2011">{{cite book|author=Elaine Pagels|title=Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btufm2vXzpEC&pg=PR17|date=5 October 2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-80735-9|pages=xvii-xix}}</ref>

As monastic communities developed, the sexual lives of monks came under scrutiny from two theologians, [[John Cassian]] and [[Caesarius of Arles]], who commented on the "vices" of the solitary life. "Their concerns were not with the act of masturbation, but with the monks who vowed chastity. The monks' vow made masturbation an illicit act; the act itself was not considered sinful...  In fact... prior to Cassian, masturbation was not considered a sexual offence for anyone."<ref name="Keenan2010">{{cite book|last=Keenan |first=James F. |author-link=James F. Keenan|title=A History of Catholic Moral Theology in the Twentieth Century: From Confessing Sins to Liberating Consciences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWbtc5XPMw0C&pg=PA45|date=17 January 2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-8264-2929-2|page=45}}</ref>

====Catholicism====
{{Main|Catholic theology of sexuality}}
{{See also|Theology of the Body|Christian views on masturbation}}
From the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Catholic Church formally recognized [[Fruit of the Holy Spirit|marriage between a freely consenting, baptized man and woman]] as a [[sacrament]] – an outward sign communicating a special gift of God's love. The [[Council of Florence]] in 1438 gave this definition, following earlier church statements in 1208, and declared that sexual union was a special participation in the union of Christ in the church.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09707a.htm |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Sacrament of Marriage |website=Newadvent.org |date=1910-10-01 |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref> However the [[Puritans]], while highly valuing the institution, viewed marriage as a "civil", rather than a "religious" matter, being "under the jurisdiction of the civil courts".<ref name="Feige, Diana 1995 P109">{{cite journal |last1=Feige |first1=Diana |first2=Franz G M. |last2=Feige |title=Love, Marriage, and Family in Puritan Society |journal=Dialogue & Alliance |volume=9 |issue=1 |date=1 March 1995 |pages=96–114 }}</ref> This is because they found no biblical precedent for clergy performing marriage ceremonies. Further, marriage was said to be for the "relief of [[concupiscence]]"<ref name="Feige, Diana 1995 P109"/> as well as any spiritual purpose.

The Catholic moral theologian [[Charles Curran (theologian)|Charles E. Curran]] stated "the fathers of the Church are practically silent on the simple question of masturbation".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T08zZBoY7uYC&q=the+fathers+of+the+Church+are+pratically+silent+on+the+simple+question+of+masturbation&pg=PA59 |title=Christians, Feminists, and the Culture of Pornography |author=Arthur J. Mielke |page=59 |access-date=2017-06-30|isbn=9780819197658 |year=1995 |publisher=University Press of America }}</ref>

The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' teaches that "the flesh is the hinge of salvation".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art11.htm#1015 |title=Catechism |website=Usccb.org |date=2015-08-14 |access-date=2017-06-30 |archive-date=2008-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821172548/http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art11.htm#1015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ''Catechism'' indicates that sexual relationships in marriage is "a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity"<ref>{{Cite CCC|2.1|2335}}</ref> and lists fornication as one of the "offenses against chastity",<ref name=":0">{{Cite CCC|2.1|2352}}</ref> calling it "an intrinsically and gravely disordered action" because "use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose".<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web
 | title = Persona Humana:Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics, Section IX
 | work = Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
 |date=December 29, 1975
 | url = http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_df75se.htm
 | access-date = 2006-08-29 }}</ref> The "conjugal act" aims "at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul"<ref>{{Cite CCC|2.1|1643}}</ref> since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity.<ref>{{Cite CCC|2.1|1617}}</ref>

[[Pope John Paul II]]'s first major teaching was on the [[Catholic theology of the body|theology of the body]], presented in a series of [[Theology of the Body|lectures by the same name]]. Over the course of five years he elucidated a vision of sex that was not only positive and affirming but was about redemption, not condemnation. He taught that by understanding God's plan for physical love we could understand "the meaning of the whole of existence, the meaning of life."<ref>{{cite web |title=General Audience, 6 |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb45.htm |author=Pope John Paul II |date=29 October 1980 |publisher=L'Osservatore Romano |access-date=2006-09-15}}</ref> He taught that human beings were created by a loving God for a purpose: to be loving persons who freely choose to love, to give themselves as persons who express their self-giving through their bodies. Thus, sexual intercourse between husband and wife is a [[symbol]] of their total mutual self-donation.{{Original research inline|date=June 2016}}

For John Paul II, "The body, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine." He says there is no other more perfect [[image]] of the unity and communion of God in mutual love than the sexual act of a married couple, whereby they give themselves in a total way – exclusively to one another, and up to the end of their lives, and in a fruitfully generous way by participating in the [[Insemination|creation]] of new human beings. Through this perspective, he understands the immorality of extra-marital sex. It falsifies the language of the human body, a language of total love worthy of persons by using the body for selfish ends, thus treating persons as things and objects, rather than dealing with embodied persons with the reverence and love that incarnate spirits deserve. John Paul II stresses that there is great [[beauty]] in sexual love when done in [[harmony]] with the human values of freely chosen total commitment and self-giving. For him, this sexual love is a form of [[worship]], an experience of the [[sacred]].<ref>Theology of Marriage and Celibacy, Boston, St. Paul Books and Media 1986</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/sexuality/the-pope-s-theology-of-the-body.html | author=Christopher West | work=Catholic Education Resource Center | title=John Paul II's Theology of the Body | access-date=2009-09-29 }}</ref>

Roman Catholics believe that masturbation is a sin.<ref name="Cardinal2005">{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html|title=Persona Humana: Declaration on certain questions concerning sexual ethics|last=Cardinal Seper|first=Franjo|date=2005-12-29|publisher=The Roman Curia|work=§ IX|access-date=2008-07-23}}</ref>

In September 2015, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responsible for enforcing Catholic doctrine, did not permit a transgender man in Spain to serve as a godfather effectively barring transgender Catholics from serving as a baptismal sponsors. The statement concluded: "[...] the result is evident that this person does not possess the requisite of leading a life conformed to the faith and to the position of godfather (CIC, can 874 §1,3), therefore is not able to be admitted to the position of godmother nor godfather. One should not see this as discrimination, but only the recognition of an objective absence of the requisites that by their nature are necessary to assume the ecclesial responsibility of being a godparent."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Roman Catholic Church |url=https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-roman-catholic-church |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=Human Rights Campaign |language=en-US}}</ref>

====Protestantism====
{{main|Fornication#Mainstream Protestantism}}
[[File:United States Adultery Laws Enacted by Year by State.svg|thumb|Laws against [[adultery]] in the United States in 1996 and when these laws were enacted]]
Views over sexuality in [[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches differ.

Conservative Protestants assert that any and all sex outside of marriage, including that conducted between committed, engaged or cohabiting couples, is the sin of fornication.<ref>{{cite book |title=Luther on Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BE8yAl6K0tQC&q=sex|author=Susan C. Karant-Nunn and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks|access-date=5 June 2014|page=11|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-65884-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Helm|first=Paul|title=Sex, Marriage, and Family in John Calvin's Geneva, Volume 1: Courtship, Engagement, and Marriage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IlWH2jHaj1YC&q=john+calvin+cohabitation&pg=PA417|publisher=Reformation21|access-date=3 October 2014|date=July 2006|isbn=9780802848031}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://oratoiredulouvre.fr/faq/sexualite-et-foi.php|title=xxx|first=Marc Pernot, pasteur de l'Eglise Protestante Unie de|last=France|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920143847/https://oratoiredulouvre.fr/faq/sexualite-et-foi.php|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://oratoiredulouvre.fr/faq/j-ai-du-mal-a-trouver-la-paix-apres-une-aventure-avec-un-homme-qui-ne-m-aimait-pas.php|title=J'ai du mal à trouver la paix après une aventure avec un homme qui ne m'aimait pas ?|first=Marc Pernot, pasteur de l'Eglise Protestante Unie de|last=France|access-date=17 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920144451/https://oratoiredulouvre.fr/faq/j-ai-du-mal-a-trouver-la-paix-apres-une-aventure-avec-un-homme-qui-ne-m-aimait-pas.php|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust |date=19 August 2009 |publisher=Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |url=http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/SexualitySS.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/SexualitySS.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Unlike Roman Catholics, certain Protestants do not disapprove of [[Christian views on masturbation#Protestantism|masturbation]] due to the lack of a Biblical injunction against the act, including mainline<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fragen.evangelisch.de/frage/3072/position-zur-masturbation |title=Position zur Masturbation |language=de|website=Fragen.evangelisch.de |date=2013-05-30 |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Reaction to sex report pours in on Lutherans |journal=National Catholic Reporter |volume=30 |issue=3 |date=November 1993 |page=12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcusa.org/get/resources/resource/12036/ |title=Presbyterians and Human Sexuality 1991 |website=Pcusa.org |access-date=2017-06-30 |archive-date=2022-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116044227/https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/_resolutions/human-sexuality1991.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and conservative denominations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://christianity.net.au/questions/masturbation-a-sin |title=Is masturbation a sin? {{pipe}} Questions & Answers |website=Christianity.net.au |access-date=2017-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701183001/http://christianity.net.au/questions/masturbation-a-sin |archive-date=2017-07-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Among those Protestants who do not view masturbation as being sinful, there are various restrictions, such as making sure it does not lead to use of pornography or looking lustfully at people or mutual masturbation or addiction to the act. It must also not be undertaken in a spirit of defiance against God.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oratoiredulouvre.fr/faq/la-masturbation-est-elle-un-peche.php |title=La masturbation est-elle un péché ? |website=Oratoiredulouvre.fr |access-date=2017-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707062047/https://oratoiredulouvre.fr/faq/la-masturbation-est-elle-un-peche.php |archive-date=2017-07-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===== Lutheran and Reformed churches =====
The [[Confessional Lutheran]] tradition, which includes several denominations worldwide (such as the [[Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]]) takes a traditional stance towards human sexuality, teaching that "God created male and female, sexual human beings".<ref name="Sonnenberg2013">{{cite web |last1=Sonnenberg |first1=Roger |title=The Gift of Sexuality |url=https://files.lcms.org/file/preview/y0hee6DUKO7K2yXDxveNoiXdEcvSQ4og |publisher=[[Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]] |access-date=12 December 2024 |language=en |date=2013}}</ref> Confessional Lutherans hold that "Upon creating man and women and the rest of creation, God observed that 'it (was) good,' including the gift of sex."<ref name="Sonnenberg2013"/> The Confessional Lutheran denominations view "pornography, homosexuality and cohabitation" as sinful.<ref name="Sonnenberg2013"/>

All 20 [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] and [[Calvinism|Reformed]] churches of the [[Evangelical Church in Germany]] welcome LGBT members,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ekd.de/lebensgemeinschaft_2000.html |title=Verläßlichkeit und Verantwortung stärken |language=German |date=2000}}</ref> as well as the [[Protestant Church in the Netherlands]].<ref name="brunne" /> In these Lutheran and Reformed churches gay ministers are permitted in ministry and gay married couples are allowed in their churches.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/eine-neue-evangelische-sexualethik.1278.de.html?dram:article_id=225003|title=- Eine neue evangelische Sexualethik|website=Deutschlandfunk Kultur|date=20 October 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2015-08/sexualitaet-evangelische-kirche-ekd-grundsatzerklaerung| title = Zeit.de: Sex auf Evangelisch (german), 2015| newspaper = Die Zeit| date = 8 August 2015| last1 = Welt| first1 = Christ &.}}</ref>

Inside the Lutheran [[Church of Sweden]], the Bishop of Stockholm, [[Eva Brunne]] is a [[lesbian]] in a registered partnership with Gunilla Lindén, who is also an ordained priest of the Church of Sweden.<ref name="brunne">{{Cite web |url=http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_116555_ENG_HTM.htm |title=SWEDEN: Lesbian priest ordained as Lutheran bishop of Stockholm. Episcopal News Service. |access-date=2011-06-24 |archive-date=January 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102013508/http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_116555_ENG_HTM.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===== Anglicanism =====
The [[Anglicanism|Anglican Church]] upholds human sexuality as a gift from a loving God, designed to be between a man and a woman in a monogamous, lifetime union of marriage. It also recognises singleness and dedicated celibacy as Christ-like. It reassures people with same-sex attraction they are loved by God, and are welcomed as full members of the [[Body of Christ]]. The church leadership has a variety of views in regard to homosexual expression and ordination. Some expressions of sexuality are considered sinful, including "promiscuity, prostitution, incest, pornography, paedophilia, predatory sexual behaviour, and sadomasochism (all of which may be heterosexual and homosexual), adultery, violence against wives, and female circumcision." The church is concerned with pressures on young people to engage sexually and encourages abstinence.<ref name="Section I.10 - Human Sexuality"/>

In the Anglican Church, there is a large discussion over the blessing of gay couples, and over tolerance of homosexuality. The discussion is more about the aspect of love between two people of the same-sex in a relationship than it is about the sexual aspect of a relationship.<ref name="Vernon">{{cite journal|last1=Vernon|first1=Mark|title=A church at war: Anglicans and homosexuality|journal=Theology & Sexuality|date=January 2006|pages=220–222}}</ref>

===== Methodism =====
The [[Free Methodist Church]] teaches:<ref name="FMC2020"/>
{{quotation|Sexual intercourse is God’s gift to humanity, for the intimate union of a man and woman within marriage. In this relationship, it is to be celebrative (Hebrews 13:4). Marriage, between one man and one woman, is therefore the only proper setting for sexual intimacy. Scripture requires purity before and faithfulness within and following marriage.<ref name="FMC2020">{{cite web |title=Sanctified Sexuality |url=https://fmcusa.org/wp-content/uploads/PP-FMCUSA-Sanctified-Sexuality.pdf |publisher=[[Free Methodist Church]] |access-date=12 December 2024 |language=English |date=27 February 2020}}</ref>}}
The [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] teaches: "We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman."<ref name="AWMC2014">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|location=[[Salem, Ohio|Salem]]|language=en|pages=21}}</ref> It additionally holds that those who remarry after divorce are living in a state of adultery.<ref name="AWMC2014"/>

The [[United Methodist Church]] permits its clergy to officiate same-sex weddings.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=What is the Church's position on homosexuality? |url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-is-the-churchs-position-on-homosexuality |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=The United Methodist Church |language=en}}</ref>

=====Metropolitan Community Church=====
The [[Metropolitan Community Church]], also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, has a specific outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families and communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mccchurch.org |title=Metropolitan Community Churches - The Inclusive Church - All are welcome |website=Mccchurch.org |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref>

====Latter Day Saints movement====
{{main|Sexuality and Mormonism}}
{{see also|Masturbation and the LDS Church|Homosexuality and the LDS Church|Mormonism and polygamy|Birth control and the LDS Church}}
Within the many branches of the [[Latter Day Saints movement]], the principal denomination, [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), teaches conservative views around [[sexual ethics]] in their [[Law of Chastity]], which holds that masturbation, pre- and extra-marital sex, and same-sex sexual activity are sins. In the mid-1800s, however, it was allowed for men to be married to and have children with several women, and this was also discontinued in the late 1800s.<ref>{{cite web|title=An Ethical Mormon Life|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/religion/religions/mormon/socialvalues/ethics_1.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219201706/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/socialvalues/ethics_1.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-12-19|website=bbc.co.uk|publisher=BBC}}</ref>
<!--https://www.lds.org/topics/the-manifesto-and-the-end-of-plural-marriage?lang=eng-->On various occasions,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malan |first1=Mark Kim |last2=Bullough |first2=Vern |title=Historical development of new masturbation attitudes in Mormon culture: Silence, secular conformity, counterrevolution, and emerging reform |journal=Sexuality and Culture |date=December 2005 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=80–127 |doi=10.1007/s12119-005-1003-z |citeseerx=10.1.1.597.8039 |s2cid=145480822 }}</ref><ref name=TYMO>{{citation|last=Packer |first=Boyd |author-link=Boyd K. Packer |title=To Young Men Only |year=1976 |publisher=LDS Church |url=https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/33382_eng.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311171249/https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/33382_eng.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-11 }}</ref> LDS Church leaders have taught that members should not masturbate<ref name="1990 FTSOY">{{cite book|title=For the Strength of Youth|date=1990|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|edition=7|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/marriage-and-family-relations-instructors-manual/part-b-parents-responsibilities-to-strengthen-families/lesson-14-teaching-gospel-principles-to-children-part-2?lang=eng&clang=tam}}</ref><ref name="KimballOnMorality">{{Citation|last=Kimball|first=Spencer|author-link=Spencer W. Kimball|title=President Kimball Speaks Out on Morality|year=1980|url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1980/11/president-kimball-speaks-out-on-morality?lang=eng}}</ref><ref name="Miracle">{{Citation|last=Kimball|first=Spencer|author-link=Spencer W. Kimball|title=The Miracle of Forgiveness|year=1969|publisher=[[Bookcraft]]|pages=25, 77–78, 182 |isbn=978-0-88494-192-7|title-link=The Miracle of Forgiveness}}</ref> as part of obedience to the LDS [[law of chastity]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Featherstone|first1=Vaughn|title=A Self-Inflicted Purging|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1975/04/a-self-inflicted-purging?lang=eng&_r=1|website=ChurchofJesusChrist.org|publisher=LDS Church|access-date=3 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=McConkie|first1=Bruce R.|title=Mormon Doctrine|date=1958|pages=610, 708|publisher=Deseret Book}}</ref> The LDS Church believes that sex outside of opposite-sex marriage is sinful, and that any same-sex sexual activity is a serious sin.<ref name="Gay Mormons">{{cite journal |last1=Bradshaw |first1=William S. |last2=Heaton |first2=Tim B. |last3=Decoo |first3=Ellen |last4=Dehlin |first4=John P. |last5=Galliher |first5=Renee V. |last6=Crowell |first6=Katherine A. |title=Religious Experiences of GBTQ Mormon Males: Religious Experiences of GBTQ Mormon Males |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |date=May 2015 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=311–329 |doi=10.1111/jssr.12181 }}</ref> God is believed to be in a heterosexual marriage with the [[Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)|Heavenly Mother]], and Mormons believe that opposite-sex marriage is what God wants for all his children. Top LDS Church leaders formerly taught that attractions to those of the same sex were a sin or disease that could be changed or fixed,<ref name="Gay Mormons" /> but now have no stance on the etiology<ref>{{cite web|title=Interview With Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Lance B. Wickman: "Same-Gender Attraction"|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/interview-oaks-wickman-same-gender-attraction|website=Mormon Newsroom|publisher=LDS Church|access-date=9 November 2016}} "The Church does not have a position on the causes of any of ... same-gender attraction. Those are scientific questions ... Whether nature or nurture—those are things the Church doesn't have a position on."</ref> of homosexuality, and teach that therapy focused on changing sexual orientation is unethical.<ref>{{cite web|title=Seeking Professional Help|url=https://mormonandgay.churchofjesuschrist.org/articles/seeking-professional-help|website=mormonandgay.lds.org|publisher=LDS Church|access-date=25 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722181608/https://mormonandgay.churchofjesuschrist.org/articles/seeking-professional-help|archive-date=22 July 2019|url-status=dead}} "[I]t is unethical to focus professional treatment on an assumption that a change in sexual orientation will or must occur."</ref> Lesbian, gay, and bisexual members are, thus, left with the option of attempting to [[Sexual orientation change efforts|change their sexual orientation]], entering a [[Mixed-orientation marriage|mixed-orientation opposite-sex marriage]], or living a [[Celibacy|celibate]] lifestyle without any sexual expression (including [[Masturbation and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|masturbation]]).<ref name="Conservative Christian Identity">{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Rick|title=Conservative Christian Identity & Same-Sex Orientation: The Case of Gay Mormons|date=2005|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|location=Frankfurt, Germany|isbn=978-0820474809|url=https://www.uvu.edu/religiousstudies/docs/msc_philips_conservative.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418092803/https://www.uvu.edu/religiousstudies/docs/msc_philips_conservative.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-04-18|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref>{{rp|11}}

The LDS Church teaches that women's principal role is to raise children. Women who rejected this role as being a domestic woman in the home, were seen as unstable and corrupted.<ref name="Dunfey">{{cite journal |last1=Dunfey |first1=Julie |title='Living the Principle' of Plural Marriage: Mormon Women, Utopia, and Female Sexuality in the Nineteenth Century |journal=Feminist Studies |date=1984 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=523–536 |doi=10.2307/3178042 |jstor=3178042 |hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0010.312 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Before 1890, the Mormon leaders taught that polygamy was a way to salvation, and many had multiple wives into the early 1900s, and some women practiced polyandry.<ref name="Dunfey" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng|website=ChurchofJesusChrist.org|publisher=LDS Church}} See footnote 29.</ref>

The Mormon religion teaches that marriage should be with a man and a woman. The LDS Church teaches its members to obey the law of chastity, which says that "sexual relations are proper only between a man and a woman who are legally and lawfully wedded as husband and wife." Violations of this code include: "adultery, being without natural affection, lustfulness, infidelity, incontinence, filthy communications, impurity, inordinate affection, fornication." The traditional Mormon religion forbids all homosexual behavior, whether it be intra-marriage or extramarital. In Romans 1:24-32, Paul preached to the Romans that homosexual behavior was sinful. In Leviticus 20:13, Moses included in his law that homosexual actions and behaviors were against God's will. In the 1830s, LDS founder, [[Joseph Smith]], instituted the private practice on polygamy. The practice was defended by the church as a matter of religious freedom. In 1890, the church practice was terminated. Since the termination of polygamy, Mormons have solely believed in marriage between two people, and those two people being a man and a woman. The LDS community states that they still love homosexuals as sons and daughters of the Lord, but if they act upon their inclinations, then they are subject to discipline of the church.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=Alan|title=Mormon and Queer at the Crossroads|journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|date=2011|volume=44|issue=1|pages=53–84,230|doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.44.1.0053|s2cid=171900135|id={{ProQuest|858948153}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dehlin |first1=John P. |last2=Galliher |first2=Renee V. |last3=Bradshaw |first3=William S. |last4=Crowell |first4=Katherine A. |title=Psychosocial Correlates of Religious Approaches to Same-Sex Attraction: A Mormon Perspective |journal=Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health |date=3 July 2014 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=284–311 |doi=10.1080/19359705.2014.912970 |s2cid=144153586 }}</ref>

====Unitarian Universalism====
Several [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian Universalist congregations]] have undertaken a series of organizational, procedural, and practical steps to become acknowledged as a "[[Unitarian Universalism and LGBTQ persons#Welcoming Congregation|Welcoming Congregation]]": a congregation which has taken specific steps to welcome and integrate gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) members. UU ministers perform [[same-sex unions]] and now [[same-sex marriages]] where legal (and sometimes when not, as a form of civil protest). On June 29, 1984, the Unitarian Universalists became the first major church "to approve religious blessings on homosexual unions."<ref>{{cite news |title=AROUND THE NATION; Unitarians Endorse Homosexual Marriages |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/29/us/around-the-nation-unitarians-endorse-homosexual-marriages.html |work=The New York Times |date=29 June 1984 }}</ref>

Unitarian Universalists have been in the forefront of the work to make same-sex marriages legal in their local states and provinces, as well as on the national level. Gay men, bisexuals, and lesbians are also regularly [[ordained]] as ministers, and a number of gay, bisexual, and lesbian ministers have, themselves, now become legally married to their partners. In May 2004, [[Arlington Street Church (Boston)|Arlington Street Church]] was the site of the first state-sanctioned same-sex marriage in the United States. The official stance of the UUA is for the legalization of same-sex marriage—"Standing on the Side of Love." In 2004 UU Minister Rev. Debra Haffner of [[The Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing]] published ''An Open Letter on Religious Leaders on Marriage Equality'' to affirm same-sex marriage from a multi-faith perspective. In December 2009, Washington, DC Mayor [[Adrian Fenty]] signed the bill to legalize same-sex marriage for the [[District of Columbia]] in [[All Souls Church, Unitarian (Washington, D.C.)]].

[[Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness]] is a group within Unitarian Universalism whose vision is "for Unitarian Universalism to become the first [[polyamory|poly]]-welcoming mainstream religious denomination."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uupa.org/index#mission|title=Our Mission|website=Uupa.org|access-date=2017-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918233548/http://www.uupa.org/index#mission|archive-date=2017-09-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>