WHEREAS, Today’s children and teenagers are bombarded with an increasing amount of societal and media pressure to be sexually active; and
WHEREAS, There is a need for cooperation on this very important issue among parents, churches, and schools; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists believe sex education is a parental responsibility that should be supported by the roles that churches and schools may choose to play; and
WHEREAS, The values neutral material in certain education-related curricula is offensive to the religious convictions of many school children, their families, and teachers; and
WHEREAS, This values neutral material often encourages and promotes experimental and promiscuous activities.
Therefore, Be it RESOLVED, That we, the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, June 16-18, 1987, encourage parents to become involved in the sex education process through
1) Sensitivity to the sexual development and learning needs of their own children;
2) Involvement in and communication with their local educational process in review and selection of educational materials; and
3) Participation in the political process by which our state legislators would be encouraged to mandate the teaching in the public schools of sexual abstinence until marriage and to reject all forms of legislation that would require teaching the acceptability of the practices of promiscuous and perverse lifestyles.
Be it further RESOLVED, That Southern Baptists encourage our churches
1) To preach the biblical basis for human sexuality and
2) To strengthen the stand of parents and educators within our congregations;
Be it finally RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention encourage and urge our schools and educators to
1) Adopt curricula that stress traditional family roles as the ideal;
2) Adopt curricula that are true, healthy, legal, and constitutional;
3) Adopt a policy to establish a parental review process in advance of program implementation. That process should be open and effectual, including dividing classes that address sex education into male and female groups and providing parents with the option to choose for their child not to participate;
4) Adopt curricula that teach sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage as the only acceptable lifestyle in terms of public health as this is the best and only sure way crisis pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases can be prevented;
5) Refrain from distribution of condoms and other contraceptive materials; and
6) Oppose the establishment of school based clinics which provide sexual counseling.