關啟文，〈自由性愛觀：從基督教倫理的角度回應〉，戴《中國神學研究院期刊》36期，2004年1月，頁15-46。
PAPER SUBMITTED TO THE CGST JOURNAL
(The Liberal View of Sex: A Response from
the Perspective of Christian Ethics)
Abstract
The modern society is plagued by the ideology of sexual liberation
which says that any kind of sexual behaviour, as long as it doesn’t hurt other
people and is done out of consent, is legitimate and morally acceptable. I call
it the Liberal View of Sex. In contrast, the Christian View of Sex regards sex
as a gift from God. Different forms of sexual behaviour can be judged
acceptable or unacceptable with reference to the creation purpose and design
plan of God. Since the Liberal View is becoming more prevalent and poses a
serious challenge to the Christian church, it is incumbent on Christian
intellectuals to explore how we should respond to this kind of philosophy.
In this paper, I argue for a combination of approaches, and note the
merits and limitations of each. I adopt the presuppositional approach to defend
the legitimacy of our adhering to Christian presuppositions. It is because in a
pluralistic society neither the Christian presuppositions nor the secularist
presuppositions (which lie behind the Liberal View of Sex) can be strictly
proven or overthrown on neutral grounds. Not only the sexual liberationists but
also the Christians have a right to use democratic means to promote their
values. However, to avoid a complete deadlock and to enhance the public
credibility of the Christian position, I further propose several criteria to
evaluate different presuppositions. I also argue that the Liberal View does not
fare very well under these criteria.
First, a value system should at least be internally coherent.
However, the Liberal View suffers from many kinds of inconsistency or internal
tension. Second, a value system should conform to our well-established moral
intuitions or common-sense. I point out that the Liberal View of Sex flagrantly
violates our moral intuitions about appropriate sexual behaviour. Third, a
value system should contribute to a good life and happiness of human beings but
the Liberal View tends to destabilize the society and cause many kinds of
social problem. On all three counts, the Liberal View of Sex is not beyond
reproach. In addition to holding fast to the faith, Christians should also
utilize these kinds of public argument to criticize the Liberal View of Sex.
While each type of argument has inherent limitations, the combination of them
does build up a cumulative case against the ideology of sexual liberation.
