Saint Thomas Aquinas, as a philosopher, wrote several works that
justified Christianity in a philosophical context, taking cue on Aristotle's old
writings. Naturally, Aquinas took up on the Church's
"ultra-conservative" views on sexuality and worked to rationalize them
through his own theory of natural law. Aquinas argues against any form of sex
where the intention to produce children is not involved. He explains this
through his theory of natural law, where sex is purely for the purpose of
reproduction to ensure the continuance of the human race, only in the context of
a monogamous relationship, and not for simple physical pleasure. There are many
laws that Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks of, such as eternal law, human law, divine
law, and natural law. All humans are part of "God's plan" and
therefore subject to eternal law, where we are guided to God's
"supernatural end in a higher way" (47). According to Aquinas, humans
in particular follow God's eternal law through a natural law, and inborn
instinct to do good. Something is said to be part of natural law if "there
is a natural inclination to it" and if "nature does not produce the
contrary," (51-52). Natural law includes such ideas as self-preservation,
union of the male and the female, and education of the young, which is easily
found in nature. Humans also have a unique knowledge of God and were meant to
live in a society. Aquinas explains that even though concepts such as slavery
and personal possessions are not found alone in nature, they were created by
human reason, and in such cases "the law of nature was not changed but
added to" (52). Because we can do such things, we are separated from the
rest of God's creatures. After explaining his theory of natural law, Aquinas
goes on to explain sexuality in the context of it. According to him,
"promiscuity is contrary to the nature of man" because "to bring
up a child requires both the care of the mother who nourishes him and even more
the care of the father to train and defend him and to develop him in internal
and external endowments" (78). Therefore, he finds fornification to be a
mortal sin because "it is contrary to the good of the upbringing of the
offspring" (79). Curiously, though, he does not bring up the more likely
scenario where fornification does not result in the impregnation of the woman.
His reasoning makes much better sense in the case of adultery. Not only does it
upset one's obligations to his family, but also because the Ten Commandments
specifically condemn adultery as a great sin. The Ten Commandments are God's
laws and are not relative, so there is no disputing their validity. However,
Aquinas' argument that monogamy is "natural" for humans is not easily
justified. If we look carefully at nature, most mammals have to be raised by
their parents just as humans are, but only for a few years. Also, in many cases,
the mother may raise her young with a different male, or on her own altogether.
Therefore, this makes it harder for Aquinas to appeal to natural law to prove
his case for monogamy and life-long relationships. Also, Aquinas does not agree
that a male should have the option of leaving a female who has had a child even
if it is properly provided for, making an indirect case against divorce (79).
Curiously, in Islam, the Koran allows divorce and remarriage, and it is based
for the most part on the very same Bible that Aquinas defended. Aquinas makes
clear that sex is right only when it is for the purpose of reproduction and it
should only be between a male and female in a monogamous relationship; all other
forms are sinful. However, he brings up a very striking exception. The acts of
fornification or adultery are not considered sins at all if they are performed
under the command of God (52). This is simply a case of common sense, but it
explains clearly any such indiscrepancies to natural law in the Bible. Aquinas
goes on to define more serious mortal sins which he refers to as indecent sex.
This includes homosexuality and bestiality. He quotes bestiality from the Bible:
"'[Joseph] accused his brothers of the worst sin… they had relations with
cattle'" (80). Perhaps he is right, but homosexuality, on the other hand,
was accepted in societies even before Aquinas' time. For instance, the ancient
Greeks accepted intercourse between a younger and older man as a higher form
love. Even if Aquinas tried to invoke the "natural law" argument, he
could've been shown evidence of homosexuality in nature, even though it is not
very common. This is interesting in the sense that considering animals lack
reason, they aren't capable of sin because they have no real knowledge of
distinguishing between moral right and wrong. In that case, there seems to be a
loophole in Aquinas' theory, if natural law seems to prove homosexuality not to
be a mortal sin. Thomas Aquinas takes his arguments concerning sexuality even
further. He goes on to condemn situations even where no sexual intercourse is in
involved, pointing out still more mortal sins. By his reasoning, lustful kisses
and caresses are actually mortal sins, because of the mere purpose behind them,
since they show consent to the idea of sex, in forms like fornification.
Drunkenness can also be a mortal sin in that way, if one drinks in order to
purposely lose his sense of reason and put himself in danger of sinning (77).
Aquinas turns to virginity as something worthy of praise because it frees the
mind of unclean thoughts to focus on "contemplation of the divine." He
quotes the Apostle Paul, saying "'The unmarried woman who is a virgin
thinks of the things of the Lord so that she may be holy in body and spirit. The
woman who is married thinks of things of the world and how to please her
husband'" (78). This "holy virginity" is the rationale behind the
priests' and nuns' vows of celibacy. As much as it did when Aquinas wrote his
works, the views of the Church and Aquinas on sexuality are one and the same.
The Church today officially does not allow pre-marital sex, homosexuality, and
even artificial birth control, though it does not literally enforce its policies
on Church followers. Still, it is interesting to consider the effects of such
regression on a society. While lust is not considered part of natural law
because it is deemed as unique to us as humans as punishment for Adam and Eve's
fall from grace, it seems to be a powerfully "natural" inclination for
us all. If we turn to Freud, we see that virtually everything we do has an
underlying sexual purpose. By Freud's logic, any contact we make with the
opposite sex has some underlying sexual motive, no matter how sublime it is. The
only way someone can put aside his or her sexual aggressions is by finding
another outlet for such passions. Sports, music, art, and virtually any hobby
that we can enjoy works as an outlet for sexual aggressions. For those who work
for the Church, that passion is obviously channeled into worshiping the divine.
Obviously, there are times when people must "relieve" themselves.
Fortunately Aquinas did classify the severity of such mortal sins; bestiality
being the worst, and "uncleanliness" being the mildest (80). Therefore
there are "levels" of transgression, so these require different levels
of penance. Of course we are to believe that God will forgive us if we are truly
sorry for committing such moral sins, or else we will burn in hell. Certainly we
do not have to agree with all of Aquinas' arguments, as many may seem
unnecessarily harsh. We can follow him on many points but not all. Surely we can
agree that sex is something that should be treated with respect, and obscene
acts like bestiality upset that. Adultery is also a sinful thing because it is
specifically condemned in the Ten Commandments and it disrupts family life. One
might also view homosexuality and say that it defeats the whole purpose of sex.
Other things don't seem quite as bad, and acts like lustful kisses and purposely
getting drunk are much too trivial to be considered mortal sins. Another theme
that clearly arises from sexuality in the perspective of the divine is our role
on earth altogether. Often there seem to be only two trains of thought, either
the pursuit of happiness or strictly living a life of following God. In the
Christian viewpoint, it seems that if we are to follow God, any happiness we
come upon is more coincidental since it is not a goal for this lifetime.
Theoretically, true happiness can only be found in the afterlife, and that's
only if one is received into heaven. In that sense, life is only one long test,
one that we might not always enjoy taking, but one that we need to pass while
taking the longest time possible in finishing it.