Website owner:  James Miller

The cost to society of sexual immorality

   What is the cost to our society of the sexual immorality that 
   is so pervasive in it?  Let us list some of the costs: 

   1. The cost for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases such 
     as gonorrhea, syphilis and AIDS.  The bill for AIDS is in the 
     billions and growing rapidly.  And we are all paying for it, 
     directly or indirectly, through taxes, increased insurance 
     premiums, etc..

   2. The costs attendant to supporting illegitimate children.  
     The typical illegitimate child ends up being supported by the 
     welfare system in some way.  That means we are paying the tab 
     for his rearing through our tax dollars.  And we are not only 
     paying to support him but also his mother in most cases (if 
     he is being raised by his mother).  And there are other costs 
     brought onto us by illegitimate children.  An illegitimate 
     child is likely to be an emotionally scarred and deprived 
     child.  He is likely to grow up in poverty and be angry and 
     delinquent.  So we have to add on all the costs attendant to 
     juvenile deliquincy: costs of his crimes against society, 
     costs of additional police forces, counseling costs, lawyer 
     fees, court costs, costs of retention facilities, etc.. 

   3. The costs attendant to marital infidelity.  Marital 
     infidelity usually causes problems in marriages and there are 
     costs attendant to this: Counseling costs, legal costs 
     attendant to separation and divorce, increased medical costs 
     due to the emotional stresses produced, costs attendant to 
     rebellious children, etc. 


   So far we have talked only of the dollar costs to society of 
   sexual immorality.  What about the cost in terms of human 
   suffering?  What about all the suffering that is produced from 
   sexually transmitted diseases?  What about all of the suffering 
   of those illegitimate children who didn't ask to be brought 
   into this world (children probably living in poverty conditions 
   with only one parent)?  What about the emotional suffering of 
   the child who has watched his parents split up and found 
   himself deprived of one of his parents? 

   The truth is begetting a child out of wedlock is a crime 
   against that child, a crime against society, and a crime 
   against God.  Yet it is not treated as such.  In fact our 
   society almost winks at it.  It even encourages it by a policy 
   of picking up the tab for all costs involved, including the 
   cost of supporting the mother.  The cost to society for this 
   crime, in both dollars and human suffering, is greater than for 
   many other crimes.  Yet the crime goes unpunished.  Our society 
   speaks continually of freedoms and rights and never speaks of 
   responsibilities and obligations.  Should not a grave 
   responsibility be regarded as accompanying any sexual 
   intercourse --- namely the responsibility of supporting and 
   rearing any child that is produced?  Should not any child have 
   legitimate rights and claims against both of his parents?  
   Should it not be a serious crime to beget any child you cannot 
   support?  Is allowing adults to engage in gay lives of 
   frivolity, producing children recklessly, and then not 
   supporting them, right?  Is not a strong sense of duty, 
   responsibility and obligation a key element in the mental 
   outlook of any just and healthy society? 

   Should there not be punishment for people who beget children 
   and then not support them?  What kind of punishment?  How about 
   sterilization or a few years of hard labor? 

   Should not things that glamorize or encourage sexual immorality 
   in a society be banned?  What about all of the licentious, 
   lustful advertising that we see all around us?  What about all 
   of the books, magazines and movies that glamorize immorality?  
   Should not glamorization of crime also be a crime? 


   Dec 1991