Prostasia and Religion
Can people of religious faith support Prostasia?
The reaction of those who support Prostasia but who do not have religious faith, might be ‘ No , of course not! Religious people are often the very ones who want to shame and stigmatise others Prostasia seeks to defend.’
But does this need to be the case?
What is Prostasia’s goal? It is to prevent child sex abuse, while upholding human rights and sex positivity. The view is that humans should be free to engage in any activity which does not harm other humans, and in particular, children.
Perhaps surprisingly, Christianity (the religious faith espoused by the author of this article), also has the view that child sex abuse should be prevented and that human rights should be upheld. The Bible, which is the book from which Christians take their stance, says that humans have been accorded rights by God - the right to choose what to believe and how to live. Those choices have consequences, which necessarily, they need to accept.
As Christians believe that their human rights are given to them by God, they say that choosing to live under God’s direction will have the best consequences. So Christians say that although they are free to engage in any (for example, sexual) activity, they will choose only the type of (sexual) activity that the Bible suggests will have the best consequences.
However, they do not have the right to shame or stigmatise those who make other choices. Unfortunately, Christians sometimes do shame or stigmatise. Jesus’ example was different. A tax collector, named Zacchaeus, who was described by the crowd as ‘a sinner’, was befriended by Jesus as a man worthy as any other, to be respected.
In summary, l think that Christians (and maybe followers of other religions) can be co-belligerents, though not allies of Prostasia. They want to protect children from sexual abuse, they uphold human rights and they decry shaming or stigmatising anyone for their choices, even those with whom they disagree. So Prostasia, go ahead with your work to protect children and to protect adults who do not deserve stigmatisation!