Celibacy

Celibacy refers to an individual having decided to refrain from sexual activity (sexual abstinence), or to remain unmarried. Also known as "consecrated virginity," celibacy usually refers to ordained clergy or persons in religious orders, and is an avowed way of living in which the person forsakes all sexual gratification.

Celibacy is a requirement for monks and some priests in many religious traditions.

The Roman Catholic Church requires celibacy of their priests, regarding sexual purity as essential in order to perform the rites and rituals that connect the people to heaven. By contrast, marriage is accepted or even encouraged for priests in the Anglican and many Protestant churches. In the Eastern Orthodox Church traditions, celibacy is not required of secular priests but is required in monastic orders, from which bishops are selected. Married priests from these churches who convert to Catholicism can still function as priests by dispensation of the Holy See.

In virtually all Christian traditions, celibacy is required of monastics —monks, nuns, and friars. Sexual abstinence is often viewed as essential for a monastic, in order to align one's mind and spirit to the path of spiritual growth while renouncing cares of the physical world, which include sexual relationships.

Vows of chastity can also be taken by laypersons, either as part of an organized religious life (such as Roman Catholic Beguines and Beghards) or on an individual basis, as a voluntary act of devotion and/or as part of an ascetic lifestyle, often devoted to contemplation. Celibacy is included among the Christian counsels of perfection. Philosophers, too, have taken this path, a tradition that dates back to ancient Greece.

In some religions, celibate monastic life is practiced as a temporary phase, as by many young men in Theravada Buddhism.

From a secular viewpoint, celibacy may seem unnatural, even unhealthy. Yet from a religious perspective that sees human life as tainted by sin, our spiritual faculties impaired due to the Fall of Man, our minds addicted to self-seeking and slaves to desire, the path of celibacy, rigorous as it may be, is truly liberating. When accompanied by a rigorous life of self-discipline in all respects, guarding against pride, gluttony, sloth, avarice, anger and so on, a celibate life can promote a high level of spiritual awareness and advancement on the path to personal perfection.

On the other hand, religious teachings that lift up the value of marriage and family as the way to complete personhood find celibacy excessive, even while maintaining that abstinence prior to marriage and fidelity within marriage is vital to the health of the marriage and a strong, enduring family. The broader term for sexual abstinence before marriage and refraining from sexual intimacy outside of marriage is chastity.

In the Ancient World

Eunuchs (castrated males) have had different roles in societies throughout history. The earliest record of intentional castration comes from the twenty-first century B.C.E. in Sumeria. Eunuchs have been called on to be courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. In the Byzantine empire, eunuchs were men who had chosen to be celibate or not procreate rather than those who were physically castrated.

Ancient Roman society exalted the Vestal Virgins, who were the high priestesses of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. The Vestal Virgins were women who chose to become priests around puberty and dedicated themselves to thirty years of chastity.

Ancient Greek civilization developed two forms of celibacy for men: one was the sacerdotal celibacy of the priest; the other, the ascetic celibacy of the philosopher. Priests of various cults, such as the followers of Isis, were required to abstain from sexual activity in order to be qualified to practice the sacred rituals. The philosopher Pythagoras and his followers were devoted to study, and practiced celibacy and vegetarianism. Epictetus and others regarded celibacy as important to avoid distractions and allow the mind to focus clearly on the complex task of scholarly inquiry.

Religious celibacy

Clerical or sacerdotal celibacy is a requirement for priests of some religions. In this understanding, the priest is in the position of mediator between God and the people, and purity is required to fulfill this function. Monastic orders of the Christian, Hindu and Buddhist traditions require celibacy. The purpose is for individual spiritual growth; sexual power is considered a distraction and obstruction to attainment of the highest levels of spiritual maturity. Celibacy is also proclaimed by religions as the ideal for unmarried laypeople (see chastity), and for homosexuals.

Buddhism

In Buddhism, according to the celibate, the main goal of living is to eliminate (or at least decrease) desire. Desire is seen as one of the main causes of suffering, both in the world and in the mind or heart. A commonly-used metaphor sees desire, especially sexual desire, to be like drinking salty water: the more one consumes, the greater the desire - and the eworse one's (mental) state of health becomes.

In Buddhism, attachment to impermanent things is regarded as one of the major causes of suffering. Sex is arguably the strongest attachment to impermanent things that human beings have. Therefore in Buddhism celibacy has been regarded as essential to obtaining Nirvana (liberation from suffering). The Buddha praised the ideal of living liberated from the entanglements of the affections of loved ones as in the Rhinoceros discourse:

As a spreading bush of bamboo is entangled in various ways, so is the longing for children and wives: not clinging to these, even like a bamboo just sprouting forth, let one walk alone like a rhinoceros…

If one lives in the midst of company, love of amusement and desire arises; strong attachment for children arises; let therefore one who dislikes separation, which must happen sooner or later from these beloved, walk alone like a rhinoceros…

Having abandoned the different kinds of desire, founded on child, wife, father, mother, wealth, corn, relations, let one walk alone like a rhinoceros.

Let a wise man, having discovered that such is attachment, that there is in it but little happiness, that it is but insipid, that there is more affliction in it than comfort, that it is a fishhook, walk alone like a rhinoceros.

Having cast off the bonds, like a fish which breaks the net in the water, like a fire that returns not to the spot already burned up, let one walk alone like a rhinoceros. (Sutta Nipata 37-62)

To maintain their commitment to a celibate life, Buddhist monks are instructed on various meditative techniques to keep the desires in check and the mind focused on higher things. One such technique is to inspire strong revulsion for the desires of the flesh, by meditating on the "loathsomeness of the body":

The mouth is a vessel filled with foul saliva and filth between the teeth, the nose with fluids, snot, and mucus, the eyes with their own filth and tears.

The body is a vessel filled with excrement, urine, lungs, and liver; he whose vision is obscured and does not see a woman thus, lusts for her body.

This filthy city of a body, with protruding holes for the elements, is called by stupid beings an object of pleasure.

Why should you lust desirously for this while recognizing it as a filthy form, produced by a seed whose essence is filth, A mixture of blood and semen?

He who lies on the filthy mass covered by skin moistened with those fluids, merely lies on top of a woman’s bladder. (Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 149-57)

Non-celibate Buddhist orders

While celibacy is required of all monks and nuns in the Theravada tradition, and among most schools of the Mahayana tradition, there are several Mahayana and Vajrayana orders within Tibetan, Japanese and Korean Buddhism that allow monks to lead married lives. The notion that a Buddhist can live inwardly free of desire and thus perfectly tread the path to Nirvana while carrying on the worldly life of a householder is expounded in the Vimalakirti Sutra.

In the Tibetan Vajrayana orders that permit this practice, relations between a monk and his spouse are governed by the discipline of tantra, which requires the highest level of morality and self-control, that sexual activity be performed in an advanced state of mindfulness and without the taint of ordinary desire.

Christianity

Celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church requires that its priests be celibate. This is so that they can devote themselves completely to the care of Christ's Flock (Matthew 19:12). The Church has not required celibacy of all ecclesiastics at all times in history (it was not required of the majority of ecclesiastics in the early Church, and in modern times certain converts are permitted to be married when receiving Holy Orders). The Catholic Church's practice of clerical celibacy among priests and bishops of the Latin Rite and bishops of all rites, Eastern and Western, was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council and reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter, Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, June 24, 1967.

Catholics understand celibacy to be a reflection of life in Heaven, the highest form of imitation of Christ who was himself celibate, and a way to maintain detachment from the material world which aids in one's relationship with God. Catholic priests are called to be espoused to the Church itself, and espoused to God, without overwhelming commitments interfering with the relationship. The Apostle Paul explained this argument for celibacy:

The unmarried man is anxious about the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or virgin is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. (1 Corinthians 7.32-35)

Catholics understand celibacy to be the calling of some, but not all. They understand Jesus to have advocated celibacy as one of his "councils of perfection"; not for everyone but specifically those who seek the higher life of the Kingdom of Heaven:

Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.” (Matthew 19.12)

A deeper reason for Christian celibacy derives from an understanding that ordinary sexual relationships, even within marriage, are tainted by the Original Sin, which was consummated at the Fall of Man when Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan into an illicit sexual relationship. Thenceforth sin has been passed down from generation to generation through sexual intercourse: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." (Psalm 51:5, NKJV) Saint Augustine wrote of the sinfulness that inhered in marriage as a result of the Fall:

Even the parental duty, done as it is in accordance with Roman law for the procreation

of children, and, therefore, is both legally right and morally good, looks for a room from which all witnesses have been carefully removed. It is only after the best man and bridesmaids, the friends

and the servants, have gone from the room that the bridegroom even begins to show any signs of intimate affection… Yes, it is a good deed; but it is one that seeks to be known only after it is done, and is ashamed to be seen while it is being done. The reason can only be that what, by nature, has a purpose that everyone praises involves, by penalty, a passion that makes everyone ashamed…

Now, in the Garden, before the Fall… the passions of anger and lust were never so roused counter to the commands of the rational will that reason was forced, so to speak, to put them in harness. It is different now, when even people who live a life of moral and religious self-control have to bridle these passions. This may be easy or difficult, but the bit and bridle are always needed. Now, the present condition is not that of healthy human nature; it is a sickness induced by sin…

Therefore, a celibate life, which places the sexual desire completely under the "bit and bridle," is necessary to counter the ill effects of original sin and to purify human love that it might be transfigured into divine love.

Protestant monastics

Monasticism, with its attendant celibacy, flourished in the Anglican Church from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. In the seventeenth century all Catholic monasteries in England had been closed and monastic orders disestablished as a policy of the English Reformation. However, in the 1840s, Anglican priest John Henry Newman established a community of men at Littlemore near Oxford. From then on, communities of monks were (re-)established throughout the Anglican communion, including Anglican Benedictines, Franciscans, Cistercians, and Dominicans, as well as home-grown orders such as the Society of Saint John the Evangelist. A distinguishing feature of the monastic life among Anglicans is that most practice the so-called "mixed life." They keep the full round of liturgical and private worship, but also have an active ministry of some sort in their local community—anything from parish work to working with the homeless. Since the 1960s, the number of Anglican monks has suffered a sharp decline, and most communities have closed.

Protestant arguments against celibacy

Anglicans aside, most Protestant churches reject clerical celibacy and do not have monastic orders. Celibacy was an important point of disagreement during the Reformation. Reformers such as John Calvin argued that requiring a vow of celibacy from a priest or monk was contrary to biblical teaching that sexuality is one of God's good gifts, meant to be enjoyed within the lawful bounds of marriage. (1 Tim. 4:1-5) They point out that many of the early apostles were married, a right that Paul, though he was unmarried, yet affirmed (1 Cor. 9:5). To exalt celibacy as the way to a holy life degraded marriage, which scripture says should be held in honor (Heb. 13:4). Moreover, the requirement of celibacy was only fostering widespread sexual misconduct within the clergy (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion IV,12,23-28).

Fundamentally, Protestants believe that when Jesus died on the cross to save sinners, he made no distinction between those who devoted themselves to a religious life and those who did not. Salvation is by grace, not by works, and celibacy is a "work".

In rejecting the Catholic view that celibacy is one of the "counsels of perfection," Protestants regard perfection as an ideal for all believers, married and unmarried alike. Jesus specifically described perfection in terms of love, especially love for the enemy (Matt. 5:44-48); certainly family life can be a good training-ground to reach this sort of perfection. On the other hand, to regard celibacy as necessary on the path of perfection effectively divides Christians into two groups — the celibate elite who strive for perfection and ordinary laypeople who do not. Protestants have a higher view of ordinary laypeople, and in calling for the "priesthood of all believers" they set the same standards of conduct for everyone.

Specifically rejecting clerical celibacy, Protestants point to the responsibility of clergy as role models who should lead their congregations with the wisdom that comes through experience in building good family relationships, as in the biblical teaching:

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?) (1 Timothy 3:1-5, NKJV)

Calls to eliminate priestly celibacy

In recent years Protestants and Catholics have converged on numerous issues of theology, yet clerical celibacy remains a stubborn dividing point. In accepting Anglican and Eastern Orthodox priests, who are often married, into the ranks of the Roman Catholic priesthood, the Vatican has made a special dispensation to allow them to function as married priests. Meanwhile, a steep decline in the number of Catholic priests, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of priests who marry and leave the priesthood, coupled with recent scandals and lawsuits over priests sexually abusing children in their care, has sparked widespread calls to eliminate the celibacy requirement for the priesthood and institute the ordination of married priests.

File:Milingo-mpnow.jpg

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo at a 2006 press conference.

Organizations and individuals have stood up to advocate a married priesthood. The most high-profile of these is the dissident archbishop, Emmanuel Milingo, who married in 2001. At the Holy Father’s urging, he set aside his marriage and lived for several years in seclusion at Zagarolo, outside of Rome. Yet this seclusion and subsequent restrictions on his movement raised many questions with the public. In 2006 he left the supervision of the Vatican and started a group called "Married Priests Now!" which began ordaining married priests without Vatican recognition. Milingo writes:

It is very clear that the Roman Catholic Church has a great need of priests. The Bishops worldwide have brought their concern repeatedly to the Vatican. In addition priests are needed to bring the Eucharist to those Catholic people who do not have a resident priest. The Eucharist is the essence of Catholicism. Currently on the sideline, there are approximately 150,000 validly ordained priests. But these priests are married. The majority of these priests are ready and willing to return to the sacred ministry of the altar. It is our mission to find a way to reconcile these married priests with the Church and to reinstate them in the public sacred ministry, working in every way possible with the Church.

Hinduism

In Hindu culture, celibacy is observed when the young child leads a student life. A Hindu renunciate may take the vow of celibacy at any age when they have understood that living for material/sensual pleasures will never bring the perfect happiness that their soul desires. Thus their life becomes centered on surrender to Guru and God with the firm hope of God realization and the perfect Divine Happiness. The Hindu tradition of Brahmacharya places great emphasis on abstinence as a way of harnessing the energy of body and mind towards the goal of spiritual realization. In males, the semen (Veerja) is considered sacred and its preservation (except when used for procreation) and conversion into higher life energy (Ojas) is considered essential for the development of enhanced intellectual and spiritual capacities.

In Hinduism, there is a difference between monks and priests. Historically, monks take vows of poverty and celibacy and are exempt from most public ceremonies and focus instead on prayer and meditation, focusing on the contemplative side of the Hindu tradition. Priests on the other hand do not have to be celibate and are responsible for the public ceremonies in the Hindu faith. However, the public roles between monks and priests have started to change and now some monks function within the social structure in needy areas of society.

Islam

Islam forbids intercourse outside of marriage, however maintaining celibacy as an act of piety is strongly discouraged, and marriage for all who are able is strongly encouraged. Similar to Judaism, abstinence is practiced during the time of a woman's menstruation. Abstinence from sexual intercourse is also practiced during the dawn to dusk fasts of Ramadan or other fasting days.

Judaism

Judaism forbids intercourse outside marriage (which is termed zenuth or promiscuity), but has no ideal of abstinence for particular clerical groups. In fact, it is practically expected of men in religious functions (such as rabbis) to be married. Abstinence is practiced while a woman is menstruating and the week after cessation of flow (the law of niddah), as well as a set period after childbirth.

Premarital chastity

Many religious and ethical systems proscribe sexual activities between a person and anyone other than a spouse of that person, including most denominational variations of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as have, historically, many legal systems and societal norms. In such contexts, sexual abstinence is prescribed for unmarried individuals for the purpose of chastity. "Chastity" is sometimes used synonymously with sexual abstinence, but the mechanisms of chastity are typically different for persons who assume different societal roles. For example, in most cultural, ethical, and religious contexts, sexual intercourse within monogamous marriage is not considered to be opposed to chastity.

Among Catholics and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church also known as Mormons), homosexuals are expected to remain celibate. Those who identify as homosexual may not be able to become Catholic priests, however, even if they maintain celibacy.

Ascetism

Lifelong (or at least long-term) celibacy, often associated with religious ascetism, is distinguished from abstinence before marriage. Abstinence is often viewed as an admirable act of self-control over the natural desire to have sex. The display of the strength of character allows the abstainer to set an example for those not able to contain their "base urges." At other times abstinence has been seen as a great social ill practiced by those who refuse to engage with the material and physical world. Some groups that propose sexual abstinence consider it an essential means to reach a particular intellectual or spiritual condition, or that celibacy allows one to achieve a required self-control or a self-consciousness.

In some religions, including some branches of Christianity, celibacy is required for those joining monastic orders. The Shakers impose celibacy as a requirement for all members. However, they may adopt a child if they wish, which is one way to maintain the population. Another way they could expand their community's population is to allow converts to join the Shaker society.

While there have been cultures which achieved total sexual abstinence, such as castration cults, most did not survive for a substantial period of time due to their lack of reproduction.

Medical aspects of abstinence

Throughout history, and especially prior to the twentieth century, there have been those who have held that sexual abstinence confers numerous health benefits. For males, lack of abstinence was thought to cause a reduction of vitality. In modern times the argument has been phrased in biological terms, claiming that loss of semen through ejaculation results in a depletion of vital nutrients such as lecithin and phosphorus. Conservation of the semen allegedly allows it to be reabsorbed back into the bloodstream and aid in the healthy development of the body. Before the "sexual revolution" of the 1960s, it was commonly believed by members of the medical profession that numerous mental and physical diseases in men were caused primarily by loss of nutrients through seminal discharge, and that the deliberate conservation of this substance would lead to increased health, vitality, and intellectual prowess. This thought was also applied to masturbation.

However, medical studies have not supported this view. In fact, it has been suggested that frequent ejaculation may be beneficial, such as reducing the risk of prostate cancer. It has also been suggested that excessive repression of the sexual instinct leads to an increase in the overall level of aggression.

Modern abstinence movements

With the increasing problems of unwanted teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, socially conscious educators began to promote abstinence for teenagers and recommending virginity prior to marriage. Without sexual contact, it is virtually impossible to conceive an unwanted child. By avoiding exposure of the sexual organs to other people, one may also avoid the sexual transmission of many diseases (STDs).

However, many STDs can also be transmitted non-sexually, and it has been noted that many do not consider oral sex or similar acts to violate abstinence. Many of these acts can transmit STDs. One study found that 55 percent of college students claiming abstinence had indeed performed oral sex.

Organizations such as SIECUS have called abstinence-only programs "fear-based," "designed to control young people’s sexual behavior by instilling fear, shame, and guilt." Author Judith Levine has argued that there might be a natural tendency of abstinence educators to escalate their messages: "Like advertising, which must continually jack up its seduction just to stay visible as other advertising proliferates, abstinence education had to make sex scarier and scarier and, at the same time, chastity sweeter."

Advocates for sexual abstinence claim other, positive benefits, such as the freedom from teenage pregnancy and the resulting ability to focus on education and preparing for their future. It has also been noted that, contrary to the promiscuity norm following the "sexual revolution," preparation for a lifetime of happiness with a single, faithful marriage partner is well served by practicing self-restraint in situations of sexual temptation.

The effectiveness of abstinence programs and movements remains debated, but in spite of these criticisms, abstinence has become the de facto focus of sex education in the United States. Opponents frequently adopt the line that abstinence education is acceptable only if it is combined with other methods, such as instruction in the use and easy availability of condoms. Most nations of Western Europe use more comprehensive measures, and in sharp contrast to the heated discussion in the US, abstinence is hardly discussed as an educational measure.

Notable celibates

Some notable self-proclaimed celibates in history include:

• Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna and one of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of the philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga
• Stevie Smith, poet and novelist, was celibate all her adult life, after sampling and rejecting romance and sex in her youth. She was fiercely critical of those who thought that her life must be emotionally impoverished by not having sexual relationships, emphasizing the depth of her friendships, especially her bond with the aunt with whom she lived.
• Nikola Tesla, who developed the system of alternating electrical current that became the worldwide standard, was a self-proclaimed celibate.
• Sigmund Freud undertook a strict vow of celibacy from about the age of forty-one, which he maintained up to his death.
• Sir Cliff Richard, British rock and roll star, converted to Christianity and became a vocal proponent of the abstinent lifestyle which he adopted.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Devine, Tony, Joon Ho Seuk, and Andrew Wilson. 2000. Cultivating Heart and Character: Educating for Life's Most Essential Goals. Chapel Hill, NC: Character Development Publishing. ISBN 1-892056-15-1
• Mitchell, F.S. 2006. Celebrating Celibacy. Xulon Press. ISBN 1597818720
• Mullaney, Jamie. 2005. Everyone Is NOT Doing It: Abstinence and Personal Identity. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226547574
• Napier, Kristine. 1996. The Power of Abstinence. Avon Books. ISBN 0380783711
• Stanosz, Paul. 2006. The Struggle for Celibacy: The Culture of Catholic Seminary Life. Herder & Herder. ISBN 0824523814
• Stickler, Alphonso. 1995. The Case for Clerical Celibacy: Its Historical Development and Theological Foundations. Ignatius Press. ISBN 0898705339

External links

• Chastity in Catholic Encyclopedia Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• No New Money for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs advocacy website Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• Pure Love Club advocacy group that encourages sexual abstinence and chastity Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• Real Love syndicated columnist and abstinence advocate Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• Silver Ring Thing abstinence pledge program Retrieved August 9, 2007.

• "Teen sex abstinence study sparks controversy" Shaoni Bhattacharya, NewScientist.com news service, 02 February 2005 Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• The True Love Thing to Do abstinence curriculum for teenagers Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• True Love Waits Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• "Uganda's HIV rate drops, but not from abstinence Sabin Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 February 2005 Retrieved August 9, 2007.
• WAIT "Washington AIDS International Teens" Retrieved August 9, 2007.

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