NEWS ITEM: Time Magazine reports that some Protestant churches oriented toward young adults are urging married couples to have “not just better sex, but more of it.” Pastors point to Genesis, Chapter 2, verse 24, which says a man “shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”

Good pastors have assumed a stance
That favors sex and dalliance.
Once foul, these topics now are “pure.”
There’s Revelation in amour!

Raw sex, they preach, can right most wrongs,
They cite the Bible’s Song of Songs.
They’ve changed their tune — the old-time hymns
Now yield to themes of hers-and-hims.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Instead of pray’r to aid the weak,
They’re stressing sexual technique.
They smirk and say (with wink of eye):
“Be fruitful, folks, and multiply!”

This exhortation to the flocks
Inspires anew the orthodox.
The formula for wedded bliss
Is “cleavage,” found in Genesis!

The clerics who assert these views
Are planting seeds and filling pews.

Pastorn rufn dos geshlekht
A voyle zakh! (Vos ken zayn shlekht?)
Zey zogn take “Hob kayn moyre
Fun der shtarker yeytser-hore.”

Nisht shmutsik bay zey iz der min,
Nisht koytik, brudik, tsi obscene.
Zey ibervinkn zikh, un lakhn.
Vos far an oysbrei ken men makhn?

S’iz klor, di kirkh fun Kristlekhkayt
Zet heyse seks in a new light.
Haynt ale Kristn zaynen fray
Tsu frukhtik zayn and multiply.

Farmern zikh iz yetst der plan!
Shir-Hashirim zingt yeder man.
Di tuung vos iz seksuel
Balangt in Himl, nisht in Hell.

Azoy filn on zikh, Got tsu dank,
Di kirkhn un di kloysterbank!

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount