The discussion revealed divergent opinions surrounding sexuality and its role in different faith systems, particularly regarding gender roles.
"There are two people [male and female] and something about their union creates God," Ryan Bouton of Christian Impact said. "The man is there to guide the woman. The woman is more receptive. These roles are not infinitely malleable because they are given to us by God."
Bouton said he believed his own duty as a Christian man was to be there for his wife and help her make decisions. Nancy Vogel, reverend of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in White River Junction, Vt., disagreed.
"I grew up in a faith tradition that was very didactic. There was not much longing for God. I want to talk about a sensual faith and a faithful sexuality, which, growing up, I would have thought was an oxymoron," Vogel said. "I think as adults and religious leaders, we need to find a way to be comfortable talking about faith and religious sexuality."
Biblical teachings regarding sex should not be taken literally, according to Vogel. It is important to "grapple with the scripture" she said.
The panel also addressed ways of approaching sexuality within a religious congregation.
"I know for a fact that Muslim teens are having sex, but most mosques are not going to have that conversation," Dave Coolidge, Dartmouth's Muslim advisor, said. "I personally think because of the reality of what is going on, the reality of life necessitates open and frank conversations about sexuality."
Bouton disagreed, arguing that sex should not be an open subject of conversation.
"Publicly in a sermon, we don't get into nitty-gritty details," Bouton said. "We talk more explicitly about sexuality, in single-gender settings. It's not just about prohibition, but what you lose [through pre-marital sex]."
Although the panel did not come to a consensus, Kurt Nelson, Dartmouth's multi-faith advisor, said it was important that this type of dialogue is taking place on campus.
"Sexuality is altogether too dangerous and too important to be ignored in religion," Nelson said. "I think it's a topic where we have a lot of service disagreements about sexuality. We also have core agreements about the nature of spirituality and sexuality."
