AIZAWL, March 21 � A study by the largest church in Mizoram reveals that the percentage of incidence of premarital sex is high amongst Mizo youths with 43.27 per cent admitting that they had sex before marriage.
While 52.88 per cent said that they did not have premarital sex, 43.27 per cent admitted to doing so and the rest refused to respond to a questionnaire sent by the Synod Social Front, a social organisation of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church.
The SSF gave questionnaires to 31,202 people across the State of whom 30,001 responded, SSF coordinator Dr Robert S Halliday says.
�It seems that the majority of those who had premarital sex think that what they did was morally wrong with 87.43 per cent regarding sex before marriage as a sin,� sources in the SSF say.
Only 9.8 per cent thought there was no problem in premarital sex if it was consensual.
The Presbyterian Church conducted the study to create awareness amongst members that the practice of premarital sex was against the principles of Christianity and should be eradicated.
Hardliners among the Church leaders are against pre-marital sex, with retired pastors like Rev Z T Sangkhuma speaking out openly against the use of condoms and slamming social workers for encouraging young people to use them to avoid HIV/AIDS.
Sanghuma said that his logic was that encouraging use of condoms was an encouragement to have sex without having to worry about unwanted babies, which was against the tenets of Christian teachings. Sanghuma�s view has drawn protests from social activists who defended the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Some social workers, including those working with the Church said that premarital sex was leading to increase in divorce cases.
SHALOM, an Aizawl-based NGO, in an independent survey of 500 married people between the ages of 30-39 found that the majority admitted that they had sex before marriage.
Middle-aged couples, however, said that pre-marital sex could do great harm to marriage.
Out of those who admitted to having pre-marital sex, 43 per cent, however, admitted that it was morally wrong and un-Christian.
Another 21 per cent who did not have pre-marital sex said they avoided it because they thought it was wrong.
Nine per cent, however, felt that there was nothing wrong with it, while one per cent said that pre-marital sex was a lesson in sex for them.
A total of 49 per cent said that many couples divorced or separated because they married without knowing each other well.
Thirty per cent attributed rampant divorce and separation to early marriage due to having sex too early and entering into marriage for fear of having illegitimate children. � PTI