The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG


Tribune Staff Reporter


ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A SENIOR bishop has branded sweethearting “an evil” and warned that The Bahamas is sliding from its Christian foundation, reacting to a new University of The Bahamas study that quantified the practice.

Dr Anthony Farrington, Diocesan Bishop of The Bahamas Turks & Caicos Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc, said the findings were “very alarming” and urged churches to respond with urgency.

The study, “A Description of Sweethearting in The Bahamas,” analysed online responses from 6,714 adults and found that some married people maintain outside sexual relationships to meet unmet emotional or intimacy needs while their marriages remain intact.

One in five respondents reported having more than one sexual partner in the previous six months. Of those, 77 percent said at least one partner was a sexual sweetheart. The study also found that 54 percent of married women described a sweetheart as superior sexually, compared with 39.5 percent of married men.

Dr Farrington said he had long known sweethearting was happening, but seeing it formally studied and documented was troubling.

“It is very alarming. Our society has drifted tremendously from our forefathers foundation. Each one of us or most of us, may say that we may know someone who is partaking in this type of activity, it is wrong,” he said.

“I condemn it. As a religious leader, I believe in the institution of family. A family is with one husband and one wife, with their children. So when you step outside of that religious boundary, then you stepping outside of the laws of God.”

He said he was disturbed by public reaction to the study, including comments suggesting sweethearting is normal.

“It shows me that although we say that we are a Christian nation, we have a lot of work to do,” he said. “There is a difference between being a Christian and a believer. I always teach it in our church. You know, a lot of us believe that there is a God, but many of us are not walking in the footsteps of what Christianity is.”

Dr Farrington said churches already promote marriage through seminars and family events but must now refocus on strengthening families in light of the findings. He said he hoped the church community could establish a programme to confront sweethearting directly.

He acknowledged that no marriage or family is perfect but stressed the need for deliberate effort to keep marriages strong. He encouraged couples to pay attention to warning signs, have open conversations when issues arise and seek counselling if they cannot resolve problems on their own.

Meanwhile, Bahamas Christian Council president Bishop Delton Fernander questioned the study’s sample, saying he was unsure how many people researchers surveyed.