Louise Perry grew up in an agnostic home, and for a long time she shared the relaxed views on sex and relationships that most people her age take for granted. What changed her mind was her work at a rape crisis center. The journalist and campaigner for women’s rights went on to write The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, an unexpected bestseller and a sharp critique of a dating culture shaped by porn and hookups.
Justin Brierley, a speaker, writer and broadcaster who for years hosted the faith debate show Unbelievable?, talked with Perry for episode 11 of his podcast The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God. In this article for his newsletter, he traces how her thinking has developed.
Perry didn’t write her book as a Christian. Her arguments come from evolution and the social sciences, and yet, almost to her own surprise, they land very close to the historic Christian view of marriage and chastity. In her view, the freedom of the sexual revolution has mostly helped those who were already strong and hurt the vulnerable, poor women most of all. She also speaks of two sexual revolutions: the one of the 20th century, and a much older one, when early Christians taught the Greco-Roman world that sex is sacred and not something the powerful may use against the weak. She even believes that feminism itself grew out of Christian moral ideas.
So is she moving toward faith? Perry finds Christianity compelling, both intellectually and emotionally, but she struggles to believe its supernatural claims. The article ends with a piece of advice a Christian friend gave her, and with Brierley’s hope to see where her journey leads next.
For youth leaders and parents, this is a valuable perspective: a secular thinker whose own experience and research led her to reasons why Christian sexual ethics might be good for people after all. It can open honest conversations with older teens who think the church’s view of sex is simply outdated.
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This article by Justin Brierley first appeared in his newsletter, Think Faith with Justin Brierley. Pulse published a German version in June 2024 (in German).
