NEW YORK CITY (FR) – Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the popular sexologist, made some very startling remarks at a recent New York City Council committee meeting about the need to teach morality in public schools. Her statements were shocking to those who know her as an outspoken proponent of casual, premarital sex.

Speaking at the New York City Council’s Education Committee, Westheimer said: “I believe we have to teach morality in public schools. A value-free sex education curriculum is not possible.” Her comments were made during a hearing on AIDS education in the city’s schools.

“I realize that you can’t force a student to choose when to have sex, but we must be able to teach what Catholicism and Judaism teach: … that premarital sex is not permitted. If a student is committed to that belief, then they should stick to it.”

Westheimer also insisted that educators need to frame the values of their teaching in the historical context of our cultural heritage. Dr. Westheimer’s remarks were reprinted in a New York City newspaper, and in The American Spirit, a publication of the American Constitutional Committee of New York.