Marriage and Human Sexuality
Senior 6 · General and Religious Studies
Marriage and Human Sexuality
Lesson 1 of 5
25 min
A Rwandan couple preparing to marry meets three texts, often in the same month. The civil registrar reads from the Constitution: "A civil monogamous marriage between a man and a woman is the only recognised marital union. … No one can be married without his or her free and full consent" (Article 17). If they are Christians, a minister reads Genesis 2:24: "a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh." If they are Muslims, an imam may recite Qur'an 30:21: "He created for you helpmeets from yourselves that ye might find rest in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy."
Law, Christianity and Islam agree on much: marriage is a free union of a man and a woman, meant to last, built on love and responsibility. This unit studies what marriage and human sexuality mean, how faith and law shape them, and the challenges families in Rwanda face today.
Definition
Marriage: a lawful, freely chosen union of a man and a woman to share life, support each other and, often, raise children. In Rwanda only civil marriage is legally recognised.
Family: a group of people related by marriage, blood or adoption. A nuclear family is parents and children; an extended family adds grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
Human sexuality: the whole of a person's life as a man or woman, including the body, feelings, relationships, values and the capacity to reproduce. It is much wider than sexual activity.
Puberty: the stage of life when the body matures sexually and becomes able to reproduce. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescence as the years from 10 to 19.
Chastity: the virtue of living one's sexuality with self-control according to one's values; for unmarried people in Christian and Islamic teaching it means abstinence, not having sexual intercourse.
Celibacy: choosing not to marry, often for religious reasons, as Catholic priests and religious sisters do.
Consent: free, informed agreement given without pressure, threat or deception. A child cannot legally consent to sexual activity.
Sexual and reproductive health: physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality, not merely the absence of disease (WHO).
The WHO describes sexuality as a central part of being human throughout life, shaped by biological, psychological, social, cultural, ethical and religious factors. Figure 1 groups these into four dimensions.
Seeing all four dimensions explains why decisions about sex are never only physical. A choice made under peer pressure (social) can damage self-esteem (emotional), break one's values (moral) and carry risks to health (biological). That is why both faiths and public-health bodies teach young people to delay sexual activity, and why the law protects children absolutely.
Important
Keeping children safe
Any sexual contact with a child is abuse and a crime. In Rwandan law a child is any person under 18, and every sexual act with a child is the crime of child defilement under Article 133 of Law N° 68 of 2018 determining offences and penalties in general, whoever commits it and whatever the child seems to agree to. It is never the child's fault. If it is happening to you or someone you know, tell a trusted adult and call, free of charge:
The Catholic Church teaches that marriage between baptised Christians is a sacrament, a sign of Christ's love for the Church; most Protestant churches see it as a holy covenant. Both teach that sexual intercourse belongs within marriage: "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Traditionally a marriage united two families, not only two people. The families met in gusaba (the request for the bride) and gukwa (giving the bride-wealth, inkwano, often a cow), which sealed an alliance and mutual support. Today's law respects these ceremonies but says they may only precede the civil marriage, and that the lack of a dowry cannot prevent a marriage (Law N° 71 of 2024 governing persons and family, Article 196).
Worked example: comparing the purposes of marriage
Task: Compare Christian and Islamic teaching on the purposes of marriage.
| Purpose | Christian source | Islamic source | Same or different? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Companionship | Genesis 2:18 | Qur'an 30:21 ("rest in them") | Same |
| Children and family | Genesis 1:28 | Qur'an 4:1 | Same |
| Proper place for sexual relations | 1 Corinthians 6:19; 7:2 | Qur'an 2:187; 24:32 | Same |
| Nature of the bond | Sacrament or covenant; "one flesh" | Contract, "a strong pledge" | Different emphasis |
Conclusion. The two faiths share the main purposes. They differ in how they describe the bond: Christianity stresses a sacred, lifelong union (though many churches accept divorce in some cases); Islam stresses a solemn contract with rights and duties, which can in certain cases be ended by divorce.
Tip
Three lenses. For any question on marriage, look through three lenses: faith (Bible and Qur'an), Rwandan culture (gusaba, gukwa, family alliance) and Rwandan law (Constitution Article 17; Law N° 71 of 2024). Answers that use all three score highly.
Important
Discuss. Why might both religions and the WHO advise young people to delay sexual activity? Use each of the four dimensions in Figure 1 in your answer.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: Figure 1, the table, the worked example and the exercises.
