Content-Type: text/shitpost

A couple of days ago I mentioned Nicole Leffel's project to find the survey question that annoyed the most nuns in 1967.

I didn't say at the time, but the most annoying question, which 3,702 out of 140,000 nuns found “too annoying to answer” was whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement:

Christian virginity goes all the way along a road on which marriage stops half way.

I was not at all sure what this meant, and I imagine many readers were in the same boat.

Sumana Harihareswara posted the survey to MetaFilter and in the ensuing discussion, MetaFilter user Eyebrows McGee provided a long and detailed explanation.

This is a brief excerpt:

That specific statement — Christian virginity goes all the way along a road on which marriage stops half way — is referencing a theology of chastity and of religious life that dates back to St. Paul. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul talks about the various sexual situations of the Corinthians, and says that while obviously celibacy is best, if you're gonna have sex, get married and that's pretty good although not as good as celibacy.

The whole explanation is much longer and very detailed. Check it out.

Another user comments:

Man, I don't know who thought it was a good idea to annoy that many nuns.