You said — “I am at this point convinced that the Puritanical attitudes, hiding the truth, and the creation of a “guilt complex” regarding the human body and sex by the religous community in the U.S. has created the monster it was seeking to prevent.”
No, it’s the “split culture” that is causing it, not the part that wants us to follow the moral guidelines of the Bible, God’s Word. The ones trying to bring us “back to God” are not the problems in what is going on.
It’s the other half of that “split culture” that is causing the problems, in that anything goes, even little kids, because if we simply came from lower forms of life and/or other kinds of species of animals (and we have “thrown out God”) — then certainly it’s not a problem to “act like animals” (of course, it’s “survival of the fittest”, isn’t it...).
So, don’t blame the *wrong half* of the culture for these problems.
You might as well blame the police departments for arresting criminals, as the cause for having jails. If we didn’t have police, we could do away with the jails, couldn’t we... LOL...
Sorry but your reply reminds me of the “I don’t have any problems, you fix yours and everything will be just fine” mentality. Show me someone who says they have no problems and I will show you someone who needs a psychiatrist.
Your answer does not explain why in similar “split-cultures” like Moldova, the norm is virginity at marriage, teen-age pregnancy is virtually non-existent, drug usage is relatively rare, and church attendance is steadily increasing especially among young people. It is true that alcohol is a problem, however $3 or less for a liter of vodka and the hopelessness of living in the poorest most densely populated is certainly an influence on that.