On sex, Muslims and Hindus practice what they preach

With their “True Love Waits” jewelry, conferences and T-shirts, Christians may be the face of the abstinence movement, but Muslims and Hindus are more likely to abstain from premarital sex.

That’s the conclusion of a new study in the American Sociological Review, which also found that Muslims and Hindus—at least in the developing world—are more likely than Christians and Jews to refrain from sex outside of marriage.

“All major world religions discourage sex outside of marriage, but they are not all equally effective in shaping behavior,” said Amy Adamczyk of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who coauthored the study with John Jay doctoral student Brittany E. Hayes.