Church class 'certified' teens as 'qualified for sex', parents outraged

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Church of Sweden vicar Mats-Ola Nylen said the course, titled Love and Sexuality, had been organized by a man purporting to come from the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), but the church later found out he hadn't worked for the organization in years.

Parents complained about the certificates, saying their teenage children weren't ready for sex. Many parents were also upset by the use of phrases like "giving someone a blow job."

The vicar of Rödeby Church asked to listen in on the session but was in turn asked to stay away by the man, who said having the vicar there would have had an "inhibitive" effect on participants. Giving 14-year-olds a certificate saying they were ready to "shag" was sending a mixed message, Nylen said.

A spokeswoman for RFSU, Josefin Morge, said the organization stopped using the sex certificates in 2007, and that they had "not primarily geared at youths." RFSU is the Swedish national affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Organization.