Throughout history, the relationship between spirituality and sexuality has been examined by philosophers, theologians, psychologists, anthropologists, and everyone else who likes to tackle difficult questions. Consensus on whether or not spirituality and sexuality have a harmonious or hostile relationship has not yet been reached, and perhaps it never will.

Today, spirituality is commonly understood as “a personal search for connection with the transcendent,” as Ralph Piedmont put it. Thus, spirituality—by definition—involves an internally driven search for acceptance, intimacy, belonging, compassion, empathy, and understanding. That desire for connection with the transcendent may exist on both horizontal planes (i.e., from person to other living things) and vertical planes (i.e., from person to transcendent). Using behavior as an indicator of an individual’s level of spirituality, we might find that highly spiritual individuals frequently engage in prayer, fasting, praise and worship, meditation, and yoga. We might also find that highly spiritual individuals seek out connections with other people. And it is this last behavior that is of particular importance when considering whether spirituality is harmful to women’s sexual health.

In a recently published study, we found that spirituality was positively associated with some sexual practices that increase the risk of acquiring disease and other negative outcomes. It is important to appreciate, though, that this relationship did not exist for all people. It is also important to appreciate that spirituality by itself constitutes no harm. It is the sexual practices that people engage in that does or does not put their sexual health at risk, and spirituality is just one of many factors that may influence those practices.

Jessica Burris is a predoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of Kentucky.