The Religious Institute’s Sexually Healthy and Responsible Seminary Project traces its roots to Sex and the Seminary, a 2009 Religious Institute study authored by Dr. Kate Ott. The study surveyed 36 leading seminaries and rabbinical schools, evaluating whether they were sexually healthy and responsible based on criteria developed by an advisory group of seminary deans, faculty and clergy with expertise in sexuality. The study found sexuality courses largely absent from most seminary curricula and degree requirements. Most seminaries were neither providing future religious leaders with practical skills to address sexuality in ministry nor offering sufficient opportunities for study, self-assessment, or ministerial formation in sexuality. Responding to these findings and the urgent need for ordained clergy who understand the connections between religion and sexuality, the Religious Institute committed to change the landscape of sexuality education within graduate theological institutions and began its Sexually Healthy and Responsible Seminary Project.