Swedish church camp issues 'sex diplomas' to 14-year-olds on 'Love and Sexuality' course

Students were given a certificate stating they were "qualified for sex"

Shocked parents in Sweden have complained after 14-year-olds at a Lutheran Church confirmation camp were given a 'shagging diploma'.

The students, who were attending a course entitled Love and Sexuality in the south-eastern Swedish town of Ronneby, were given a certificate stating they were "qualified for sex".

According to reports the vicar Mats-Ola Nylen said the course was organised by a man who claimed he was from the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU). It later emerged that the man had not worked for the organisation for years.

The row was ignited after parents complained that their children were too young to have sex and that the certificates should not have been issued. The age of consent in Sweden is 15.

Parents were also unhappy about some of the language used in the class including the phrases like "giving someone a blow job".

"The whole camp revolves around different aspects of friendships and relationships," Vicar Mats-Ola Nylen told AFP.

"In the past, young people have complained that the church doesn't talk about these issues."

Nylen said he felt betrayed by the man, who wore a t-shirt from RFSU at the event which took place over the weekend.

A spokesman for RFSU told The Australian website that the organisation had stopped using sex certificates in 2007, and that they had been part of a different campaign that was 'not primarily geared at youths'.