Religion and sexuality

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  • This article is primarily about religious attitudes to sexual morality. For an overview of cultural attitudes to sex, see Sexual norm.
  • More extensive coverage of homosexuality, one of the more controversial areas in this topic, is in the article on Religion and sexual orientation.

Contents

Introduction

Views on sexual morality have varied greatly over time and from culture to culture. The development of a given society's views on sexual morality can derive from religious beliefs, or even social and environmental conditions.

Sexuality and reproduction are common elements in many forms of human interaction and society worldwide. Without sexual activity, the species would die. On the other hand, unrestrained sex has proven in every culture to lead, to at least some degree, to the spread of disease and to disruption of sexual pairing (e.g., sexual jealousy as a motive for some episodes of domestic violence). Additionally, childbirth--a direct result of sexual activity--is dangerous and often even deadly for both mother and child, even to a degree with modern medicine. Sexual activity is thus fraught with questions of birth, death, and basic social organization and human interaction. Because of these crucial issues, it is perhaps inescapable that most religions and societies have seen a need to address the question of the proper role for sex in human interaction.

Different religions have different codes of sexual morality which regulate sexual activity or assign normative values to certain actions or thoughts. Religions and Religious believers have adopted varying views along every point in the spectrum, from holding that sex and the flesh are evil and should be prohibited and punished, to the belief that sex is the highest expression of the divine and should not be regulated by social mores. Even when positions that fall somewhere in the middle of these extremes, the issue of sexual morality may not be agreed upon by adherents within a particular sect.


Based on all of these factors, many cultures and religions have rules regarding sexual behavior which they consider moral and it is said by persons in those cultures and religions that those acting outside of those rules are immoral or wrong. These rules sometimes distinguish between sexual activities that are practiced for biological reproduction (sometimes allowed only when in formal marital status and in fertile age) and other activities practiced solely (or mainly) for the pleasure of sex.

The respective efficacy of these rules often depends on the social position of the group that develops them, on its eventual political representativity, on its relationships with the laws of the related country.

Since the sexual revolution, western moral debate regarding sexuality has largely become divorced from procreation and other traditional and/or religious priorities because of economic factors and feminism. The strength of the conservative movement in the eighties draws part of its inspiration from the negative reaction to these changes from religious conservatives. In the face of these novel developments, they argue for an end to abortion, birth control, and nonprocreative sex, as well as divorce. In Western pluralistic societies of the 20th and 21st Centuries, there often exists debate on not only whether there is a common morality, but on whether it is right to expect such a common view. In most Western societies, laws allowing a wide range of sexual relationships between consenting adults are the norm, although that legal range varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The debate thus often includes a sub-argument of what is legal versus what is moral.

In previous centuries and in many non-Western cultures of the 20th and 21st Centuries, there has been less room for debate. This does not mean, however, that views on sexual morality have ever been homogenous.

For example, in Hellenic society, homosexual behavior was often encouraged and accepted as part of the socialization and upbringing of young men, especially those in the military. These relationships were in addition to heterosexual relationships entered into for the establishment of families and the production of progeny so that property would be inherited and kept within a larger kinship group. The importance of the kin-group and the maintenance of its property was such that, under certain circumstances, Athenian law allowed an uncle to marry his niece in order to keep family property together. It could be therefore argued that the needs of the family constituted a higher morality that helped to define the sexual mores of the society as a whole.

In Roman society, sexual morality concentrated more on the social status of those involved, and their taboos concentrated on high-status men committing any kind of sexual act that was thought of as passive or submissive. Providing that the sexual act was dominant in nature, and the man had a high social status Roman society made little distinction between the type of sexual partner and type of sexual act.

In the modern world, opinions differ on how homosexuality should be dealt with, and there is a full spectrum of reaction exhibited - execution for sexuality alone, execution for sexual acts, imprisonment, gay bashing, hate speech, shunning, segregation (e.g. gay schools), castration, reparative therapy, ex-gay movements, prayer for change, hate crime laws, allowing gay marriage, and full equality.Citation needed

On the other hand, significant segments of human society on all continents continue to strongly oppose homosexuality, either as a sin, a crime or an illness. These objections are often from a religious perspective, and call for punitive consequences for homosexual behavior ranging from social censure and counselling to so-called reparative therapy and even death in certain theocratic societies such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. At the same time, within the past hundred years, societies which had been historically open to love and sexuality between males have been influenced by the west and have become antagonistic towards same-sex love. This development can be seen in many African societies, India, China, Japan, and Papua New Guinea.Citation needed

Another example is the contrast between traditional European and traditional Asian or African views of permitted familial relationships. British law and custom, for example, frequently forbade intermarriage between those related by marriage. However, in rural regions of India, Nepal, and surrounding nations, fraternal polyandry, in which two (or more) brothers marry the same woman, is culturally accepted. Likewise, European mores generally advocate monogamy strongly. Polygyny is widely practiced by many societies throughout Asia and Africa, and polyandry is the accepted norm in a few Indian and African societies.


Spreading sexual morality to non-adherents

Many cultures attempt to codify their prescriptions concerning individual sexual behaviours. Such codifications are frequently enacted as laws, extending their application beyond the culture to other cultures under the purview of the laws, including dissenters.

Most of the Islamic world has strict rules enforced with sometimes violent punishments to enforce Islamic moral codes, including sexual morality on their citizens, and often attempt to impose it on non-Muslims living within their societies. The same was true of various European Christian regimes at some stages in history, and many contemporary Christians support restrictions on the private expression of sexuality, ranging from relatively uncontroversial prohibitions of prostitution to rather controversial restrictions on oral sex and sodomy. Haredi Jews in Israel use various verbal and print media (newspapers, books, radio shows, websites, etc.) to try to encourage other Jews to follow the Jewish laws of sexuality.

Abrahamic religions and sexual morality

Different-sex sexuality, and specifically procreation, is currently viewed as the ideal by some members of the Abrahamic religions. They sanction monogamous and committed different-sex relationships within marriage. The Old Testament prohibits adultery and different-sex intercourse during menses (Lev.15: 19-24).

Jewish views of sex and morality

In A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, Conservative Rabbi Isaac Klein writes a summation of Jewish views towards sex:

Modern man is heir to two conflicting traditions neither of which is Jewish: On the one hand, the rebirth of the old paganism which found its extreme expression in the sacred prostitutes of Canaan...and on the other hand, the Christian reaction to the excesses of paganism...sex became identified with original sin, and celibacy was regarded as the ideal form of life. Modern man, while opting for pagan libertinism, also suffers a guilty conscience because of his Christian heritage....Judaism is free of both extremes. It rejects the espousal of uncontrolled sexual expression that paganism preaches, and also Christianity's claim that all sexual activity is inherently evil. Jewish marriage is based on a healthy sexual viewpoint that rejects the two extremist principles, and so are the regulations governing the conjugal relations between husband and wife, taharat hamishpacha, the purity of family life.

The Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative Judaism) has published a pastoral letter on human sexuality, "This Is My Beloved, This Is My Friend: A Rabbinic Letter on Intimate Relations". Topics include sex within marriage; having children; infertility; divorce; adultery; incest; single parenthood; non-marital sex; contraception; homosexuality; and the laws of family purity (taharat hamishpacha).

Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of Jewish law is the laws related to taharat ha'mishpacha (Hebrew: literally "family purity"). These rules inform us that a woman becomes tame (in Israeli Hebrew, pronounced [tɑ'me]) or niddah when she is menstruating. During this time a couple must refrain from all physical contact, especially sexual relations. After the cessation of her menstrual flow, the women counts seven days before immersing herself in a mikvah, at which time sexual relations between man and wife can resume. The words tahor and tame are often, but erroneously, translated as physically "clean" and "unclean". However, these terms actually describe a state of ritual applicability in regards to fulfilling biblical commandments, such as those associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, the cultic function of Kohanim (priests), and sexual relations within in a Jewish marriage. Modern Jewish authors often translate tahor and tame as "ritually pure" and "ritually impure".

People who view that homosexuality as immoral consist chiefly of sub-groups, or those raised in cultures influenced by them. Based on their interpretations of various verses in the Jewish Bible, they conclude that God has forbidden homosexuality. Adding this prohibition to their concept of sexual morality as a code of conduct or set of rules governing sexual behavior, Judaism has historically viewed homosexuality as a grave sin; in recent years some of the more liberal Jewish denominations have begun rethinking this understanding for various reasons. This topic is discussed separately in the entry on Jewish views of homosexuality.

For more details, see Rabbi Michael Gold's Does God Belong in the Bedroom? and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's Kosher Sex.

The Old Testament prohibits different-sex adultery and different-sex intercourse during menses (Lev.15: 19-24). They sanction monogamous and committed different-sex relationships with marriage.

Christian views of sex and morality

The Old Testament prohibits different-sex adultery and different-sex intercourse during menses (Lev.15: 19-24). They sanction monogamous and committed different-sex relationships with marriage.

TEACHINGS OF PAUL: The New Testament holds forth a number of discussions on sex and sexuality; these discussions are mainly by Paul. In these parts of the New Testament Paul informs Christians that celibacy is more desirable than entering into a sexual relationship – "It is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband." (Corinthians I, 7:1) The later Church Fathers took this teaching to heart and taught that celibacy was a better state than marriage. At the same time, Saint Augustine emphasized that marriage was a good state, arguing that if it were not good, then praising virginity as better than celibacy would not be saying much in favor of virginity.

Granting a concession to human weakness, Paul states that if an unmarried person is unable to maintain chastity, he or she should marry rather than fall into sin. "I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." (Corinthians I, 7:8-9) Further, he states that husbands and wives should "Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control."

Paul holds marriage not to be the best situation, but rather a potential cause of distress and distraction from God. "Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you." (Corinthians I, 7:25-28) "I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord, but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife and his interest is divided. . . The unmarried woman cares for the affairs of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit; but a married woman cares for worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord." (Corinthians I, 7:32,35)

In summary, Paul's teaching to the early Christian church includes encouragement to "abide even as I" – unmarried. (Corinthians I, 7:8) However, this is spoken of as a preference Paul had – one which he notes as not being for every man (Corinthians I, 7:7) – in order that Christians might "attend upon the Lord without distraction." (Corinthians I, 7:35) But, if the temptation of the flesh be too great, one should marry, "...and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned." (Corinthians I, 7:28)

EARLY PATRIARCHS: It is worth noting that the early patriarchs of the Old Testament were not without wives. In fact the first book of the Bible reveals God noting that "It is not good that man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18). Out of this God created Eve, a helper for Adam. The marriage relationship was created by God. But, perhaps the result from this union was what Paul was referring to when he wrote, "But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife." (Corinthians I, 7:33) Was Adam not pleasing Eve when he bit into the apple?--quite certainly the ultimate division between Adam and God.

HOMOSEXUALIY: Christians vary in their understanding of whether homosexuality or homosexual acts should be taboo. Some Christians interpret various verses in the Old and the New Testament and conclude that God has forbidden homosexual acts and that people predisposed to these acts through their homosexual orientation do so out of a sin of the heart. This may be due to a legalistic understanding of sexual morality as a Biblical code of conduct and set of rules governing sexual behavior, or this understanding may be due to conscience or so-called "discerning of the Spirit." Some more liberal Christian denominations look at the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and conclude that if there are any teachings specifically regarding homosexuality and homosexual acts, they should be seen in the light of Jesus's commandments to "love one another" and "judge not that ye may be judged." (see Homosexuality and Christianity for a more complete treatment of this lenghty issue.)

EFFECTS OF THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION: Since the sexual revolution, western different-sex sexuality has been almost completely divorced from procreation and other traditional and/or religious priorities because of economic factors and feminism. The strength of the conservative movement in the eighties draws part of its inspiration from the negative reaction to these changes from religious conservatives. They argue for an end, sometimes legal, to abortion, birth control, and nonprocreative sex, as well as divorce.

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION FOCUS: Some believe that sex acts which are conducted for reasons other than reproduction are immoral. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, officially condemns the use of physical and chemical contraceptives on natural law grounds (though it does not prohibit the use of NFP or sex after menopause.)

Muslim views of sex and morality

Islam forbids celibacy as a form of religious practice, and considers the natural state for humans to be married.

Marriage to non-Muslims was initially completely prohibited, but later Qur'anic verses made it legal for Muslim men to marry women from other Abrahamic religions (Jews and Christians). Later scholars extended this to include monotheistic religions as well (such as Zoroastrians). Contemporary scholars have upheld this ruling, but many view inter-faith marriages as unwise, albeit legal.

A Muslim woman, on the other hand, is only allowed to marry a Muslim man, under the assumption that to marry a non-Muslim man would mean that the children would grow up as non-Muslims. Under Islamic law (shari'a), a marriage contract between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man is considered illegal and void, and hence legally an adulterous affair. The same is true for a marriage contract between a Muslim man and a women from a non-Monotheistic faith (Hindu, Buddhist, animalist, etc.)

All forms of sexual contact outside of a marriage are considered sinful. In particular, adultery warrants severe punishment. Pre-marital sex is also considered a grave sin, but its punishment is less severe. All shari'a laws regulating sexual conduct apply to both men and women equally, apart from those concerning menstruation (see below).

Most forms of sexual contact within a marriage are allowed. Sex is considered a pleasurable and even spiritual activity, and a duty. At least one hadith explicitly states that for a married couple to have sex is a good deed rewarded by God. Another hadith suggests that a man should not leave the proverbial bed until the woman is satisfied; a reference many say points to orgasm.

Forbidden sexual contact includes genital contact with a woman while she is menstruating. In such case, other sexual contact (such as kissing) is explicitly allowed. Anal sex is also generally forbidden; it is explicitly forbidden within the Sunni sect, but some Shi'a scholars hold that it is allowed if consensual. Other forms of sexual contact, such as oral sex, are not explictly forbidden, and hence widely held to be permissible.

Marriage to close relatives is not permitted, and therefore such relationshiop would be considered incestuous. However, cousins (whether paternal or maternal), are not defined to be "close relatives", and hence are allowed to marry, which is not taboo or uncommon in most Muslim countries.

Milk kinship is considered equivalent to blood kinship, that is, if a mother or wet nurse breast feeds both babies, they are considered siblings, and the above rules apply.

Temporary marriage (Mut'a, marriage designated for a preset period of time) is not allowed by the majority Sunni school, but is allowed by Shia, although it is rarely practiced.

Although Polygyny is allowed in Islam under the condition to act justly among wives (Up to 4 wives at the same time), it is generally discouraged, and rarely practiced. The vast majority of Muslim men have a single wife.

A man having sex with his concubines is also permitted, and the children from such a relationship are recognized as legitimate and equal to ones from a marriage. The concubine gains freedom by bearing children to her master. Of course, this point is now only theoretical after slavery was abolished.

There are dissenting views on the topic of masturbation. While some scholars consider it unlawful and thus prohibited according to Islamic doctrine, others (such as those of the Hanbali doctrine) believe that those who masturbate out of fear of committing fornication or fear for their bodies have done nothing wrong and are not punished if (and only if) they are unable to marry.

Divorce is allowed in Islam if there is a good reason for it. However, it is considered an act much disliked by God.

Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam, and according to some scholars is punishable by death. At the extreme there are denominations (notably groups in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa) that advocate execution of gay men for violating their denomination's creed. Homosexuality is a capital crime in Iran, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Sudan, and Mauritania. For example, some parts of the Qur'an (7:80-81, 26:165) explicitly forbid homosexuality.

Buddhist views of sex and morality

Some religions, such as the majority of schools of Buddhism, do not believe same-gender sexual acts are inherently wrong. Buddhism in particular has no concept of sin.

Neo-Pagan views of sex and morality

Neo-Pagan religions are almost unanimous in their acceptance of same-sex relationships as equal to heterosexual ones. Another New Age perspective, however, is that of Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now. Starting with the idea that "the realization that you are 'different' from others may force you to disidentify from socially conditioned patterns of thought and behavior", he claims that being gay can help in the "quest for enlightenment", but only so long as one does not "develop a sense of identity based on... gayness".

Church of the SubGenius views on sex and morality

The Church of the SubGenius makes a distinction between "pornography" and "pornology." It promotes the latter, but is promoted by the former (primarily through advertising revenues). Church literature promises sex as one of the rewards of membership, though adherents may need to wait until X-Day, when Venusian space women will make themselves available to members. Rishathra is especially promoted--founder "Bob" himself is said to be the offspring of a human and a yeti--but all forms of fetishistic or deviant sexuality are celebrated.

Secularist views of sex and morality

Some secularists find possible evolutionary benefits of homosexuality within a gene pool. Where homosexual peoples contribute to the community without having to bring up children, perhaps keeping population levels at a lower and steady rate.

Some opponents of gays and lesbians regardless of religion argue that homosexuality undermines traditional family structures and is a psychological construct. Secular disapproval of homosexuality is also associated with the stereotypes that homosexuality is inherently weak, unhealthy or dangerous, and that lesbians and gay men are prone to disease (see 'Homosexuality and medical science' for more information). These sterotypes have proven groundless, but are still widely believed.

Gay rights advocates point out that many heterosexual couples engage in accepted non-reproductive acts and marriages, including those who use contraception, practitioners of oral and anal sex, biologically infertile couples, and the elderly. Many homosexual couples also do have children, whether adopted, carried forward from previous relationships, or produced with donor sperm or egg. In the future, new technology may even allow homosexual couples to produce children which carry their genes, without the help of reproductive cell donors. Homosexual sex acts, because they do not contribute to biological fertilization and pregnancy, are often condemned on these grounds. The idea that homosexual couples cannot produce children is also a frequent objection to same-sex marriage.

See also

References

  • James Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century, University Of Chicago Press, 1st ed. 1980 ISBN 0226067106, paperback Nov. 2005 ISBN 0226067114
  • Mathew Kuefler (editor), The Boswell Thesis : Essays on Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, University Of Chicago Press, Nov. 2005 ISBN 0226457419
  • Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, New World Library, 1st ed. 1999, paperback 2004 ISBN 1577314808

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