Why is religion obsessed with sex?

[Frenger]

I remember watching a debate between Stephen Fry, Christopher Hitchens and Ann Widdecombe and some other chap and Mr Fry pointed out that the Catholic faith is obsessed with sex both homosexual and heterosexual. I think it's pretty fair to say that this can be accredited to most of the major religions.

This may be a simple question but I can't work out why it is so important especially when sex was so celebrated in places like Athens. Is it basically just a way of controlling people?

 

[Inferno]

I remember watching a debate between Stephen Fry, Christopher Hitchens and Ann Widdecombe and some other chap and Mr Fry pointed out that the Catholic faith is obsessed with sex both homosexual and heterosexual. I think it's pretty fair to say that this can be accredited to most of the major religions.

This may be a simple question but I can't work out why it is so important especially when sex was so celebrated in places like Athens. Is it basically just a way of controlling people?

This is the debate, the motion was "The Church is a force of good in the world".

I think that it's so obsessed with sex because sex is the way to control the population. Control the amount of kids people have and you control the people themselves. It's also a brilliant way to make people feel guilty: Tell them that threesomes are out of the question and that's at least all straight men right there that will have to feel ashamed for their thoughts. Tell them that adultery is bad and that's another 50% that will feel bad. And that's when you as a priest come in to redeem them. They'll tell you (confession) and you'll have dominion over them.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

More or less what inferno said.

Not all religion is obsessed with sex in equal measure, but what all religion shares is a desire to integrate itself with every aspect of human life. Sex is obviously a very important part of that.

What the Catholic Church (and to some extend all Christianity) does is a bit more sinister than that, however. The Church is very fond of making rules which it knows cannot be followed, thus ensuring a need for forgiveness when they are broken, which of course the Church holds a monopoly on. Sexual desire is is virtually universal in human beings, making sexual desire into a source of shame a brilliant strategic move.

 

[Frenger]

More or less what inferno said.

Not all religion is obsessed with sex in equal measure, but what all religion shares is a desire to integrate itself with every aspect of human life. Sex is obviously a very important part of that.

What the Catholic Church (and to some extend all Christianity) does is a bit more sinister than that, however. The Church is very fond of making rules which it knows cannot be followed, thus ensuring a need for forgiveness when they are broken, which of course the Church holds a monopoly on. Sexual desire is is virtually universal in human beings, making sexual desire into a source of shame a brilliant strategic move.

I guess I was being fairly naive. I didn't really want to think that it could be a concious decision to control and set impossible limits. I suppose deep down I'm not surprised.

 

[VyckRo]

"... religion obsessed with sex" and Atheist are not! :lol: :twisted: :mrgreen:

 

[Frenger]

"... religion obsessed with sex" and Atheist are not! :lol: :twisted: :mrgreen:

I'm not. I enjoy it when it happens and I would certainly like to have more of it, but that's about as far as it goes.

I think what you have POSSIBLY done is misunderstood the point, which isn't like you at all, what gives?

 

[Master_Ghost_Knight]

Some people say that religion is very often the mirror image of the people who practice it. Religion is obsessed about sex because people are obsessed about sex.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

"... religion obsessed with sex" and Atheist are not! :lol: :twisted: :mrgreen:

I have a healthy attitude towards sex: I like it, it's fun, it's jolly. Because it's a primary impulse it can be dangerous and dark and difficult- it's a bit like food in that respect, only even more exciting. The only people who are absolutely obsessed with food are the anorexics and the morbidly obese. And that, in sexual terms, is the Catholic Church.

 

[KittenKoder]

Actually, and here's something that may have been overlooked by some people or I may be repeating what has already been said and I just missed it.

They are not obsessed, not in the sense of thinking about it constantly. Even early humans knew, sex was how you create more. When you control the sexual activity, you control the population, literally and figuratively. The idea for most religions is to become dominant over those who are not a part of it. How best to do that? By telling the believers to breed as much as possible, and to kill off the males of those who disagree or any offspring that may have been "corrupted" by alternative ideas.

Most of the ancient religions were sanctioned by the state, though the state did not play favorites, and the belief system was aimed at gaining more power for the nation. So even they had practices and laws regarding sexual conduct they were just not as focused on because it there were more important things to be concerned with.

Later religions put a heavier focus on it, pagan religions took a more milder approach by including the act in rituals while organized religions favored a pretty dark and violent approach to population control. The christian bible is the prime example of this, you force non-believing virgin women to marry the believing men and kill of everyone else in almost all cases of war and even during chance encounters. Also the forcing of rape victims to marry their rapist.

That is why sexual activity was so heavily focused on by most religions. It was just a matter of increasing their population while crippling all others. A pretty disgusting way to create more believers, in my opinion, and I cannot find a good point to it for any religion.

 

[Inferno]

Actually, and here's something that may have been overlooked by some people or I may be repeating what has already been said and I just missed it.

They are not obsessed, not in the sense of thinking about it constantly. Even early humans knew, sex was how you create more. When you control the sexual activity, you control the population, literally and figuratively. The idea for most religions is to become dominant over those who are not a part of it. How best to do that? By telling the believers to breed as much as possible, and to kill off the males of those who disagree or any offspring that may have been "corrupted" by alternative ideas.

Most of the ancient religions were sanctioned by the state, though the state did not play favorites, and the belief system was aimed at gaining more power for the nation. So even they had practices and laws regarding sexual conduct they were just not as focused on because it there were more important things to be concerned with.

Later religions put a heavier focus on it, pagan religions took a more milder approach by including the act in rituals while organized religions favored a pretty dark and violent approach to population control. The christian bible is the prime example of this, you force non-believing virgin women to marry the believing men and kill of everyone else in almost all cases of war and even during chance encounters. Also the forcing of rape victims to marry their rapist.

That is why sexual activity was so heavily focused on by most religions. It was just a matter of increasing their population while crippling all others. A pretty disgusting way to create more believers, in my opinion, and I cannot find a good point to it for any religion.

Spot on, it's a perfect expansion of what I said earlier.

I think that it's so obsessed with sex because sex is the way to control the population. Control the amount of kids people have and you control the people themselves. It's also a brilliant way to make people feel guilty: Tell them that threesomes are out of the question and that's at least all straight men right there that will have to feel ashamed for their thoughts. Tell them that adultery is bad and that's another 50% that will feel bad. And that's when you as a priest come in to redeem them. They'll tell you (confession) and you'll have dominion over them.

 

[KittenKoder]

Actually, and here's something that may have been overlooked by some people or I may be repeating what has already been said and I just missed it.

They are not obsessed, not in the sense of thinking about it constantly. Even early humans knew, sex was how you create more. When you control the sexual activity, you control the population, literally and figuratively. The idea for most religions is to become dominant over those who are not a part of it. How best to do that? By telling the believers to breed as much as possible, and to kill off the males of those who disagree or any offspring that may have been "corrupted" by alternative ideas.

Most of the ancient religions were sanctioned by the state, though the state did not play favorites, and the belief system was aimed at gaining more power for the nation. So even they had practices and laws regarding sexual conduct they were just not as focused on because it there were more important things to be concerned with.

Later religions put a heavier focus on it, pagan religions took a more milder approach by including the act in rituals while organized religions favored a pretty dark and violent approach to population control. The christian bible is the prime example of this, you force non-believing virgin women to marry the believing men and kill of everyone else in almost all cases of war and even during chance encounters. Also the forcing of rape victims to marry their rapist.

That is why sexual activity was so heavily focused on by most religions. It was just a matter of increasing their population while crippling all others. A pretty disgusting way to create more believers, in my opinion, and I cannot find a good point to it for any religion.

Spot on, it's a perfect expansion of what I said earlier.

I think that it's so obsessed with sex because sex is the way to control the population. Control the amount of kids people have and you control the people themselves. It's also a brilliant way to make people feel guilty: Tell them that threesomes are out of the question and that's at least all straight men right there that will have to feel ashamed for their thoughts. Tell them that adultery is bad and that's another 50% that will feel bad. And that's when you as a priest come in to redeem them. They'll tell you (confession) and you'll have dominion over them.

Aaah, see, I missed a post. Someone did mention it, I just got preachy again.

 

[Inferno]

Aaah, see, I missed a post. Someone did mention it, I just got preachy again.

Don't worry, there's always something to add.

 

[Prolescum]

Just a guess, but it's probably because religion was invented before Space Invaders.

 

[Laurens]

Screwing is more fun than church

That probably has something to do with why they don't like it too much...

 

[Frenger]

Screwing is more fun than church

That probably has something to do with why they don't like it too much...

Do you mean screwing as in "sexing" or putting up shelves, either way you're correct.

 

[Laurens]

Screwing is more fun than church

That probably has something to do with why they don't like it too much...

Do you mean screwing as in "sexing" or putting up shelves, either way you're correct.

Screwing up pieces of paper into tiny balls is also more fun than church

So is screwing planks of wood to your skull...

 

[atheisthistorian]

I think Hitchens probably said it best. The single best way to move a society forward is the emancipation of women. This means political emancipation, the right to vote, educational emancipation, the right to receive decent schooling, economic emancipation, and biological emancipation. Once women are freed from the cycle of pregnancy, education about proper use of contraception and able to control their own bodies, all boats will rise. Abrahamic faiths make control of the bodies of women, and loathing of the female genitalia an integral part of their system. We've heard Rick Santorum say that societies that freely use birth control move away from religious values and he is right. Once women have freedom, the shackles of superstition are no longer necessary to control reproduction. Those interested in patriarchy are desperately clinging to their pro-life, anti-contraception stance, because it represents the fastest ticket backward for society, and thus the fastest way for them to regain control.

 

[Visaki]

I think Hitchens probably said it best. The single best way to move a society forward is the emancipation of women. This means political emancipation, the right to vote, educational emancipation, the right to receive decent schooling, economic emancipation, and biological emancipation. Once women are freed from the cycle of pregnancy, education about proper use of contraception and able to control their own bodies, all boats will rise. Abrahamic faiths make control of the bodies of women, and loathing of the female genitalia an integral part of their system. We've heard Rick Santorum say that societies that freely use birth control move away from religious values and he is right. Once women have freedom, the shackles of superstition are no longer necessary to control reproduction. Those interested in patriarchy are desperately clinging to their pro-life, anti-contraception stance, because it represents the fastest ticket backward for society, and thus the fastest way for them to regain control.

I think there is plenty of material from developing countries that giving women economical power and education is one of the best ways of improving living conditions for all.

I think the answer for the original question is pretty simple. You are usually pretty sure who the babies mother is. The father, not so much.

 

[HughMungos]

This is why religion is obsessed with sex.

If I tell you to NOT think about elephants... what is it you are now thinking about?

Religion tells people, do NOT have sex, do NOT think about sex, do NOT talk about sex... and as a consequence of all that oppression and suppression all they can possibly think about it sex.

Plain and simple.

 

[RedYellow]

Here's a thought: Does anyone think that religious people channel their sexual urges into being subservient to god? I honestly think many of them do. Obeying god, feeling guilt and desiring punishment, fawning over him constantly. These are common behaviors that relate to sexual roles of dominance and submission, and could even be a sort of veiled homosexual outlet for men who've been trained to despise homosexuality.

They totally just want to be dominated by Big Daddy God for being bad, bad boys and girls!