

The Fetishization of Sex as a Growth Strategy for Religions - RichardPrice
http://www.richardprice.io/post/35344606653/the-fetishization-of-sex-as-a-growth-strategy-for

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Dove
_The fundamental moral principles of religions like Christianity, and also
many others, are things like: everyone is born with equal rights; treat others
as you would treat yourself; try to alleviate the suffering of others._

This is projection.

Secular thinkers conceive of ethics relationally. Kant's categorical
imperative. The harm principle. It's all about how you affect other people --
you shouldn't do them harm, and perhaps on a good day, you should do them
good. Beyond that, who cares?

This isn't a Christian way of thinking, though. To a Christian, the object of
central importance is God. How he views things. How your actions show your
love for him. The pursuit of righteousness, for its own sake, because it is
important to Him.

This is not just my opinion, by the way. A central prayer in Judaism is the
Shema (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael>): "Hear, O Israel: the
LORD is our God, the LORD is one,". And Jesus affirms this as the central and
most important command, and expands it (Mk 12:19):

    
    
        "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; 
        The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the 
        Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
        and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this 
        is the first commandment." 
    

The _central_ commands of both religions don't say a thing about other people.

There are a lot of external, moral things we agree upon. But consider, for a
moment, even the most famous set of rules, the ten commandments:

    
    
        1. You shall have no other Gods 
        2. You shall make no artwork to be used as an idol
        3. You shall not misuse God's name
        4. You shall rest on the seventh day
        5. Honor your father and mother
        6. You shall not murder
        7. You shall not commit adultery
        8. You shall not steal
        9. You shall not give false legal testimony
       10. You shall not be jealous of your neighbor's things
    

Think about those for a second. The secularist is right there with us on 6, 7,
8, and 9. Those are external, measurable, harm-related. But look at the rest
of them! 1, 5 and 10 are purely internal; thought crimes, if you will. 2 and 3
are purely religious -- who are you hurting exactly if you break these? -- and
4 sounds like a good idea, but making it a commandment that bears the death
penalty seems rather like overkill.

Is it that Christians are dumb for thinking these are important? No, it's that
we _think about ethics differently than you_. To suppose Christianity
approaches ethics like a secularist is to seriously misunderstand
Christianity, and to project your own way of thinking onto it.

~~~
lotharbot
To expand: in Hebrew and Christian scripture, marriage is used as an analogy
for God. For example, the creation story says humanity is created "in the
image of God, male and female". God is said to be the husband of Israel; Hosea
and others liken Israel to a prostitute or an unfaithful wife. The church is
called "the bride of Christ".

Thus, sexual ethics tie directly into core tenets of Judeo-Christian doctrine
relating to who God is and how God relates to humanity. Concepts like
faithfulness, self-sacrifice, love, authenticity, exclusivity, the joining of
two different beings into one coherent whole, and commitment are reflected in
both Theology and sexual ethics. This is communicated in Jewish and Christian
scripture, and in the writings of Jewish and Christian scholars throughout
history.

There are components of Jewish and Christian sexual ethics that can be thought
of in terms of harm (cheating on your spouse can harm them emotionally, or
physically through STDs), but for the most part it's more appropriate to think
in terms of a reflection of God's nature and interaction with humans. For
someone whose education in ethics is limited to harm, it can be difficult to
see how ethical systems could be built around other concepts, but once you
grasp the basic philosophical core, it's pretty straightforward to see how
sexual ethics fit.

------
csallen
_> > The fundamental moral principles of religions like Christianity, and also
many others, are things like: everyone is born with equal rights; treat others
as you would treat yourself; try to alleviate the suffering of others._

The texts of most major religions glorify warfare, genocide, slavery,
discrimination, and misogyny. Often, they glorify suffering itself.

 _> > If two people consent to engage parts of their bodies in various ways,
that doesn’t seem to raise any ethical issues of its own._

Sex in modern Western society is wholly different than how it was thousands of
years ago. Today we are radically more educated about the workings and
consequences of sex, we have access to condoms and numerous other forms of
birth control, and we are dramatically less likely to act violently as a
result of sexual impulses and emotions. In addition, having a child is more of
a personal lifestyle choice, rather than being a decision that affects the
entire tribe or community.

------
jawns
Actually, there are tremendous practical reasons why a religion would include
sexual ethics into its moral code.

Prime example: Fidelity within marriage (one of the Ten Commandments). People
who cheat on their spouses not only do damage to their relationship, but also
increase their own (and their spouse's) risk of being infected with a sexually
transmitted disease.

Look at some of the sex-related stuff in Leviticus, like the prohibition on
having sex while a woman has her period. Turns out, a woman is at greater risk
of getting an STD during this time. So, like the Jewish dietary laws, this
prohibition actually helped keep the Jewish people (relatively) healthy.

Or look at the religious rationale for prohibiting prostitution: It treats the
prostitute (often a woman) as an object rather than a person with innate
dignity, and even in cases where the prostitute is making a seemingly free
choice to engage in the transaction, there are often hidden pressures
(addiction, mental illness, a pimp) that affect her ability to make a truly
free choice.

Those are just three small examples, but there are many others.

~~~
vampirechicken
> So, like the Jewish dietary laws, this prohibition actually helped keep the
> Jewish people (relatively) healthy.

The kashrut laws are about morality, and not about the lack of refigeration.

In an effort to live a good and moral life, Jews are told not to eat animals
that may have eaten human remains (shellfish eat whatever is in their path,
pigs are wonderful for disposing of bodies).

You can get might sick from spoiled lamb or goat, as you can form spoiled pig.

Furthermore, the "no meat with dairy" is an extrapolation of the exhortation
not to boil a baby in its mothers milk. So Jews extrapolate and don;t have
dairy products when they have red meat.

It is about honoring the Lord, not about spoiled food.

------
littlegiantcap
As a practicing Catholic, no offense, but you're way off base. The point of
making things like sex, gluttony, etc taboo is that it's a pleasure that
you're putting above God that detracts from the worship of him. In many
western societies people tend to think "victimless crimes" are of no
consequence. I'd also like to point out that you seem to be working off the
assumption that there is no God. If in fact you were operating under the
assumption that there is in fact a God or deity, etc. simply this higher order
being commanding it is enough to follow his word.

I would also say that on a personal (non-religious) note, I (and many others)
consider sex a highly personal and special act that becomes less so the more
people it's done with. Valuing modesty isn't such a bad thing, and I believe
that being select about who you have sex with makes it more valuable of a gift
to share with someone.

~~~
camus
According to your religion you should not have sex for pleasure , whoever you
have sex with ,or that's called luxury. The only purpose of sex is
procreation. So there is no value in sex other than making children , and if
you are doing it for pleasure it is a sin. ( i dont mind what you are doing ,
that's just what the catholic church says ).

~~~
littlegiantcap
That's actually a common misconception. The church teaches that for sex to
"whole" it has to have both the formative (pleasure/love) aspect as well as
the procreation aspect. You can certainly procreate outside of marriage (in
the literal sense. This is also why they teach against birth control even for
married couples. Only in marriage, with the purpose of child bearing is sex
"whole".

------
rmc
This article is heavily based on what current (esp. western) religions are
concerned with _now_.

Religions used to be concerned with lots of different things in the past. For
example the supernatural world, like witches and the devil visiting a house,
or disease caused by immorality or lack of religiousity. Modern Christianity
mostly cares about sex, but in the middle ages, they were concerned with
witches, a few hundred years ago they were opposed to democracy, equality
before the law, or overthrowing Kings.

 _The fundamental moral principles of religions like Christianity, and also
many others, are things like: everyone is born with equal rights_

This has not always been the principle of Christianity. Back in the Day™ some
people were born with more rights. Kings had the right to rule over commoners
etc. It was a sin to disobey & rebel against your King/Lord/Duke/etc. since
they had a divine right to rule. Christianity has only recently (i.e. ~ 100 →
200 years) accepted this "equality" idea that the Enlightenment was about.

------
RickHull
I believe some of the earliest religions were essentially sex cults that
attempted to appease the gods and goddesses of fertility. More generally, the
first shamans and priests were those who had acquired some insight into the
workings of the natural world, yet, intentionally or not, shrouded them in
mystique and ritual, creating barriers of entry to the knowledge they had
discovered.

That sex is a particularly strong human motivator would drives religion's
appeal to religion consumers while sex's role as a status differentiator would
drive the appeal to religion producers. In short, I think the role of sex in
religion is less a recent growth strategy than an ancient component that helps
explain the religions we have today.

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ngvrnd
First, lets ignore the single most salient aspect (in a historical, biological
and social sense) of sex, namely that it produces babies, and all that that
implies. Then, pretend to be surprised that systems which have evolved to
shape peoples behavior have had a lot to say about sex. Then lets notice that
religions can grow by sexual reproduction of members.

Well done, sir. Well done, indeed.

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ta12121
The author seems to have forgotten that birth control is (mostly) a modern
invention.

~~~
Osiris
The author doesn't mention one time that the result of unencumbered sexual
activity between adults is procreation.

Religions generally reserve procreation to occur within a structured family
unit.

In my personal belief system, the family structure has a fundamental place in
our eternal progression and thus the sanctity of family is of the utmost
importance. The 'rules' regarding sexual activity are entirely related to the
family structure.

I would bet that most religions that have prohibitions on sexual activity do
it for very similar reasons.

------
gr3yh47
Why is this on hacker news...

~~~
camus
Because marketing is using religious techniques to promote brands , and
religions are using marketing mediums to grow( mega churches , on demand
salvation , etc ... ). Religion = Marketing = All about the money.

------
camus
Well religion is about control , and religion , in western society use to be a
powerfull politic tool. The goal of religion is not to enlighten people about
the "unseen world" but to control people's life and "morality", shame them (in
case of christianity ) so they can go back to church and ask for forgiveness.
Fetishization of sex is not a growth strategy for religion. Most religion
growth has been acheive through violence and war.

