Thanks for this topic, Jagged. I think it's a good one--and an important discussion to have.

I did a couple of papers on this very topic when I was studying humanities in graduate school. I've always found the religious opposition to carnal pleasure troubling and fascinating. From what I recall, it has its earliest roots--at least the ones we get our heritage from--from a few early Greek thinkers who believed self-denial was important and a sign of discipline. The earliest Christians, of course, got their philosophic start in the Greco-Roman empire, and so they had incorporated many of those same attitudes. The Old Testament is full of opposition to what it termed whoredom and fornication. And our earliest religious scholars and popes essentially believed sex and sin were the same thing. Paul, for instance, was a big proponent of celibacy for Christians. Makes no sense, does it, when you think about how early Christians had to fight to increase "market share" back when the world was against them. To do right by their religion, they had to deny themselves pleasure and have celibacy as their goal. Yet they also needed to produce offspring to have the forces of good triumph over evil.

I find it interesting that the three main Western religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all share the sexual repression tradition. Yet neo-Pagan religions tend to be more positive about sexuality and consider it very matter-of-factly. Makes no sense to me, really.

A couple of my first boyfriends were raised in staunchly Catholic homes. They both had the same experience you did, Jagged. I'd have considered getting serious about one of them, but he had such conflicted and hung-up feelings about sexuality that it really got in his way. He even felt guilty about making out/petting. I had to go find myself a comfortably lusty man. I think some of the non-fundamentalist modern Christian sects are trying to do a better job of embracing sexuality these days, at least in some forms, but most of them have a long, long way to go. I'm glad I was raised a free-thinking Unitarian! (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)
birdgirl73 Reviewed by birdgirl73 on . The Church and Sexual Repression. Why are most religions so insistent on repressing natural, sexual urges? All throughout my Catholic Schooling I was taught masturbation was wrong. Worse than wrong, it's a mortal sin which will only be forgiven after confessing my sin to a priest. I was told, like many children, masturbation could lead to blindness and several other dreadful results, including eternal damnation. My Catholic Mother and Grandparents, also felt the need to discuss the "dangers" of masturbation. I have to say, I Rating: 5