How did "sex" become enmeshed with "religion"?

Why is it a morality issue?

My guess? In the eons BBC (Before Birth control), unwanted or unintended pregnancy could often lead to abandonment of women and children. The institution most likely to care for these vulnerable people, the solution of last resort: The Church.

Part of the message from "The Church" then became, "Don't have sex or your will be abandoned". Which was often true. Women bearing children out of wedlock came to be scorned, demeaned, viewed as imprudent etc.

Even with the advent of Birth Control and knowledge of the responsibilities inherent in sexual activity, it is taking time for the most fundamental physical manifestation of our humanness, "sex" to become totally acceptable and thus not a "moral" issue..

auntsukey Wrote:
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> My guess? In the eons BBC (Before Birth control),
> unwanted or unintended pregnancy could often lead
> to abandonment of women and children. The
> institution most likely to care for these
> vulnerable people, the solution of last resort:
> The Church.

Possibly.
There was another big factor, though: inheritance.

Males (having all the power) wanted to leave their "estates" to their sons, keeping up the family history. They *didn't* want to leave their estates to kids who weren't their sons. Since there were no blood tests, no DNA tests, or any other ways to determine parentage scientifically, the only way they could ensure kids were THEIR kids was to control the sexuality of women -- no sex for a woman unless it was with her husband. That way any kids were supposedly guaranteed to be the husband's offspring. Unless of course the wife snuck around and didn't get caught. :) Yet another reason women having sex (and having kids) out of "wedlock" were scorned, demeaned, etc. They weren't producing offspring for their husbands.

It's a way of forcing members to pay tithes and obey edicts from church leaders by using sexual guilt and sexual payoffs.

The best way to guilt someone into doing what you want is to choose something very personal and private that they have intensely strong feelings about and then twist it into knots by adding some nasty God to the mixture. Sort of like blackmail. Well . . . exactly like blackmail.

I like to blame this guy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_(Augustine)

Downfalls of seriously self-centered people are almost always *caused* by the "other." Satan. Women. Men. Children. Not "I chose," but "I gave into."

Their failure of a standard, moral or not, is somehow eased in assigning blame to someone/something else.

This guy chose other than the god of the powerful, then in atonement, spilled his guts about his sexual forays. How noble. A porn confession of his day. Became a hot item.

How juicy. Sex, sex, sex. It "sold." About 70 years after the First Council of Nicaea.

And, very few are not "guilty" of sex. This not-a-sin "sin" can quickly, neatly blanket humanity with a need to repent and pay, pay, pay.

11. Thou shalt not screw (touch) unless we say, "Okay."

Oops. Will the not guilty please raise your hand?

No need to flame my simplistic writing, for I already know I'm no Steve B.

Simple is much better, it gets to the f#cking point.

Control the body then controlling the mind is easy pickins.

The primary goal is to keep the women breeding new church adherents. Religions with the biggest numbers win over time which equals power and money for the ones in charge.