Introduction / Summary (May 2008): Hello!
Welcome to our Evolutionary Philosophy of Human Sexuality pages. The video provides a good introduction which we think you will enjoy!
Sex is obviously important to people - and if you want to improve your
sexual relationships then knowing the truth about our human evolution is
the best foundation. By opening our minds to a greater diversity of behaviors,
this knowledge will help you creatively cultivate healthy pleasurable moral
attitudes and sexy smutty relationships (free from religious guilt & cultural myths).
About
this Philosophy Website on Truth and Reality: We are listed as one of the top Philosophy Websites on the Internet with around 500,000 page views each week. The central thesis of philosophy is that we must know the truth to act wisely and truth is founded on a correct
understanding of physical reality. Clearly people have a strong sexual instinct due to our evolution and survival as a species. However, our planet faces many serious environmental problems, thus our survival now depends on a true understanding of our place in nature,
as a way of better protecting life on earth. Truth and reality are beautiful
subjects which are profoundly important to our future survival - they are
the source of wisdom, the foundation for everything you see and experience
in the universe!
Religion and Sexuality Christianity, Islam, The
Bible & Koran, Taboo's, Myths & Morality
Introduction
Hello and welcome to this webpage on religion and sexuality. I
am currently working on this page, collecting ideas!
Ideas to explore
* Christian religion has had an enormous impact on (western) sexual
morality, in particular the subjugation of women. Christianity traditionally
holds female sexuality in very low regard (Eve's temptation of Adam, sex
is sinful outside of marriage and should only be for procreation). It is
interesting to consider how religion has portrayed feminine sexual power
as something evil and shameful, as a way of control.
Rather than regarding sex as wicked, we hope this website can
liberate both men and women to the beauty of their true sexual nature,
free from religious guilt. Women do have power over men through their sexuality,
but rather than be a bad thing, such power can be cultivated in creative
and moral ways.
* All world religions are founded on love, peace and 'do unto
others'. However the reality of religion is that it is the source of most
wars and violence.
When considering the actual living
conditions of present day civilised humanity from the standpoint of even
the most elementary religious commands, one is bound to experience a feeling
of deep and painful disappointment at what one sees. For while religion
prescribes brotherly love in the relations among the individuals and groups,
the actual spectacle more resembles a battlefield than an orchestra. Everywhere,
in economic as well as in political life, the guiding principle is one
of ruthless striving for success at the expense of one's fellow men. This
competitive spirit prevails even in the school and, destroying all feelings
of human fraternity and cooperation, conceives of achievement not as derived
from the love for productive and thoughtful work, but as springing from
personal ambition and fear of rejection. (Albert Einstein, Religion and
Science: Irreconcilable? 1948)
* Religion divides humanity. Rather than 'we are all brothers
and sisters', fundamentalism in religion breeds exclusion 'we are the chosen
ones, you are heathens'.
Below you will find a collection of quotes are from the philosopher,
Peter Vardy, 'The Puzzle of Sex', 1997. I will also be adding quotes from
'Urgent Message From Mother, Gather the Women and Save the World' by Jean
Shinoda Bolen and The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality'
by Catherine Blackledge. All three are wonderful books.
I have also collected articles and essays relating to religion
and sexuality. Hope you find it interesting!
All
human beings are sexual creatures and there are few, if any, for whom the
whole area of sexuality and relationships is not of interest and concern.
This book starts by taking seriously theological reflections about sex
from the perspective of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Immediately
some will ask, ‘Why bother with this? I am not a Christian, so this is of no relevance to my
thinking on sexual ethics.’
This is an understandable position, but Western ideas have emerged from
a Judeo-Christian culture and if one is to understand current views on
sex one has to trace their origins. Unless we understand where existing
ideas have come from, we will not be able to develop a rational way forward.
... To claim that the time has come
for a change in traditional sexual ethics is to suggest that we have reached
a turning point and that to continue with old understandings is to fail
to be truthful. There have been many such turning points in the history
of thinking about human beings in relation to God and the whole moral order,
for example;
St Augustine of Hippo (500AD) lived
when the Roman Empire had just become Christian. He reflected on Jesus’ teaching that one should forgive one’s enemies and never do harm to those who harmed you. This led to his realisation
that warfare was permissible to Christians provided the cause was just.
Up to his time, most Christians had been pacifists yet Augustine claimed
this understanding was inadequate and this has changed the whole subsequent
way war was regarded.
In spite of the evidence that there
have been many significant turning points in ethical and theological debate
in the past, some may still say that there is no ‘Puzzle of Sex’. Moral teaching is straightforward:
· Sex
before marriage is wrong
· Homosexual behaviour is wicked
· Adultery is against the law of God
· Masturbation is a grave sin
· The main purpose of sex is for procreation
· Sex is only acceptable within the marriage of one man and one
woman.
· A woman has a duty to provide sexual access to a man if she
is married to him
· Sex is to be treated with suspicion and as a temptation
· Celibacy is a higher ideal than married life.
This book will argue that none of
the above statements are straightforward and that the ethical problems
are more complicated and less clear than many assume. (Vardy, Introduction)
A misogynist and patriarchal prejudice
has pervaded the Church’s moral thought down the ages, based on the incident of Eve as the temptress
in Genesis, and confirmed by the Stoic rhetoric in which the early Christian
thinkers were trained. ... The story of Eve’s temptation of Adam was one of the foundation stones on which Christian theologians
and leaders have built their understanding of sexuality and God’s will for the relationship between men and women, and, in particular, the subservient
position of women. It is a position which can no longer be justified. (Vardy,
p10)
Nothing in the Ten Commandments prohibits
sex before marriage, sex foreplay, contraception, masturbation, homosexuality
(whether male or female) or, indeed, a vast range of other actions which
some would today regard as wrong, such as insider share dealing, pollution
of the environment, torture, hard core pornography, etc. (Vardy, p13)
Peter Vardy, 'The Puzzle of Sex' (1996).
Published by Fount, Imprint of HarperCollins
Female Sexuality & Christian Religion: Quotes from Catherine
Blackledge
The major western religion, Christianity,
is famously renowned for being sex-negative and sexist. For centuries the
men of the Christian church pushed the notion that sex was not for pleasure,
but solely for procreation. Indeed, in their eyes, intercourse for pleasure
was contrary to natural laws and hence sinful. The result of this line
of reasoning was some very binding sex laws. In England on the 12 and 13th
centuries, the church declared sex illegal on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays,
as well as for 40 days before Easter and Christmas.
Preached hand in hand with the idea
of sex being sinful is the thesis that the Christian god could only be
in the image of a male; hence women have always been second class citizens
in Christianity. And added to these was the notion of the early Christian
fathers that it was woman and her wicked sexual ways that were to blame
for humankind's original fall from grace. One of these men, Tertullian
described Eve as 'the devil's gateway .. you who softened up with cajoling
words the man against whom the devil could not prevail by force.' Later,
Christian authorities of the Middle Ages likened women's genitalia to the
'yawning mouth of hell.' (Blackledge, The Story of V, p. 51)
The emphasis in the western world
post the advent of Christianity has mainly been on hiding or veiling the
vagina, rather than revealing or celebrating it. For centuries, women could
only take an active life in Christian life if they renounced the vagina
- and took a vow of celibacy. And when not ignoring the vagina, the Christian
alternative appears to have been promoting women to feel shame about their
genitalia and put a fig leaf over them, rather than feel pride about what
was between their legs.
One of the most influential theologians
of the early Christian church, St Augustine (354 - 430) made his view of
the vagina clear with his infamous comment that we are all born inter feces
et urinam, 'between shit and piss.' (Blackledge, p.52)
Sexual Morality & Catholic Religion:
The Sixth Commandment 'You shall not commit adultery'
An essay based upon the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd
edition) on Sexual Morality, the Sixth Commandment, Chastity and Offenses
against Chastity (masturbation, homosexuality, prostitution, pornography,
fornication, rape, lust).
From the website: "The tradition
of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompassing the
whole of human sexuality.
... Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God,
with equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman
in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator's generosity
and fecundity: "Therefore
a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they
become one flesh."
Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the Sermon
on the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: "You
have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say
to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed
adultery with her in his heart. What God has joined together, let not man
put asunder."
Christian Religion & Female Sexuality:
Keeping Women in their God Given Position
'God's sentence hangs over the female sex, and His punishment
weighs down on you. You are the devil's gateway. You first violated the
forbidden tree and violated God's Law. You shattered God's image in man.
And because you merited death, God's Son had to die.' (Tertullian)
' How can woman be the image of God? ... Woman, compared to other
creatures, is the image of God, for she bears dominion over them. But compared
unto man, she may not be called the image of God, for she bears not rule
and lordship over man, but ought to obey him.' (Augustine)
'Woman is defective and misbegotten. For the active power in the
male seed produces a perfect male likeness. A female comes from a defect
in the male seed, or some indisposition, such as the south wind being too
moist.' (Thomas Aquinas)
'Women are weak, they are frail, impatient, feeble, and foolish.
They are inconstant, they are cruel, and lacking of spirit, and counsel.
Woman in her greatest perfection was made only to serve, and obey men.'
(John Knox)
'Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips, so they have intelligence.
Women have narrow shoulders, and broad hips to sit upon, so they ought
to stay home, keep the house, and raise children. The woman differs from
the man. She is weaker in body, in honour, in intellect, and in dignity.'
(Martin Luther)
An Iranian actress is facing jail and public lashing after a Paris
Hilton style tape of her having sex with her boyfriend became public. The
actress, Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, drew the wrath of the authorities after the
sex video was leaked on the Internet and a DVD was released. Ebrahimi is
one of the best-known actresses in the Islamic country.
According to London's Daily Mail, Ebrahimi made the 20-minute sex tape
privately with her boyfriend on a camcorder at the flat that they shared
two years ago. Ebrahimi was caught unawares when the tape was posted on
the Internet and widely released as a DVD, which angered her country.
This
Page Title: 'Religion and Sexuality: Christianity, Adam and Eve, The Bible, Islam, The Koran'. The main sexuality pages on
the evolution of our diverse sexual behaviors have good content and are
well worth browsing (see links at top of page). And the list of related sexuality terms that people actually search is informative (to say the least!). Want to be Involved? Join
us in this research, which provides an excellent opportunity to present
to the world the latest knowledge about the thing we all find most interesting
- sex! The work will not just benefit humanity, it will profoundly enhance
your own sexuality as you learn more about our complex and diverse sexual
evolution. We seek help in
finding the latest scientific (evolutionary) research on our biological
and cultural sexual evolution and distributing content (overviews / summaries)
to relevant pages. This site is well respected. We
are listed as the Top Philosophy Website on the Internet with around 500,000 page views each week. So your contributions will be seen
and read, and will be providing humanity with a great source of wisdom
about a very important subject (that currently suffers due to cultural
/ religious myths).
If you would like to be involved (or have comments about this website)
please write to us using the form
lower on this page. Many thanks! Karene
Analyse
any human emotion, no matter how far it may be removed from the sphere
of sex, and you are sure to discover somewhere the primal impulse, to which
life owes its perpetuation. ... The primitive stages can always be re-established;
the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable.
... Mans most disagreeable habits and idiosyncrasies, his deceit, his cowardice,
his lack of reverence, are engendered by his incomplete adjustment to a
complicated civilisation. It is the result of the conflict between our
instincts and our culture. (Sigmund Freud)
Come
and say hello to Karene - join a friendly (kind, sexually enlightened,
moral) network.
Related
Search Terms & Number of Searches Religion,
Sexuality, Christianity, Adam, Eve, Bible, Islam, Koran, Muslim, Women,
Men, Male, Female, Sex
Introduction -
The following search results provide us with fascinating information
on the diversity of sexual behaviors (and fantasies!) that people find
interesting. In total there are around 17 million 'adult' searches per day, which equates to about 5% of total
searches on the Internet. While it is fun just to browse through the results to see what people search,
they also provide us with important information that helps us better
understand the truth about our biological and cultural evolution. See: Top
17,000 Adult Related Search Terms on the Internet (2007) Top
200 Adult Related Search Terms on the Internet (2007)
Searching for Truth -
While most people may not think about 'truth' very often, it is clearly
important to us, being necessary if we are to think and act wisely (philosophy is founded on this). While these pages explore the truth about our sexuality,
this philosophy website also has a strong physics and metaphysics foundation (i.e. the study of physical reality as the ultimate / absolute source of truth).
Given the state of the world, the 'Inconvenient
Truth' about Global Warming and Climate Change, thus the necessity for humanity to think and act more wisely, it is a sobering
fact that few people search subjects such as Truth (4,000), Reality (3,000),
Physics (2,000), Philosophy (1,000), Metaphysics (500), Truth and Reality
(10).
i.e. There are about 100 'adult' searches for every 1 science related
search. While sex is obviously important to us (for
pleasure and survival), it is clear that truth and reality are also important
for our future survival. So we hope that you will stop and think about truth and reality from time to
time - look at the world and think about how you (and everything around
you) exists in Space - there is a simple solution.
Warning! These search
terms (below) are Adult Only & contain detailed Sexual Language.
Copyright
2006 - 2008 We support 'Fair Use' of these
pages for Academic & Non Commercial use.
You are welcome to use images and text, but please reference them with an
active link to relevant web page on this site. Thanks!
The free, unhampered exchange
of ideas and scientific conclusions is necessary for the sound development
of science, as it is in all spheres of cultural life. ... Only the individual
can think, and thereby create new values for society, nay, even set up new
moral standards to which the life of the community conforms.
(Albert Einstein)
RSS
All
human beings are sexual creatures and there are few, if any, for whom the
whole area of sexuality and relationships is not of interest and concern.
This book starts by taking seriously theological reflections about sex
from the perspective of the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Immediately
some will ask, ‘Why bother with this? I am not a Christian, so this is of no relevance to my
thinking on sexual ethics.’ 
Sex
before marriage is wrong
Analyse
any human emotion, no matter how far it may be removed from the sphere
of sex, and you are sure to discover somewhere the primal impulse, to which
life owes its perpetuation. ... The primitive stages can always be re-established;
the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable.
... Mans most disagreeable habits and idiosyncrasies, his deceit, his cowardice,
his lack of reverence, are engendered by his incomplete adjustment to a
complicated civilisation. It is the result of the conflict between our
instincts and our culture. (Sigmund Freud)
Related
Search Terms & Number of Searches
