Why is the religious right obsessed with sex?

[pinto]

Sex is universal. Sex is pleasurable. Sex is one of the bonds we build with another person. There's a reason it's euphemistically called "intimacy". Sex is an inherent and regular part of our lives. Sex is normal.

You would think it would be a non-issue. Simply a part of the whole of our lives.

Why the apparent obsession with sex among the religious right? They've made it one of the two "big issues" in their various denominations (abortion being the other one).

Is it that sex sells? The media, especially television and advertising, are a testament to that aspect.

Is is that some sex is "good" and some is "bad"? That would seem to feed into the pervasive good vs evil construct the religious right espouses.

Is it that sex doesn't necessarily result in procreation, especially with the use of contraception? That it should be seen solely as propagation of the faith?

(ed to add) Is it that a sexual agenda compliments their attempts to promote a political agenda? Sort of a cover issue for political involvement which runs counter to the separation of church / state standard?

I've never thought of their sexual agenda as obsessive, yet it crossed my mind this morning. "What's up with that?"

[ladjf]

1. My theoretical idea about this is that they are caught in the "forbidden fruit" syndrome.

They have been told all of their lives that they are not free to express themselves sexually. Only within the limits of the church doctrine.

[Drale]

2. They were damaged by years of bad information and fear

Either directly living in the 50's and before or by their extreme religious parents. Theres also the fact that they are selfish horrible people and I would assume that selfishness extends into the bedroom so they probably have never had good let alone great sex in their lives.

[Ligyron]

7. Yeah, and BTW, I never got that whole "childhood innocence" thing either.

That's where a lot of it starts IMO. At all costs hide any references to sex when it comes to children. Or if it comes up: project fear, guilt and the spreading of bad information cause We must protect "the children" from, uhhh ... knowledge of what exactly?

No wonder large swaths of the American population are forever confused and embarrassed by all things sexual -- and then they just pass it on: generation after generation.

See that stupid commercial recently with the family in the car? The father makes up some incredibly elaborate fantasy in response to a simple question about "where babies come from". Suppose to be cute I guess but that type of ignorance can breed the very exploitation so feared when it comes to kids.

[2naSalit]

3. To me it appears to be

a portion of a general feedback loop thing that helps to perpetuate the concept that something natural is evil. Notice how they also portray certain wildlife, predators in particular (and don't even get started on the pot thing), as evil too?

It's all part of the RWNJ agenda to infuse religion into the governing faction so that what they believe becomes rule of law, thus eliminating the Bill of Rights as no separation of church and state would ensue and then the controlling elements of ideology, like punishing women for being women, will become the "given".

IMO...

[RevStPatrick]

4. Because they ain't gettin' none?

Sorry, that's all I got...

[louis-t]

5. You beat me by 4 minutes.

I was busy eating an apple fritter.

[Angry Dragon]

6. If you were limited to only the missionary position you might become obsessed with sex too

[silverweb]

8. Control.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Make people believe that one of the most universal of human drives is sinful and shameful, and you have a powerful hold on them.

They can only fend off their natural needs for so long, and they are guaranteed to fail repeatedly in their efforts.

If they believe those failures to renounce or severely restrict a natural drive are shameful and a sin, they will be in a perpetual state of guilt and vulnerability, thus much more easily controlled.

[cleanhippie]

9. ^^^THIS^^^

Exactly. Well put.

[pink-o]

17. You beat me to it!

And articulated it far better than I would've!

May I add: It is not only the church that controls people via sexual guilt. By depriving people of intimate connections, the power base can channel those urges into other areas where it benefits them. Such as cutthroat business, or (my favorite) sending young men to war. A young man who spends all day making love with his partner is not gonna have the urge to kill anyone. Take the same man, frustrate him with ideas of shame and sin, and he'll be more than willing to manifest his testosterone in other ways.

It's the difference between chimps and bonobos: the former are territorial and violent at times, the latter have sexual encounters with everyone in their group and live in peace. Since they're our closest cousins, it's a pretty accurate tableau.

[jeff47]

10. A few reasons

- It's a basic human urge. To overcome it shows that you have truly accepted (deity)

- It provides enormous control - once you've got the flock avoiding sex for you, they're willing to do a lot more for you.

- Reinforcement - when the faithful inevitably fail, they have to seek out absolution from your church.

- It helps provide more believers - make birth control a sin, and you'll have a lot of new members of your church.

[dimbear]

11. It's not just sex that's taboo. It's all your animal functions: eating, excreting, bathing, and

so on. Anything that reminds you that you are an animal is wrapped in dozens of ritualistic taboos. Keeping up the pretense that you are a fallen angel instead of a slightly remodeled monkey is a struggle.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. You can't lump them all together as 'taboo'

Eating, for instance, is part of many religious observances. Bathing is generally seen as something that marks us out as apart from other animals, and, again, can be part of religious observances (baptism, Muslims washing before prayers, etc.). But religions don't demand that that have an exclusive hold on eating or bathing, either. I don't think you can call either of those 'taboo'.

Excreting and urinating are not things that are particularly associated with religious taboos, I'd say - more general cultural ones. There's a certain naturalness to that - shit is unhealthy to handle, after all - but I don't know of religions that make it a particular thing to be ashamed of, any more than general societies do.

[dimbear]

13. What I should have said was that all these are laden with taboos, ridden by taboos. Of course

they can't actually be taboo, or you would starve, mongst other problems. The idea behind all the taboos is to disguise the essentially mammalian nature of the processes. No one wants me to list off the ones that are specifically mammalian and not just animal.

[pinto]

14. Washing the hands is a part of all the Aramaic rituals, I think.

Washing the hands before prayer, before entering the temple, before entering the church. I think other cultures have a similar ritual.

(Good public health procedure, imo. But that's another topic.)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. Keeping menstruating women out of a temple.

I'm not sure which religions keep menstruating women out of worship services.

Orthodox Jewish women having to go to a mikva (communal bath at the synagogue) after their period to purify themselves, and then wait another week to have sex. They don't use birth control and have large families. Exactly two weeks after your period, assuming you have a standard 28-day cycle, is the fertile time. They have the compulsory reproduction thing down more scientifically than the Catholics, with the extra week waiting period.

[jmowreader]

16. Because they've been brought up to only want sex when they want a child...

and figure everyone else should live as they do. If they could figure out how to get kids by budding like parameciums do, they wouldn't want anyone to have sex ever.

That's actually the answer to every Religious Right obsession: they've been brought up a certain way and no one should ever want anything different from them.