the straw men of premarital sex.

[abaris]

It's all about control. All the major religions have suffering and asceticism at the forefront. If you say that natural instincts are evil, you've pretty much caught them in a net they can't escape from. The priest or however the particular harbinger of god is called, is the only one offering redemption from something, you will do in any case. So it's a slam dunk for the ones wanting to perpetuate the feeling of guilt.