the straw men of premarital sex.

[brewer]

The no premarital sex tenet predates abortion. You need to consider the motive during the time that religion(s) formed. In today's society does that motive still apply?

[Religious Believer]: There you go again with your atheistic moral relativism! God's commands aren't subject to the whims of history and cultural change (unless I personally find it inconvenient, in which case I can find some scriptural basis to justify overlooking the perfect divinely-inspired moral code).

Seriously, though, you have a point. After all, most of us no longer think of our daughters as property, and the idea that someone (fetishists aside) can fuck one's property would strike most people these days as rather odd.

I believe it was more than a property issue. Think of the hardship it would be for single woman raising a child back in antiquity. No home, no income, no parenting support unless the woman's parents took her in and that may have been questionable. The parents may also become societal outcasts. Shit, it was that way up until the 20th century. What parent would wish that upon their daughter. It was more likely a societal issue than god issue or property issue.