Claims of virgin births in U.S. near 1 per cent: study
From a study published in a British medical journal. Among young women followed over a period of 14 years approximately 0.8% claimed to have become pregnant without engaging in sexual intercourse.
Those who made such claims were much more likely to have signed a chastity pledge and also to say that their parents talked to them rarely or never about sex and birth control.
If the claim of Jesus' birth originated with his mother, this phenomenon provides a plausible explanation. After all, the penalties back then for pregnancy outside marriage were much harsher than the shame of breaking a chastity pledge.
Personally, I think the claim was more likely to have originated with his fan club after they started to claim divine status for him. There are plenty of examples in the ancient world of hero-figures whose birth was said to have resulted from a human woman being impregnated by a god—e.g., Alexander the Great.
From a study published in a British medical journal. Among young women followed over a period of 14 years approximately 0.8% claimed to have become pregnant without engaging in sexual intercourse.
Those who made such claims were much more likely to have signed a chastity pledge and also to say that their parents talked to them rarely or never about sex and birth control.
If the claim of Jesus' birth originated with his mother, this phenomenon provides a plausible explanation. After all, the penalties back then for pregnancy outside marriage were much harsher than the shame of breaking a chastity pledge.
Personally, I think the claim was more likely to have originated with his fan club after they started to claim divine status for him. There are plenty of examples in the ancient world of hero-figures whose birth was said to have resulted from a human woman being impregnated by a god—e.g., Alexander the Great.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people — House
