RE: The Atheist Obsession with Insulting Christians
October 1, 2015 at 6:03 pm
(This post was last modified: October 1, 2015 at 6:10 pm by MTL.)
If there is such a thing as "unnatural" it is expecting humans to needlessly give up gratification of any non-vital human
appetites.
Our vital appetites are for air, water, food, sleep.
Our non-vital appetites are far more numerous...the need to laugh, the need to cry, the need to play,
the need to daydream, the need to create, the need to speak, the need to sing, the need to dance, the need to get outside,
the need for challenges, the need for solace, the need for friendship, the need to love, etc.
If you were deprive a human of any of these non-vital needs for moral reasons, you would be, at best,
unkind and foolish.
Why is sex any different?
No, it is not a vital function...you can live without it, just like you can live without your gall bladder,
or with one kidney, or even one lung, if you must.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a function...and more than one function, at that.
Take the female clitoris. It's not like a penis, it doesn't serve a vital role in reproduction.
It's only purpose, as far as researchers have been able to ascertain, is pleasure.
(which is probably why Islam has such a problem with it)
Sex also serves a social purpose;
Rocket already posted an excellent link about how sex has been observed to serve various purposes,
in studies of Bonobo primates,
and I don't think I need to go into detail about how profoundly human psychology is linked to sexuality,
or how we are social animals and sexuality is woven into most aspects of our society;
As to monogamy, there's nothing wrong with it, as long as the needs of both parties are being met.
And when I say "needs", I don't mean what someone else thinks your needs SHOULD be
I mean whatever your needs actually are.
There are monogamous couples that are perfectly happy.
There are many who are not.
And people, especially religious people,
are far too quick to lay blame when someone is not happy with their monogamous sex life:
" You married the wrong person "
" you're too hard to please, you should be content with what you have "
" you need to work harder in your marriage"
appetites.
Our vital appetites are for air, water, food, sleep.
Our non-vital appetites are far more numerous...the need to laugh, the need to cry, the need to play,
the need to daydream, the need to create, the need to speak, the need to sing, the need to dance, the need to get outside,
the need for challenges, the need for solace, the need for friendship, the need to love, etc.
If you were deprive a human of any of these non-vital needs for moral reasons, you would be, at best,
unkind and foolish.
Why is sex any different?
No, it is not a vital function...you can live without it, just like you can live without your gall bladder,
or with one kidney, or even one lung, if you must.
But that doesn't mean it doesn't serve a function...and more than one function, at that.
Take the female clitoris. It's not like a penis, it doesn't serve a vital role in reproduction.
It's only purpose, as far as researchers have been able to ascertain, is pleasure.
(which is probably why Islam has such a problem with it)
Sex also serves a social purpose;
Rocket already posted an excellent link about how sex has been observed to serve various purposes,
in studies of Bonobo primates,
and I don't think I need to go into detail about how profoundly human psychology is linked to sexuality,
or how we are social animals and sexuality is woven into most aspects of our society;
As to monogamy, there's nothing wrong with it, as long as the needs of both parties are being met.
And when I say "needs", I don't mean what someone else thinks your needs SHOULD be
I mean whatever your needs actually are.
There are monogamous couples that are perfectly happy.
There are many who are not.
And people, especially religious people,
are far too quick to lay blame when someone is not happy with their monogamous sex life:
" You married the wrong person "
" you're too hard to please, you should be content with what you have "
" you need to work harder in your marriage"
