Good sex, from the mind of a Catholic monk

Who better than a sexually repressed man in a dress to write a sex-guide?

The Pope is Wrong, Put a Condom on!

It seems that there has been a whole lot of discussion about the intersection of sex and religion doing the rounds recently.

The Sydney Atheists recently participated in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, wearing buses with slogans including 'Keep religion out of the bedroom', 'Out of the atheist closet' and 'Queer and happy without god'.

Also at the mardi gras were nuns (1, 2), Jews, devils, angels, and of courde, the Raelians. It looks like they had a lot of fun and it was a good opportunity to reach out to a portion of the population which is generally frowned upon by organised religion.

The pope publicly announced that that condoms could make the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa worse.

Which has been reported much better than I could by the BBC (1, 2 3), Guardian, Times, and the Age , among many others.

Basically, with over 22 million African people infected with AIDS, it is criminal to be putting forward such unfounded crap. I agree with the 'experts' quoted in the video below, who say "People really just need to listen to the healthcare workers and experts of the community leaders on how to avoid HIV infection."

Listen to religious experts for religious advice, listen to health experts for health advice.




I came across this little Jesus and Mo 'toon which helps to unearth the real problem.
But I guess things could be worse... this guy probably just needs a good shag! (the xtian gay-fixer, not Sascha Baron Cohen)

Oh God, Oh God! OH GOD!!!

Hmmm, interesting. Who ever thought of bible based sex education? What an amazing thought!

Seriously, the bible has been used to repress people's sexuality basically since it was written, but there is so much perverse stuff in the bible, of which only a little is condemned by God. It seems like, as we've seen so many times before, people are reading into the bible what they want to find and are blind to all the other stuff that they don't agree with. This happens a lot amongst those who claim the bible as a source of knowledge.

Let's have a look-see at the video and see if we can't unpack it a little...

Jerry Lawson says:

Gods way of sex is very straightforward. In the scripture it's a husband and a wife, only within the confines of marriage.

Well, in Genesis alone there's a whole lotta strangiosity!

Just some of the exceptions to the wedded heterosexual model can be seen with descriptions of:

• Incest Gen 19:33
• Having sex with your wife's handmaiden Gen 16:2, 30:3
• Trading vegetables for sex Gen 30:16
• Sex with your stepmother Gen 35:22, 49:4
• Sex with your sister in law is fine Gen 38:9 (just don't come on the ground)
  
• Sex with your daughter in law Gen 38:16

Jerry Lawson Continues:

We're just bible people and we make no bones about it, we're just going to talk about what's in the bible

Well, I guess that means no decent sex education, just a whole lot of really strict laws with horrific consequences:

If a man has sex with his mother, sister or another man, kill them both (Lev 20:11, 12, 13)
If a man has a threesome with his wife and her mother, all three must be burned (Lev 20:14)
If a man or woman has sex with a beast, kill them both (Lev 20:15-16)
If a man has sex with his sister or a menstruating woman they are to be shunned (Lev 20:17, 18)

Geez, abstinence only education would be a lot more attractive if screw ups get you killed!

Oh, and while we're in the sex-ed section of the bible, don't forget that God is ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with how dirty-filthy-filthy-yuck-yuck-eww the seed of man is. I guess he really should have put a bit more intelligence into his design of that squidgy little creation!

Then there's the argument from ignorance where he holds up a stack of emails and says that he only got 5 negative ones. I guess it just goes to show that people who are not interested in this aren't compelled to respond. Lawson's email is not an adequate census of the population's feelings about the billboard. This is obvious, but I'm just pointing out some tomfoolery when I see it.

Finally, Lawson says:

People are tired of a one sided debate and they'd really like to hear what God has to say about it

Now I think I have a good litmus test to apply to this scenario. Make a film depicting all of the sex in the bible, with the required response to each act and try to get ANYONE to publish it. I'm pretty sure that it would be less a sex education film and more of an extreme porn/snuff/ moral imposition film. It would be very unlikely that an honest representation would be permissable in any country unless it only cherry-picked the bits that would be considered respectable.

When it comes to sex education, the best source is well researched, scientifically based information presented gradually over a child's progression through school. The topics should be presented based on the child's ability to understand and think about the subjects that they are exposed to.

There is no rational basis to restrict the sexual activities of informed consenting adults acting in a way that does not impact on the rights of others.

Using the bible as a moral compass is almost definately going to complicate the issues.

and just for those who might be thinking 'that stuff is all old testament, it doesn't count'. Lawson is referring to the bible as a whole and at no point says that he is using specific books of the bible over others.