Religion and Sex

My topics of interest today are religion AND sex. Hm, interesting how having those two words in the same sentence makes many of you uncomfortable. My intention is purely to open people’s minds and I mean no offence in anything I write. Now that I got the disclaimer out of the way I hope you’ve decided to read on.

Religion is a very broad topic and I don’t plan on discussing each in detail. If you rather have what you believe in to be considered a way of life or spirituality that’s fine. For this post I’ll be referring to one’s spirituality, way of life, religion, or however else you describe your beliefs simply as religion.

There are many people in many places that do not discuss religion. In the same way, there are a number of people in a number of places that openly have no problem with this topic. They’ll discuss just as easily as the weather. Why should anyone have issues with a discussion about any topic, let alone one that is so important to you? I believe a lot depends on one’s upbringing.

If growing up you’re informed that it’s impolite to discuss your beliefs with others for fear of offending them, then most likely, that discomfort would follow you throughout your life. However, if you were informed that there’s nothing you should feel uncomfortable discussing so long as you don’t push your beliefs on others, then you’d continue through life with such openness.

There’s a difference between a discussion and someone forcing their personal opinions and beliefs on others. I think that’s the misconception many have. They fear discussing a topic not because of the specific topic, but rather due to their avoidance of offending someone with their personal opinions and beliefs.

As a race, the human race, we need to learn to be more open. This probably goes hand in hand with communication. We shouldn’t be scared to communicate with each other. If you have an open mind and someone discusses a religion that’s not of your choice it doesn’t mean you’ll be swayed. If your faith is strong enough then you wouldn’t be worried about that, anyway. By listening or even engaging in such conversations and placing your defences aside, you’ll end up gaining valuable knowledge. There’s no reason to be offended, in fact, you should feel honoured that someone is willing to share such personal information with you.

I have no problem with any religion. Yes, there are many I disagree with in full. There are others that I disagree with in part. However, none of that means I’ll be offended if someone wants to discuss their beliefs with me. It doesn’t mean I’ll have my own faith swayed. In fact, if something comes up that compromise my own beliefs I’m more likely to ask more about it, to clarify the information, to find out if perhaps I’m wrong in part. We’re not perfect and therefore that would mean that there are no religions that are perfect.

Sex is again another such broad topic. Much of the above applies to how we discuss it. For the most part, sex is human nature.

First, there’s the fact that we need to have sex to reproduce and the need for reproduction is what the continued existence of the human race depends on. Second, it makes us feel good. There’s actual scientific evidence available to back up such a statement. How can something that is actually good for us be such a controversial topic?

I’m definitely not stating that we should be promiscuous. However, I have no doubt that in some cultures there’s nothing wrong with this. Again, these views are due to our upbringing and which morals have been instilled in us during such an upbringing. After all, there are those who have no problem with swinging and other such “taboo” indulgences.

Now comes the scary part. Religion and sex are not all that different. Both have many similarities depending on where in the world you reside. Both have bad and good. Both can be enjoyed thoroughly or completely detested. Both are openly discussed and completely avoided. The way one feels about each are usually based upon the morals instilled in one during their upbringing. Interesting how two things that seem to be on such completely different sides can be so much alike isn’t it?

I hope that at least some of this makes sense to even a handful of people. If I’ve opened anyone’s mind or changed the way anyone views the world around them, then I’m happy. Come back again soon as I plan to expand on each topic individually in the future.