Sex, Sin and Science: What Evolution Says about Religion and Desire

Sex, Sin and Science: What Evolution Says about Religion and Desire PDF Author: C. Roland Cook
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1608440737
Category : Dominance (Psychology)
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
More than any other major religion, ideology or philosophy, Christianity associates sex, and especially sexual desire, with sin and evil. People may be able to avoid earthly punishment for their sexual indiscretions, but they can not escape God's judgment; an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering in hell. Religious sanctions of this sort are supposed to be in opposition to man's sinful nature; restraining his dangerous sexuality. However, punishing others for sex is actually part of man's nature. In nature, sex is highly competitive. Dominant males fight and threaten as they try to control sexual access to fertile females. Human males behave similarly. Rather than being in opposition to human nature, religion actually reinforces man's "animal instinct" to control the sexual behavior of others. This explains why religion-inspired sexual restrictions and punishments are so popular among men. Of course, religion claims that it's really all about morality. Without strict religious control over sexual behavior human passions would lead to the destruction of society. God has given us His law in order to protect us from ourselves. Religion, it is often said, is what is good for society. But if this is so, why is it that those societies where religious belief is strongest and which have the harshest penalties for breaking the sexual code are also the societies that tend to be the least orderly and the most corrupt, brutal and violent? Religion is taken very seriously in many of the Islamic societies of the Middle East, and the strictest sexual code is adhered to. Yet, these societies are characterized not by prosperity and social order, but by poverty, violence and oppression. Meanwhile, the most sexually liberal societies, especially those of Western Europe, are the freest and the most democratic, prosperous and orderly. If strict sexual morality is not really good for society, why do religious conservatives everywhere continue to clamor for it? And why do people so willingly accept religion that tells them their sexuality is sinful and shameful? The truth is that most of the time people act on their own selfish feelings and desires, not on what is good for society as a whole. The desire to limit and control the sexual behavior of others is felt by women as well as men. Powerful feelings, such as sexual jealousy, inspire aggressive behavior. Strict anti-sex religious morality allows people to act aggressively on these feelings in a sociably acceptable way. Thus, it's not really about doing what is good for society, it's all about individual desires. This is best explained from an evolutionary perspective, which is exactly what this book does.

Sex, Sin and Science: What Evolution Says about Religion and Desire

Sex, Sin and Science: What Evolution Says about Religion and Desire PDF Author: C. Roland Cook
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1608440737
Category : Dominance (Psychology)
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Get Book

Book Description
More than any other major religion, ideology or philosophy, Christianity associates sex, and especially sexual desire, with sin and evil. People may be able to avoid earthly punishment for their sexual indiscretions, but they can not escape God's judgment; an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering in hell. Religious sanctions of this sort are supposed to be in opposition to man's sinful nature; restraining his dangerous sexuality. However, punishing others for sex is actually part of man's nature. In nature, sex is highly competitive. Dominant males fight and threaten as they try to control sexual access to fertile females. Human males behave similarly. Rather than being in opposition to human nature, religion actually reinforces man's "animal instinct" to control the sexual behavior of others. This explains why religion-inspired sexual restrictions and punishments are so popular among men. Of course, religion claims that it's really all about morality. Without strict religious control over sexual behavior human passions would lead to the destruction of society. God has given us His law in order to protect us from ourselves. Religion, it is often said, is what is good for society. But if this is so, why is it that those societies where religious belief is strongest and which have the harshest penalties for breaking the sexual code are also the societies that tend to be the least orderly and the most corrupt, brutal and violent? Religion is taken very seriously in many of the Islamic societies of the Middle East, and the strictest sexual code is adhered to. Yet, these societies are characterized not by prosperity and social order, but by poverty, violence and oppression. Meanwhile, the most sexually liberal societies, especially those of Western Europe, are the freest and the most democratic, prosperous and orderly. If strict sexual morality is not really good for society, why do religious conservatives everywhere continue to clamor for it? And why do people so willingly accept religion that tells them their sexuality is sinful and shameful? The truth is that most of the time people act on their own selfish feelings and desires, not on what is good for society as a whole. The desire to limit and control the sexual behavior of others is felt by women as well as men. Powerful feelings, such as sexual jealousy, inspire aggressive behavior. Strict anti-sex religious morality allows people to act aggressively on these feelings in a sociably acceptable way. Thus, it's not really about doing what is good for society, it's all about individual desires. This is best explained from an evolutionary perspective, which is exactly what this book does.

Sex, Sin and Science

Sex, Sin and Science PDF Author: C. Roland Cook
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 9781457544071
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
More than any other major religion, ideology or philosophy, Christianity associates sex, and especially sexual desire, with sin and evil. People may be able to avoid earthly punishment for their sexual indiscretions, but they can not escape God's judgment; an afterlife of eternal pain and suffering in hell. Religious sanctions of this sort are supposed to be in opposition to man's sinful nature; restraining his dangerous sexuality. However, punishing others for sex is actually part of man's nature. In nature, sex is highly competitive. Dominant males fight and threaten as they try to control sexual access to fertile females. Human males behave similarly. Rather than being in opposition to human nature, religion actually reinforces man's "animal instinct" to control the sexual behavior of others. This explains why religion-inspired sexual restrictions and punishments are so popular among men. Of course, religion claims that it's really all about morality. Without strict religious control over sexual behavior human passions would lead to the destruction of society. God has given us His law in order to protect us from ourselves. Religion, it is often said, is what is good for society. But if this is so, why is it that those societies where religious belief is strongest and which have the harshest penalties for breaking the sexual code are also the societies that tend to be the least orderly and the most corrupt, brutal and violent? Religion is taken very seriously in many of the Islamic societies of the Middle East, and the strictest sexual code is adhered to. Yet, these societies are characterized not by prosperity and social order, but by poverty, violence and oppression. Meanwhile, the most sexually liberal societies, especially those of Western Europe, are the freest and the most democratic, prosperous and orderly. If strict sexual morality is not really good for society, why do religious conservatives everywhere continue to clamor for it? And why do people so willingly accept religion that tells them their sexuality is sinful and shameful? The truth is that most of the time people act on their own selfish feelings and desires, not on what is good for society as a whole. The desire to limit and control the sexual behavior of others is felt by women as well as men. Powerful feelings, such as sexual jealousy, inspire aggressive behavior. Strict anti-sex religious morality allows people to act aggressively on these feelings in a sociably acceptable way. Thus, it's not really about doing what is good for society, it's all about individual desires. This is best explained from an evolutionary perspective, which is exactly what this book does. C. ROLAND COOK is a holder of a Bachelor of Science degree. Over the past twenty years he has studied in the fields of evolution, genetics, animal behavior, human behavior, psychology, anthropology and religion. While acquiring knowledge is certainly admirable, what is truly remarkable is to use it to develop new ideas and to explain the previously unexplainable. This is what C. Roland Cook has accomplished in writing this volume. This original work is both scientific and highly controversial, just the sort of work that has changed the world in the past and will again in the future.

Darwinism as Religion

Darwinism as Religion PDF Author: Michael Ruse
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190241020
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
'Darwinism as Religion' argues that the theory of evolution given by Charles Darwin in the 19th-century has always functioned as much as a secular form of religion as anything purely scientific. Through the words of novelists and poets, Michael Ruse argues that Darwin took us from the secure world of Christian faith into a darker, less friendly world of chance and lack of meaning.

Feminine by Design

Feminine by Design PDF Author: John D. Garr
Publisher: Golden Key Press
ISBN: 0979451450
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Women are he product of divine design, the exquisite creation tha God fashioned with careful, meticulous, and loving care. Understanding how and why God created woman enables both women and men to recognize the rightful contributions that God designed women to make for the welfare of humanity. Despite millennia of misguided efforts by men to control and dominate them, women were originally designed by God to be coequal with men and to have complete freedom to use any gift and to fulfill any role that he has given to them. That design is still God's ideal for the God-fashioned woman, and includes the following subjects: Designed to Be Feminine, Designed for Beauty, Designed for Purity and Modesty, Designed for Sexual Fulfillment, Designed for Nurture and Relationship, Designed for Freedom. Whatever your race, ethnicity, gender, faith, or social status, this book and the other volumes in this series will literally set you free from misconceptions that have restricted the roles of women. As you are reconnected with the Hebraic foundations of your faith, you will clearly understand God's original design and purpose for women, and you will begin to help remove obstacles that have kept women from assuming their God-given roles in the family, in society, and especially in the community of faith.

Why Evolution is True

Why Evolution is True PDF Author: Jerry A. Coyne
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019164384X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
For all the discussion in the media about creationism and 'Intelligent Design', virtually nothing has been said about the evidence in question - the evidence for evolution by natural selection. Yet, as this succinct and important book shows, that evidence is vast, varied, and magnificent, and drawn from many disparate fields of science. The very latest research is uncovering a stream of evidence revealing evolution in action - from the actual observation of a species splitting into two, to new fossil discoveries, to the deciphering of the evidence stored in our genome. Why Evolution is True weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the processes first proposed by Darwin. It is a crisp, lucid, and accessible statement that will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth of evolution.

Religion and Lust

Religion and Lust PDF Author: James Weir (Jr.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Sex
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description


Religion and Lust; Or, the Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire

Religion and Lust; Or, the Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire PDF Author: James Weir
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1465554181
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description


Sex and Sex Worship (Phallic Worship)

Sex and Sex Worship (Phallic Worship) PDF Author: O. A. Wall
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9781440087134
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
Excerpt from Sex and Sex Worship (Phallic Worship): A Scientific Treatise on Sex, Its Nature and Function, and Its Influence on Art, Science, Architecture, and Religionwith Special Reference to Sex Worship and Symbolism When "Psychopathia Sexualis" by Krafft-Ebing, and similar works by Moll, Lombroso, etc., appeared in print, I, at the request of some of my professional friends prepared a series of lectures for them, showing that sexual "perversions," described in these works as insanities, were in reality deliberate vices, the results of vicious teachings which had come to us by transmission and teachings from the Greek and Roman schools in which slaves were trained in libidinous arts, to make them more valuable to luxury-loving purchasers, their masters and mistresses. But of this matter little or none is used in this book, which does not pretend to treat of that phase of sexual life and sexual practices. Recently I was asked to write my studies on sex for publication, in order that the work might not be lost. As the views on these subjects have materially changed among the learned among the public since the time when the collection of this information was first begun, I consented, and this book is the result. The facts gathered about phallic religion led me to doubt whether this was ever a religion from all other religions apart; it appeared to me to be merely a phase in the evolution of all religions. Nor was it a real worship of the generative organs, but rather a use of representations of the phallus and yoni as symbols for certain religious ideas which were embodied in nature-worship. Mankind, when it gave expression to its first dawnings of religious thoughts, wove a fabric of myths and theories about religion, the warp of which ran through from earliest historical times to our own days as threads of the warp of philosophies and theories about sex, male, female, love, passion, lust, desire, procreation, offspring, etc.; while the succeeding ages and civilizations wove into this warp the woof of the individual religions, the myths and fables of gods and goddesses, so that the whole fabric of beliefs, though at first coarse and poor, became more refined as mankind itself advanced, by a process of revelation which consisted in a gradual unfolding of truths in the consciousness and consciences of innumerable thinkers, until our present religions were produced, and which process of revelation is still going on and will continue until all that is fantastic, irrational, unbelievable, is eradicated from our faiths. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Religion and Lust

Religion and Lust PDF Author: Jr James Weir
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781835521519
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In preparing The Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire for its second edition, the author has incorporated in it a considerable amount of additional evidence in support of his theory. He has carefully verified all references; he has endeavored to eliminate all unnecessary material; and, finally, he has changed the style of the work by dividing it into three parts, thus greatly simplifying the text. He feels under many obligations to his critics, both to those who thought his little book worthy of commendation, and to those who deemed his premises and conclusions erroneous. He feels grateful to the former, because they have caused him to believe that he has added somewhat to the literature of science; he thanks the latter, because in pointing out that which they considered untrue, they have forced him to a new and more searching study of the questions involved, thereby strengthening his belief in the truthfulness of his conclusions. To the second edition of The Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire, the author has seen fit to add certain other essays. In preparing these essays for publication, he has borrowed freely from his published papers, therefore, he desires to thank the publishers of the New York Medical Record, Century Magazine, Denver Medical Times, Charlotte Monthly and American Naturalist for granting him permission to use such of his published material (belonging to them) as he saw fit. The author asks the indulgence of the reader for certain repetitions in the text. These have not been occasioned by any lack of data, but occur simply because he believes that an argument is rendered stronger and more convincing by the frequent use of the same data whenever and wherever it is possible to use them. When this plan is followed, the reader, so the author believes, becomes familiar with the author's line of thought, and is, consequently, better able to comprehend and appreciate his meaning. Finally, the author has been led to the publication of these essays by a firm belief in the truthfulness of the propositions advanced therein. He may not live to see these propositions accepted, yet he believes that, in the future, perhaps, in worthier and more able hands, they will be so weightily and forcibly elaborated and advanced that their verity will be universally acknowledged.

Unprotected Texts

Unprotected Texts PDF Author: Jennifer Wright Knust
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062010824
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 812

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Book Description
“An explosive, fascinating book that reveals how the Bible cannot be used as a rulebook when it comes to sex. A terrific read by a top scholar.” —Bart Ehrman, author of Misquoting Jesus Boston University’s cutting-edge religion scholar Jennifer Wright Knust reveals the Bible’s contradictory messages about sex in this thoughtful, riveting, and timely reexploration of the letter of the gospels. In the tradition of Bart Erhman’s Jesus Interrupted and John Shelby Spong’s Sins of Scripture, Knust’s Unprotected Texts liberates us from the pervasive moralizing—the fickle dos and don’ts—so often dictated by religious demagogues. Knust’s powerful reading offers a return to the scripture, away from the mere slogans to which it is so often reduced.