Many of the topics covered in the 'Being Bad' lectures have their foundations for being bad from religious writings such as the Bible - thout shalt not steal (the Ten Commandments). Some other topics such as Murder are also considered wrong and again are present in Religious writings. A few months ago I was discussing religion with a Student who is studying Religion at the University of Wolverhampton and was astounded to learn that in the Bible it states that is is worse to masturbate than commit Rape because at least with Rape there is the chance of procreation were as with a man masturbating he is just spilling his seed and their is no possibility of procreation. Surely this is wrong. The act of rape causes physical and psychological trauma to the victim and if the victim does become pregnant the child may well be unwanted and given up for adoption or an abortion may occur which causes further wrongs in the eyes of many religions. Masturbation on the other hand (parden the pun) is not actually causing harm to another individual. Also stating that the act of Rape could result in procreation assumes it is a man raping a woman where as it could be a man raping a man, a woman raping a woman, a woman raping a man, and of course it could be a child that is being raped.
Religious teachings assume man to woman relationships because other forms of relationships are considered sinful and therefore gay and lesbian acts would be considered being bad behaviour where as in the Western World such relationships are accepted compared to many other countries where this is still considered extremely bad and wrong behaviour.
Therefore, in conclusion there is legislation which protects the rights of individuals such as gay couples which contradicts religious teachings. Rape is considered very wrong in terms of the law whereas in religion it is considered wrong but is more acceptable than the act of masturbation. Perhaps certain religious techings needs to be updated. Recently on the news it showed how adoption by normal adoption agencies and councils accept hetrosexual couples and gay couples and single people where as some Church adoption procedures only accept hetrosexual couples to adopt. Therefore, religion can be very discriminatory in their techings and practice.
My Response to Stacy Ann's response to this blog entry
Hello StaceyAnn,
I understand what you are saying and I too have read http://www.new-life.net/mastrbte.htm
However, there are passages in the Bible that suggest Masturbation is evil and one passage is believed by some to indicate that Onan was killed by God for masturbating http://www.religioustolerance.org/masturba3.htm Although many now consider that Onan was killed for his crime regarding birth control. Although the word Onanism (which comes from Onan) is rarely used it was once used in an episode of the League of Gentlemen "We don't allow onanism here".
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