Sex is liberating. Since religions want to control people, they have made sex a demonic practice whose only object is to make children (i.e. new brainwashed recruits into the religion). Otherwise, Islam, Judaism and Christianity have dumped all kinds of shame, sins, prohibitions and painful retribution for those who engage in sex for any other reason than procreate and breed.
With human societies evolving out of their religious primitive past thanks to the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment (L'Age des Lumières), the revolutions of the late 1800s, the industrial revolution and the bulldozer of science crushing all our superstitions, the chasm is growing fast between those who use reason to view the world and understand it, and those who continue to remain attached to defunct religious barbarity (out of nostalgia) because they confuse faith with traditions. But religion and faith have nothing to do with traditions. In fact, religions have attached themselves like stink on a monkey to traditions, forcing themselves into a realm that has long pre-existed the advent of any one religion.
In Lebanon, the Church (with its 12 or so ethnic versions, Latin Catholic, Maronite Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Assyrian Catholic, Chaldean Catholic... and their Orthodox cognates like Greek-Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, etc.... and then those "in between" like the Greek Catholics who were Orthodox but had an internal fight some 300 years ago and decided to "return" to Catholicism. Plus the US-inspired barbarians of Evangelical Protestantism who are trying to make headway in all this mess. I am leaving the 8 or so Muslim denominations and the Jewish one out of this discussion.
Before it was known as Lebanon, the country was home to the Phoenicians whose actual territory extended well south of today's Lebanese border into Palestine and well north of today's Lebanese border into Syria.
When the Roman Empire was forcibly converted to the new Jewish sect known as "Christians", some time around 340 AD, the Roman holders of power, who had spent a couple of centuries hunting down Christian rebels and terrorists hiding in the catacombs and crucifying them and feeding them to the lions in the arenas, suddenly became Christians hunting down the Roman pagans with untold barbarity.
In Lebanon-Phoenicia, the Christian Romans began dismantling the entire edifice of the Phoenician civilization that had been since ~1000 BC one of the most advanced civilization and a trading colonial empire around the mediterranean. The Phoenicians of Arwad, Tripoli, Byblos, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre and Acre constituted armies and powerful navies for defensive use only, and never went about conquering other civilizations and slaughtering the natives. Instead, they founded trading colonies and cities and exported their beliefs and their pantheon (Baal, Adonis, Ashtarout=Ishtar, Asmoun, Melqart, etc.). The city of Carthage (in today's Tunis), which was founded by the Kingdom of Tyre ~800 BC, was an exception in the sense that it built itself into a superpower that invaded Spain, southern France, Italy and nearly vanquished Rome in the famed three Punic wars.
Phoenician temples became churches. Statues of Ishtar became statues of Mary. Adonis became Jesus, Baal become Deus, etc. The Phoenicians who lived along the coast and resisted the forced conversions fled into the highlands of the interior where they managed to preserve their traditions. In time, however, the entire mountain and seacoast became Christian, a conversion that is belied by the fact that virtually all cities, towns and villages bear Phoenician names to this day. The "Phoenicians" only disappeared because they themselves became Lebanese Christians. The Irish too deleted their "Celtic" identity for a while and adopted the "Christian Irish" identity, but unlike the Phoenicians they resurrected their Celtic identity which in many ways today overrides their Christian identity. Not in Lebanon-Phoenicia: The national identity - the Phoenician- was slowly eradicated and replaced with a religious identity - the Christian. Of course, the Moslem Arabs arrived in 638 AD and forcibly converted the seacoast Christians into Islam.
But I digressed. The main impulse for this opinion is the article below in BuzzFeed. In the Catholic Church, and besides some of the commandments (no stealing, no killing etc.) 90% of all proscriptions have to do with sex:
- No sex before marriage
- No sex outside of marriage (adultery)
- No masturbation
- No condoms
- No to homosexual sex
- No sex for priests and nuns (celibacy)
- No "thinking" about sex (or coveting other people's spouses)
etc. though nowadays no one cares any longer and all these prohibitions are largely ignored.
Islam, being a younger religion, still has severe restrictions - read the Hadith to learn about "proper Islamic sex" - as we see with the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Ayatollahs in Iran.
Judaism has somewhat evolved out of its own original barbarity, but the Orthodox sects are worse than the Muslims when it comes to sex. Read the Talmud - the Jewish cognate of the Muslim Hadith - and discover the acrobatics between what is proper and improper sex, the heinous racism toward non-Jews, etc.
Sex is liberating. The moment religions relax their control over people's sexuality they begin losing ground.
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These Restrictive Laws About Sex From Religious Medieval Rule Books Are Absolutely Mind-Blowing
Kelley Greene
Mon, January 6, 2025
Back in the Middle Ages (a.k.a. the Medieval era, approximately 476-1450 A.D.), people's daily lives were very centered around the rules laid out by the church. According to the World History Encyclopedia, "The Church focused on regulating and defining an individual's life in the Middle Ages, [and] it was...recognized as the manifestation of God's will and presence on earth."
"The dictates of the Church were not to be questioned, [and] it was understood that the Creator of the universe was...in control." Julian Elliott Photography / Getty Images
During this time, some clergymen wrote penitentials, which were essentially guidebooks for priests.
Basically, during confession, a priest would ask questions of their churchgoer based on potential sins listed in the penitential, then use the prescribed punishment to decide exactly what the sinner needed to do to atone for those sins.
Penance, or repentance for committing a sin, could come in many forms. Thomas Oakley says in "The Origins of Irish Penitential Discipline" that "usually, the penances were assigned in terms of severe fasting." But there were other options, such as "the giving of alms, marital continence [abstentinence], prayer and lamentations, seclusion in a monastery, the amending of one's morals, and restitution."
Feels like claiming you've "amended your morals" might be getting off a little easy compared to the severe fasting option. Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Because these penitentials are extremely old religious texts, they were written primarily in Latin. Fortunately, Medieval Handbooks of Penance by John T. McNeill and Helena M. Gamer contains English translations of a number of these works, allowing us to take a look at these 12 wildly restrictive laws they contained, which Medieval Christians were expected to abide by:
1.Something as small as a certain look might require a 40-day penance.
The Penitential of Cummean says, "He who is polluted by an evil word or glance, yet did not wish to commit bodily fornication, shall do penance for twenty or forty days according to the degree of his sin." mikroman6 / Getty Images
2.Confessing to even thinking about sex meant someone would have to do penance.
The Penitential of Cummean says, "He who for a long time is lured by imagination to commit fornication and repels the thought too gently shall do penance for one or two or more days, according to the duration of the imagination."
So not only would you need to be wary of someone giving you eyes, but you'd better not think about it afterward — and if you did, you'd better repel your own thoughts as soon as possible.
3.Wanting sex but not being able to have it could earn you a year of penance.
The Penitential of Cummean says, "He who merely desires in his mind to commit fornication, but is not able, shall do penance for one year, especially in the three forty-day periods." Florilegius / Florilegius/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images
4.Simply imagining the act with a crush was problematic, too.
The Penitential of Theodore says, "He who loves a woman in his mind shall seek pardon from God; but if he has spoken [to her], that is, of love and friendship, but is not received by her, he shall do penance for seven days."
Is there anything worse than being rejected by your crush only to have to ask for forgiveness from God about it afterward?
5.Of course, thinking about sex was akin to dreaming about sex, which was, unsurprisingly, also not allowed.
"He who is willingly polluted during sleep shall arise and sing nine psalms in order, kneeling," The Penitential of Cummean says. "On the following day, he shall live on bread and water; or he shall sing thirty psalms, kneeling at the end of each. He who desires to sin during sleep, or is unintentionally polluted, fifteen psalms, he who sins and is not polluted, twenty-four." Culture Club / Art Images via Getty Images
6.People were not supposed to do any sexual acts that weren't intended explicitly for procreation...this includes mouth stuff.
The Penitential of Theodore considers "Qui semen in os miserit" (translation via translate.com: "He who puts the seed in the mouth") to be "the worst of evils," and McNeill and Gamer note that "it was his judgment that both [participants in this offense] shall do penance to the end of life; or twelve years; or as above seven." Fedelchot / Getty Images
7.This meant no sexual acts were meant to be performed alone, either.
"If she practices solitary vice, she shall do penance for the same period," says The Penitential of Theodore.
8.The church expected only heterosexual sex between married partners.
The Penitential of Theodore says, "If a woman practices vice with a woman, she shall do penance for three years." And "he who after his twentieth year defiles himself with a male shall do penance for fifteen years. A male who commits fornication with a male shall do penance for ten years." Heritage Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images
9.Even if a couple was married and attempting to procreate as the church decreed, there were still a lot of restrictions around their sex life.
The Penitential of Finnian says, "Married people, then, must mutually abstain during three forty-day periods in each single year, by consent for a time, that they may be able to have time for prayer for the salvation of their souls. And on Sunday night or Saturday night, they shall mutually abstain, and after the wife has conceived, he shall not have intercourse with her until she has borne her child, and they shall come together again for this purpose."
The Penitential of Theodore says, "He who has intercourse on the Lord's day shall seek pardon from God and do penance for one or two or three days."
And The Penitential of Cummean says, "He who is in a state of matrimony ought to be continent during the three forty-day periods and on Saturday and on Sunday, night and day, and in the two appointed weekdays, and after conception, and during the entire menstrual period."
Got it. No sex on Saturdays or Sundays, or for some random 40-day period three times throughout the year, or while pregnant. Plus, two other appointed weekdays and any time someone is menstruating. Heritage Images / Getty Images
10.Anyone who didn't follow at least some rules of abstinence within their marriage was considered a sinner.
The Penitential of Finnian mandates that there be "continence in marriage, since marriage without continence is not lawful, but sin, and marriage is permitted by the authority of God not for lust but for the sake of children."
And The Penitential of Cummean adds, "After a birth he shall abstain, if it is a son, for thirty-three [days]; if a daughter, for sixty-six [days]."
What can we say? Our man Cummean loves an abstention period. Dea / De Agostini via Getty Images
11.Though sex was only intended for procreation, if you had trouble getting pregnant, you were also supposed to abstain.
The Penitential of Finnian says, "If anyone has a barren wife, he shall not put away his wife because of her barrenness, but they shall both dwell in continence and be blessed if they persevere in chastity of body until God pronounces a true and just judgment upon them."
So at some point, if you were unable to conceive, you'd be expected to just be abstinent forever — which doesn't really seem like it'd be particularly helpful. But at least that meant a woman wouldn't be "put away," which is giving Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre vibes.
12.And finally, this charmer from The Penitential of Theodore: "A husband ought not to see his wife nude."
I'll be honest: I'm not entirely sure how this would be managed when everyone's bathing in a giant barrel of water, and the mere existence of this image tells me it was probably nearly impossible. Universal History Archive / Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Ultimately, McNeill and Gamer say, "The penitentials...helped to lead our forefathers from a low and primitive to a higher stage of moral culture. But they [also] lent themselves too readily to gross abuses and sowed the seed of an evil harvest." Their use gradually fell out of favor.
Personally, I'm happy to see that society has moved into a more progressive view of sex and sexuality than folks had back in the medieval era, and I hope it stays that way. No need to go back to monitoring each others' proclivities and bathing in a big ol' dirty communal tub.
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