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    Many a person has been prohibited from exploring a possible relationship with a perfectly good partner only because of one or the other’s religion. Many people have been discouraged from enjoying their own bodies in perfectly harmless yet enjoyable ways, because a priest or imam told them such actions would send them to hell or make them go blind.
    Most deeply religious people will claim that sex is sacred. The “sacred rules” associated with a given religion invariably coincide with the interests of the religion in forwarding its own propagation. Rarely does a religion allow truly human sexual expression. Religions claim, “We are not animals. We should not behave like animals in our sexual expression.” Yet, religions of all kinds prescribe sexual behavior that looks far more like those of animals than humans.
    For example, the Pope’s prescriptions for sex look remarkably like the way dogs, cows or cats express their species sexuality. A Muslim or Southern Baptist has views of sex that are more closely related to the reproductive strategies of insects. For example, most animals have sex only when they are in heat or sexually receptive – for procreation. Humans can have sex any time. Procreation is a small part of human sex. Recreation and bonding is far more important. Therefore, to have sex only for procreation is not human, but more like other animals. Humans may have sex thousands of times for every live birth. No dog or insect does that.
Sexual Restriction
    Sexual prohibition is in the DNA of all the major religions. Without it, the entire religion may collapse. The most successful religions depend on sexual restrictions and condemnation. They redirect the energy of sexual repression and guilt to drive growth and maintain power. Without sexual repression they lose their advantage.
    It is not just Western religions that use this strategy. Eastern religions are as oppressive. Hinduism and Buddhism use sex in many ways; Buddhist monks and nuns cannot have sex. Boys at a very young age are put into training in monasteries. 12 The Dalai Lama says that homosexuality is wrong though he preaches tolerance. Most forms of Buddhism practiced in Asia sanction and disapprove of various forms of sexual expression from masturbation to homosexuality to anal sex. Japanese and Thai Buddhist practices and beliefs have followed the notion for centuries that women’s aspirations toward Buddhahood are far weaker than men’s. These traditions also hold that women pollute the earth every month with their blood. Western (read California) Buddhists have cleaned up Buddhism with modern ideas from feminism, but Buddhism is no more friendly to women than Islam or Christianity.
    Hinduism has proscriptions on women, especially during menstruation. The caste system restricts who can have sex with whom. When confronted with the notion of sexual repression, Eastern religion apologists cite the manyHindu scriptures that talk positively about sex and even offer instruction. Despite its scriptures, Hinduism is sexually repressive.
    An examination of Hindu practice in India reveals bans against public kissing, sex during menstruation and pornography. In many ways, Hinduism is more Victorian than Victorian England. Some attribute this to the influence of England during Victorian times, but Hindu sexual restriction goes back thousands of years. A recent
Newsweek
report on the treatment of women placed India as 141 out of 165 countries, one of the worst countries in the world. 13 With an 80% Hindu population, much of the repression in India is related to Hinduism although Islam undoubtedly contributes its share. Sexual repression of women pervades Indian society in all castes. In a government response to the survey, the official quoted Hindu scripture that glorified women with no mention of the fact that religion was probably the root cause of much of the repression and restriction.
    Further, Orthodox Jews prohibit sex during a