This is not about my own obsessions, though well it may be.
The plebiscite and the Christian obsession with sex
About DJC
The older I get, the less I know and the more inquisitive I get.
Unfortunately, despite a lifelong search, most of the answers elude me. That said, I love to ask the questions and fuel the debates that will ultimately lead us all to a better understanding of the big issues in life, the universe and everything.
They say that we spend 98% of our lives in our head. I for one would like to use that time as effectively as possible.
Why does this most natural of human pursuits cause so much division?
Why is the Church obsessed with sex? Picture: Shutterstock
While sipping on tea during breakfast on Friday, I was flicking through Facebook, a behaviour that is rarely productive, often infuriating and occasionally entertaining.
On this particular occasion I read a quote attributed to journalist David Marr. It read: ''If only Christians fought like this for refugees… or what about crossing the floor for the poor, the homeless, for battered wives and illiterate Aboriginal kids? NO. What excites these Christian warriors is beating up on Gays."'
Setting aside the less than eloquent language, Marr makes a very interesting point. It is a point he is not the first to make.
Author and journalist Christopher Hitchens often highlighted the obsession Christians had with sex, or the limitation of it.
Stephen Fry, a debating partner of the now-departed Hitchens, commenting on Catholics noted: "It’s the strange thing about this church: it is obsessed with sex. Absolutely obsessed. Now, they will say we, with our permissive society and our rude jokes, are obsessed. No. We have a healthy attitude. We like it, it’s fun, it’s jolly, because it’s a primary impulse. It can be dangerous and dark and difficult; it’s a bit like food in that respect, only even more exciting! The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese. That, in erotic terms, is the Catholic Church in a nutshell.''
It is difficult to explain the Christian and, in particular, the Catholic obsession with sex. They are obsessed with so many aspects of sex including masturbation, artificial insemination,homosexuality, promiscuity and contraception.
Catholics and the Catholic Church are obsessed with these things, despite the fact that more of their clergy have been found to have raped young boys and girls than the clergy of all the other faiths combined.
The Catholic Church is so obsessed with sex, that it has campaigned against the use of condoms, despite them preventing HIV and AIDS. The Polish Pope even suggested that condoms cause HIV and AIDS – a blatant lie.
While it seems that the majority of Christians in Australia are in favour of same-sex marriage being legalised, most Christian churches in Australia are most certainly railing against marriage equality, as David Marr suggests, while remaining largely silent and inactive on issues such as refugees, poverty and child abuse.
There is an advertising campaign running at the lead up to the same-sex marriage survey, suggesting that legalising gay marriage will lead to boys wearing dresses at school, discussions of gay marriage at school and a raft of other sexually related fallout. Quite apart from conflating unrelated issues and articulating arguments that are false, this further highlights the obsession with sex.
What is more, so what if a boy wears a dress to school? Many children in Scotland do it regularly. So what if the school discusses homosexuality and gay marriage, or even transgenderism? Why not discuss these issues? Discussions will not increase the incidence of these things and if it does, who cares?
Christians highlight the fact that the Old Testament points to the inappropriateness of homosexuality, ignoring completely the other things it considers inappropriate, including working on the sabbath, wearing clothing of two separate cloths at the same time, playing sport with an animal skin ball, and women preaching – just to name a few.
While these behaviours and practises not of a sexual nature are seen as acceptable now, those of a sexual nature are not. They are also forgetting that the texts they are quoting were written by men, not God, in a very different time.
Why are these people so obsessed with sex?
I suspect that many are simply homophobic and/or insecure about their own sexuality. I suspect some are insecure and shy, lacking the confidence or know-how to view sex as a natural human pursuit.
There are so many important things happening in the world that are affecting the lives of so many people. Where a man puts his penis, what he wears on it and who he uses it with (so long as they are consenting adults) affects no one except the participants.
What contraceptives a woman uses, whether she accesses IVF and if she has a termination does not affect society, either.
So why are these people so obsessed with sex?
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