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Religion, and especially the evangelicals on this board, frequently attempt to equate particularly homosexual sexual conduct with immorality. So, what is immoral? How does your religion address that issue when it comes to sex, and why constrain one activity and not another?
I am looking for discussion from a religious perspective as it relates to sexual activity, in this case, incest.
Oh, I see.
I'm not religious so I guess I can't give that sort of input.
I think you should specify what you just said ^ here ^, though, because otherwise people are not going to understand what you want.
While people who follow a moral code probably believe it is a universal code, I doubt there is a single Morality coe applicable to all people at all times and under all circumstances.
With that said I am an American and Muslim. the Morality codes of both consider incest to be immoral. There are minor differences of opinion as to what constitutes incest. In Islam and several states sexual relations are permitted between cousins. For myself it is a moot point I do not recall ever having any sexual desires towards any of my cousins.
Now as I consider it morally correct to abide by the morality codes of the Nation I live in and as required by my religious believes I believe it would be immoral for me to have sexual relations with a close female relative even it it were with mutual consent. Now if John and Jane happen to be Brother and sister, it is not my right to impose my concept of morality upon them. Each person is morally obligated to abide by the rules of their religion and Nation. If that is morally right is a matter of individual opinion.
I think an issue with incest is that so often there is the dynamic of power/powerlessness and/or coercion, even when the two are similar in age.
I mean really. How many stories do you hear (and you WOULD hear them...this is the internet) of literally, two fully-adult, consenting siblings (for example) or a parent/child who are both adults, healthily and logically beginning a sexual relationship with one another?
This hypothetical situation - two fully grown, mature, logical people making, with no power-play or coercion involved, a calm decision to have a romantic/sexual relationship together - is going to be the exception by far as opposed to the rule. (And not just because society is horrified by it or because of laws. People do things all the time that society is horrified by and that may even be against the law, with the argument that "on principle" nothing is actually wrong with what they're doing. Indeed, if laws and societal horror were preventatives then there would be no incestuous rape cases of children, and obviously, there are plenty and then some.)
This logic would be similar to saying: why is EVERY case of an 11-year-old having sex with her teacher wrong? What if we can locate at least several situations where the 11-year-old was both physically and mentally mature, the girl had a well above-average IQ and an emotional equivalent close to that of an 18-year-old and THEY TOGETHER logically and rationally decided to have sex, with appropriate protection...wouldn't this be evidence that 1. ephibophilia should be legal and 2. sex between an underage student and a teacher should be legal?
Well, no. It wouldn't. Rather it would be: Here's an EXTREME exception, with a few backups also in the extreme, but possible to find given there are 7.5 billion people on earth so it's bound to happen somewhere, some time. Let's change all the laws based on that, and allow millions to get hurt in the process.
Not logical.
Overwhelmingly when you hear stories of incest, there is coercion or a power play involved. It is obviously a FREQUENT element and to dismiss this because it is somewhere, some time possible that two fully-adult (legally, physically and mentally) individuals of sound mind made such a decision and nobody got hurt, doesn't change that fact.
And by the way, the thought of what would happen to family members in a presumed inferior position everywhere were incest to become legal is just shudder-worthy.
*We already have anti-sexual battery/assault/groping laws. I figure that covers any type of sexual assault, unwanted incest included. I'm not sure exactly what the are...but I'd hope they'd cover all the sorts of unwanted touching a person would want covered.
*The difference I see between statutory rape and incest between relatives of similar ages is...who do you punish when an 14 year old has intercourse with a 15 year old? Now, if an 11 year old has intercourse with 30 year old, we can easily determine it would be more sensible to punish the 30 year old. The 30 year old should have known better. Sure, incest is a bad idea in most cases...but if there's no sexual assault that took place or unwanted touching, whose there to punish? (and sometimes I'm sure incest will actually be a good thing, like if two siblings have nobody but each other and know each other better than I ever will, it will be none of my business how the go about developing their love lives).
I noted that this topic is also in the Great Debates forum started by a different person of course but there are other people's opinion there is any one is interested.
Well...logically, as eew as the thought of incest may be, every day people all over the world deliberately have children knowing there is a chance of passing on specific genetic issues to the child, issues the parents may have themselves, or run in the family, which they know their offspring have X% chance of having. But we have no laws forbidding dwarves, autistic people, or sickle-cell anemia - or for that matter, alcoholics or people with schizophrenia (or incidence in the immediate family) - from reproducing.
I noted that this topic is also in the Great Debates forum started by a different person of course but there are other people's opinion there is any one is interested.
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