CATHOLICISM SULLIES SEX

The Church and most religion in general tend to be brutal regarding sexual relations in general but particularly when they happen outside of marriage. When they give out about declining morals they usually have sexual “sin” in mind. They should be bothered about themselves grabbing loads of money to maintain Churches only a few go to and even less really want to go to instead of helping the poor. There are loads of other things that could be condemned and are not obviously the message is that sex is the ultimate sin next to heretically opposing Church sexual morality. Driving cars does more harm than sexual sin and they don’t care about that (page 2, Practical Ethics by Peter Singer). Cars for instance have a lot to do with the disastrous state of the environment and their unnecessary use increases death. The tendency of the Church to condemn sex means that any sex it allows does not deserve to be called ethical when engaged in by people who agree with the Church. It's not ethical for the same reason a white man thinks it is okay to be with his white wife but that it is a sin or revolting for a black man to do the same with his black wife. It’s selfish. It is taking what you would deny another if you could. The good Catholics or Christians condemn much sexual activity when there are more harmful things they leave alone and then indulge in sex.

A subtle way of inferring that sex is always impure, is the Catholic idea that sex that is not expressive of a full lifelong union and full commitment and love and loyalty which it says, only happens in marriage, is wrong. So it is turned into the wife and husband fully sacrificing themselves to each other. From this it follows that only sex between saints is right and even saints cannot manage to be that good for the Church says that the saint has teeny sins. It must be a sin for a man who is in the state of mortal sin and rejected by God to engage in sex with his wife for the Church says that full union requires that both husband and wife be friends of God. You cannot love your wife if you don’t love the God who loves her so much. Observe also how sectarian all this is for the Catholic Church thinks the height of holiness can only be attained in the Church in communion with the pope for it is the true Church and has special blessings.

St Augustine taught that sex is only sacred and good when it is for procreation but he held that since we are so bad we cannot do it without contracting venial sin (page 447, Vicars of Christ by Peter de Rosa). Augustine surprisingly taught that a man can sleep with a barren wife because it keeps him from sleeping around (page 447, Vicars of Christ) which implies the sex urge should be tolerated until it is uncontrollable. St Paul would agree for he said that to avoid fornication each person should have his wife or her husband.  I wonder why Augustine didn’t suggest severe penance instead. If sex without procreation is a sin and should be allowed then a man who wants to have pre-marital sex with one lady should have it in case he sleeps around as well or he should employ masturbation. It was bigotry of him not to think that a gay man should have one partner for the same reason.  Presumably, it does not matter if gay men commit the sin of promiscuity and go to Hell forever because of it.

Pope St Gregory the Great who was supreme pontiff from 590 to 604 AD taught that all sex pleasure is evil and sinful and even when it makes babies in marriage for it spreads the evil of original sin. The baby is guilty of sin though it has never sinned because Adam has sinned for it long ago. If sex causes sin then sex must be evil. When God told Adam and Eve to procreate it was when they were sinless not sinners.

The Council of Trent on November 11th 1563 stated that if anybody said that marriage is better than virginity and that it is not more blessed and holy to be celibate and virginal than to be married then they are to be anathema (page 590, Vicars of Christ). Anathema is the curse that is put on anybody who defies the gospel so this teaching is being declared a part of the Roman Catholic Gospel.
 
Cardinal Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Part 1, defends the view that celibacy is superior and gives Bible quotations in support for instance the one where Jesus said that some people make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven. It argues that monks and nuns are practicing Christianity better than anybody else for being celibate. The Council of Trent reiterated the Church teaching that marriage was a sacrament. Given its attitude to sexuality, marriage was a sacrament only in so far as it was a husband and wife walking together with the children they will have in daily life towards God and the Church’s ideal of holiness. The sexual side gets no sacramental help and it cannot when virginity is the ideal. When the Church says virginity is best it only means that it is better not to get married for the sake of staying a virgin. But if you do get married it is a sacrament. It is a concession made by God to make the best out of an imperfect situation. If marriage is really a sacrament and sex is at the heart of marriage then why does God not teach the couple how to have rampant delightful sex? Most people are terrible at sex and depend on books to improve their skills. Obviously, their version of God does not want to think about sex at all! God never encouraged couples to learn about their bodies and forbids masturbation which is an essential for knowing your body and how to have sex that satisfies you! The Church says grace is enough, it will sort it all out. This God must help those who will not help themselves. And this is the God who condemns sloth! He should want us to help ourselves instead of expecting him to expend his energy for us.

It is hard to avoid the obvious truth that Catholicism, cannot admit that it hates sexual activity, has to come up with rationalisations for condemning it.