Approximately
54% of the world’s population belongs to two of the Monotheistic
religions; Christianity and Islam. The 3rd Abrahamic
religion and perhaps the one that has had the greatest impact on the morals of
our everyday life, Judaism, is the belief of only 0.22% of the world
population.
There are
some 53 other monotheism religions of various sizes such as Sikhism,
Zoroastrianism and the Baha’i Faith. These however have little if any impact on
our present religious philosophy.
The next two
religions followed in various manifestations are Hinduism (14% world
population) and Buddism (6% world population.) These of course also have a
great impact on sexual habits and marriage customs not only in those parts of
earth that they dominate but also in other cultures even our own where they are
in contact.
They too
deserve study as to their attitude toward same- sex relationships including
marriage. Much of what I am posting is a
result of “googling”
Hinduism; According to Hinduism, sex is an integral part of life. It is not a taboo. In fact, it is part of the four Purusharthas (click) of life. Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha are the four Purusharthas of a Hindu’s life. The Kama here means all the activities, which give us pleasure. Sex is also one of those activities.
However, according to Hinduism, sex is sacred only if it is marital. Hinduism prohibits premarital or extramarital sex.
Homosexuality is a complex matter in Hinduism because of the many types of religious life. In general, "twice-born" Hindus are prohibited from homosexual acts (maithunam pumsi), such as in Manusmrti 11:174, which mentions both men and women.
Some Hindu dharmic texts contain injunctions against
homosexuality. Yet, a number of Hindu mythic stories have portrayed homosexual
experience as natural and joyful’
The famous Kama Sutra states that homosexual
sex "is to be engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the
arts." In general, then, the Hindu evaluation of homosexuality depends
heavily on the context.
Same-sex relations and gender
variance have been represented within Hinduism from Vedic times
through to the present day, in rituals, law books, religious or so-called mythical
narratives, commentaries, paintings, and sculpture
Prior to 2009 as a result of British rule (Colonialism)
homosexuality was a crime. That year the Delhi
High Court decriminalized
homosexuality in India; declaring
that the existing laws violated fundamental rights to personal liberty and
equality and prohibition of discrimination.”
Subsequently The United Kingdom Hindu Council issued a
statement that 'Hinduism does not condemn homosexuality'.
There are several Hindu temples which have carvings that
depict both men and women engaging in homosexual sex.
Due to the Holiday week end and mid week 4th I do
not believe that there will be many reading blogs.. The next segment on Buddhism
will follow any Council stuff.
Hi Doc
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teen I belonged to a fundamentalist Christian church. They had a wonderful teen activity program and was a good social outlet for me.
I argued constantly with them on religious doctrine.
What bothered me was women, in their view, could not be leaders, because their God-given role was to be mothers and supporters of their husbands.
Here was a pertinent to the topic discussion:
Me: What does G*d care about, what is most important to G*d? Our souls or our bodies? Our bodies die, our souls live on.
Church Guy: Our souls.
Me: Given you say G*d has defined a role for me because I'm female, what about our souls? Are the "sexed" or neutral? IE - do we have male and female souls?
Church Guy: After long pondering -- yes, you have a female soul.
Me: So our bodies reflect our souls?
Church Guy: Yes.
Me: So, since I have a crippled/deformed body, I have a crippled/deformed soul?
Church Guy: Couldn't say anything.
My belief is G*d is neither male nor female. So are our souls. Our bodies influence our time on earth, but our mind and soul should dictate who and what we are, what we do, what we become.
Love in all religious is the greatest and best thing. Love for G*d, love for this world, love for each other, in all it's permutations. We all know sex can be part of the expression of love.
If two souls love each other, choose to express that love, the wrapper their souls are in shouldn't matter.
Souls are forever, the body just a vehicle.
Expressions of love, in my view, are never wrong.
Olive
Olie, you have touched on the two multifacet basic questions in Monotheism;(1) What is G*D? And sub-questions; does G*D have a form? does G*D have a gender?
ReplyDeleteThe other is of course since all have an after-life, what is there;body or soul. Since the body is disposed on earth it must be the "soul". SO-what and where is the soul?
Those subjects have been vehemently and often fatally discussed for eons by those who cannot have any real knowledge.