We will again be having a formal discussion before the regular meeting on Wednesday. Read through the questions below, and come prepared with a position. We will go around the table, and everyone will get a chance to express an opinion, and then we will gradually open up into general discussion. We generally go about an hour, but because there is no speaker this week we might go a bit longer.  If you are not familiar with ACSJ, we meet in the room at the far back of the restaurant, and sit around a table in the back of that.

Sex is a delicate topic to be sure, but it seems that theist taboo on sex extends to adults even being able to talk about it. Whether or not you’re getting any, whether or not you think you aught or aught not to get any, it seems almost impossible to even have any kind of open conversation around sex. LGBT advances have thrust this topic onto a public stage, and the theists don’t like it, and I get the feeling they would just like it all covered up. Maybe we can bring the subject a little more, um, into the light.

* What is the connection between religion and sex?
* Where does the marriage = 1 man + 1 woman come from when so many men in the bible clearly had multiple wifes?
* Why do Christians think that gays are a recent fad, when records go back to the earliest written history?
* Premarital sex
* Should non-virgin wives be stoned to death? Where did that come from?
* Should the husband’s virginity be subject to the same criteria? If not, why not?
* Sex reminds people that they are animals. Are the religious rules around sex grounded in denial that we are (just) animals?
* What role does conceiving children in a marriage play in the success of different religions?
* Is homosexuality natural? What evidence is there?
* Is homosexuality nature or nurture? What evidence exists either way?
* Why do Christians need to paint homosexuality as a “lifestyle choice”?
* Is there any hope in getting theists to understand that gender is not black and white?
* What is the right age to talk to children about sex?
* Why can’t Christians allow science-based sex education at schools?
* Why do Christians think that abstinence-only and ignorance are the best courses?
* At what age should kids be exposed to the facts of life regardless of their parents?
* How crazy is the North Carolina law requiring policemen to inspect genitals to enforce bathroom policy?
* Can one person prevent another from showering because they don’t want to see how they look?
* If a person with unusual genitals takes a shower, can this be considered abuse of others in the shower?
* To what extent can we regular how other people look?
* What policy should California take about school bathrooms?
* Does this inability to talk about sex affect the rate of sex crimes, like rape and human trafficking
* How can we show the atheists have “better morals” with regard to sex?

You might accuse me of mentioning sex in the title just to get people interesting in coming, and I will plead “guilty as charged”, but what we will really be talking about is rules, laws, practices, customs, and all the strange behaviors related to sex — including, not being able to TALK about it.

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