areas where this cultural norm is prevalent. It is justified by religion, but has
nothing to do with religion although many religions do prohibit or discourage
the marriage of believers with non-believers. The only case I know of where
death is proscribed is possibly in the Hebrew Bible, although at other points
they are told only to exile non-Hebrew wives. Other regional religions at the
time do not appear to have had this prohibition (if you know to the contrary,
please let me know).
Fortunately, these cultural norms related to honor killings have not been
accepted into the mainstream of any religion, although they are strongly
defended by their practitioners on the basis of religion. This is probably how
religious customs start, with local practices being justified and sanctioned by
interpretations of religious doctrine or by being written into a religion’s
doctrine during its formative stage.
Roman Catholic Sexual Hang-ups
For the largest Christian denomination on Earth, birth control, abortion and
gay sex are all mortal sins. That is the Catholic church’s official view. But
there is no mention of birth control in the Bible (other than some very odd
parts about male ejaculation and “seed wasting” in the Hebrew Bible). There
is no mention of abortion in the Bible. Hebrew traditional beliefs were that
life did not start until the first breath was taken, so it’s not something
inherited from that source. There is a prohibition against “killing” which
comes just a few paragraphs before YHWH orders his chosen people to kill
each other for worshiping a statue while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai (toasting
marshmallows over the burning bush, no doubt). The Hebrew Bible is replete
with God-sanctioned murders, genocides, and killing of all sorts including
that all-time favorite of stoning people for even trivial offences, or sending
bears out to maul children who tease YHWH’s favorite prophet. So why pick
on abortion in particular? And while gay sex does get you stoned in the
Hebrew Bible, it’s not explicitly addressed by Jesus, who does tell people (at
least Jews, he wasn’t so big on gentiles) to love each other – he didn’t make
an exception for gays.
So, where did these modern prohibitions come from, and why does the
Roman Catholic Church not bother with most of the other stuff in the Hebrew
Bible, like the Sabbath, not eating pork or shellfish or shrimp and lobster,
not wearing clothes made from two fabrics, killing disobedient children and
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