condoned in practice, although a lot of Buddhist teachings really don’ t care. Christians don’ t have any attributed words of Jesus denigrating homosexuals, but Paul does it a couple of times( Romans 1:26-28 and Corinthians 6:9-10) and Christians usually follow the Hebrew line in these matters.
For Atheists? Well, it’ s a case of whatever legal activity rings your bell, or floats your boat, or raises your flagpole. Homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, one at a time or in multiples … it doesn’ t really matter. If you are curious about something, go ahead and try it out. If you like it, great, and if not then don’ t do it again. But there are no eternal consequences one way or another. You will not spend sleepless nights contemplating ultimate damnation in your final years agonizing over a single homoerotic encounter in your teens. Have fun, and see if it works for you. Who knows? You might find a new hobby.
And In Conclusion What I am about to say is going to be wrong. The reason is that, of course, I do not speak for all atheists. I am sure that there are many atheists who will disagree with what I have said, because sexual mores are cultural as well as religious in nature. But I hold to my premise, that these five items should be acceptable to atheists, because they do not constitute an instance of someone being harmed. For me, that is the core of humanist morality: no victim, no crime.
What all this is about is really two very simple things. First, being atheist means not having guilt about sex coming from any religious teachings about an essential biological function. You have to obey the laws that apply where you live or happen to be at the time, but otherwise you are free to enjoy your own sexuality without guilt. You still have the humanistic values that apply to those relationships: namely, you don’ t harm others, you are honest with people, you don’ t exploit people, etc. But within those moral precepts, you are free to enjoy yourself in whatever way is best for you.
The second is about how you treat others, based on their sexual preferences. Atheists don’ t usually judge others on their preferences in these matters. And theists, I remind you again— I am not talking about illegal and humanistically immoral things here like pedophilia, or bestiality, or
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