Sex and Immorality

History shows that if everything depended on humanity alone, we would never understand the meaning of morality.

Immorality has existed since antiquity. It is known that the Etruscans, for example, who were a people who lived in central Italy, of uncertain origins, had very different moral values ​​from other peoples.

Etruscan women were powerful and had sex with many men. They didn’t even know who their children’s fathers were. The Greeks condemned this fact while keeping their women away from power and very limited.

The Romans were also very immoral, but their immorality was different.

Sex was not considered immoral in ancient Rome. Men were allowed to have sex outside of marriage, and women were expected to marry at a young age and devote themselves to motherhood and fidelity. Prostitution was legal throughout the Roman Empire.

There were sexual excesses committed by some Roman emperors and other notables, but although Roman society was characterized by orgies and sexual abuse of all kinds, there were, on the other hand, certain limitations and moral rules.

The Greeks were also immoral, although they condemned the freedom of women. Homosexuality was a common factor in Greek society.

There were legends about the origin of sexuality, specifically with regard to the relationship between adults and young men. Homosexuality among women was less public, but it did not cease to exist.

Prostitution was also regulated. Both women and men had their activity legalized.

However, ancient Greek women could not participate in public and political debates. They could not own property or manage business either, being always tutored by their husbands or closest male relatives.

When Ancient Immorality Was Replaced by Christian Morality

From its beginnings, the Christian religion was persecuted and forbidden and for centuries its followers lived meeting in secret, and many were martyred in the Roman arenas.

However, the movement grew without being able to be fought until Emperor Constantine issued an edict in which the Christian religion was accepted for the first time as one of the religions of the Empire.

For two hundred years before, at no time were Christians free from danger, accusation, and death. From the publication of the Edict of Constantine, in the year 314, until the end of the empire, everything changed.

From then on, Christianity grew to be the religion of the emperors.

This modification of the ecclesiastical structure of the church, which went from persecuted and marginal church to the most powerful church in the empire, bothered many.

The church reigned absolute and powerful, with the Pope having earthly power to say what should be done for both the living and the dead, and also the certainty of who would go to heaven or hell.

The Middle Ages were decisive for the consolidation of the Church’s power, raising the ideals of Christianity and, in the person of the Pope, it reached the fullness of its power.

Since then, people’s thoughts and attitudes have changed a lot. For example:

“Medieval reflection within Judaism on morality and religion has, as its most significant figure, Maimonides, who claimed that we must do what God reveals to us in special revelation. Laws are binding whether or not we understand the reasons for them, but sometimes we see how beneficial it is to obey.”

“Another important figure in this tradition is John Duns Scotus, who distinguished between two affections of the will, the affection for advantage (an inclination towards one’s own happiness and perfection) and the affection for justice (an inclination for what is good in itself irrespective of advantage). Original sin is a classification of advantage over righteousness, which must be reversed by God’s assistance before we can please God. Scotus says we should be willing to sacrifice our own happiness for God if God required it.”

Therefore, the morality that came into force in the world was actually imposed by the Christian religion, otherwise, until today, humanity would be totally immoral as in antiquity.

In fact, to this day the world is still characterized by immorality, but at least thanks to religion humanity learned to have a moral sense and to respect the family.

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