THE
RELIGIOUS VIEWPOINT
Over
the ages, most religious groups have condemned masturbation,
claiming that it inhibits self-control and promotes sexual
promiscuity. Even today, traditional Catholic and orthodox
Jewish doctrine says that masturbation constitutes a grave
moral disorder.
Other
groups – such as mainstream Protestant sects and Reform
Judaism – have a more tolerant attitude or the topic
is avoided. Some liberal religious institutions have even
promoted masturbation as a safe alternative to pre-marital
sex.
The
Catholic Church has been one of the most outspoken groups
condemning masturbation. Catholic teaching is that sexual
activity is intended for conception, thus masturbation is
an immoral sexual practice because it does not permit conception.
In addition, the Catholic Church teaches that masturbation
breeds lust and selfishness, which takes one further from
God. To illustrate, on Dec 29th
1975 Pope Paul wrote this in his Persona Humana - Declaration
on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics:
“...masturbation
is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act...the deliberate
use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal relations
essentially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For
it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the moral
order, namely the relationship which realizes ‘the
full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in
the context of true love.’ All deliberate exercise
of sexuality must be reserved to this regular relationship.”[1]
Other
groups that continue to publicly denounce masturbation based
on the Onan tradition include Mormons, Orthodox Jews, and
Muslims. Traditional African religions are more open-minded
about masturbation. Asian religions also appear to be a
more tolerant, especially of female masturbation. Male
masturbation is thought by Asian religions to be harmful
because of the loss of semen, long considered a vital substance
that is spiritually advantageous if kept inside the body.
