On sex in the afterlife

The Seattle Times: Health: Can you have a sex life in the afterlife?

Well, with all the talk of 72 virgins being the cause of much mayhem in the world here, it is a peculiar but relevant thing to talk about. The above article is pretty good.

It notes that one famous early Christian allowed for the genitalia to get to heaven, but not to be of any use:

On pondering resurrection of the flesh, St. Augustine decided we'd keep our sex organs for aesthetic reasons, but we wouldn't use them.

Back on the 72 virgins:

And while the motivations behind suicide bombings often hinge on a desire to help a family, die for a cause or to make a difference, the 72 virgins are used as an inducement, said Payind. "It is one of the more important enticements for the desperate, the dispossessed, the disenfranchised living in miserable conditions."

Segal points out that the virgins are used to appeal mostly to teenage boys. If you're a grown man faced with the prospect of 72 heavenly wives, he said, "you'd want some of them to be experienced."

This is one case where the harm from religious fundamentalism can be the subject of legitimate criticism of atheists. It's ironic that too much certainty about metaphysical matters (such as the afterlife and God's plan for it) can be harmful to the exercise of moral judgment on earth. But it is important to remember that this cuts both ways. Presumably, Hitler, Stalin and Mao had little doubt that there was not an afterlife in which they could be accountable, so their atheistic certainty was just as harmful as religious fundamentalism.

Life is tricky, hey.