[NSFW] Is it sacreligious or offensive to have sexual congress in a church (mosque, synagogue,temple)?

I find it offensive.

I guess it might depend on the religion – vestal virgins anyone?

What’s more religious than expressing your love for one another… god should be present in the bedroom (Aldous Snow quote.. lol).

No for serious though I could see that pissing quite a few people off.

Well, to religious people, of course. They’re some of the most easily offended people in society. I don’t think it is, because it’s just a building, assuming no one sees you.

Morally on every level I find it offensive!

There are so many other places to go….why are church or anything attached to religion?
It sort of taints it for me and I am not a practicing anything, just have respect for people that do!

@BeccaBoo How many levels do you have lol? What if the church is abandoned?

@Blackberry I have many levels some of which I hide well ;-) ......and even if it’s abandoned, its about what it represents to people….its a place of worship (and no not the sort your thinking of LOL) and its not very classy is it…“lets go to some old abandoned church to have sex!”

Just to clarify, I am not religious, and I find it offensive, and I am not easily offended. It shows a lack of respect for the people who are religious and see that building as a place of worship.

@jleslie – if no one knows it is going on, how will they be offended? Again, I’m assuming for this situation that the participants are not being overt.

If sex in a stairwell isn’t know about, who is there to be offended?

(Sort of like ‘if the tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?)

@BeccaBoo – what makes a church building inherently more sacred than any other? What about a church in a shopping mall? (there are lots of those)

@BeccaBoo What one considers classy isn’t relevant to the topic, but what things represent is the start of a good debate I think.

@JLeslie says the same thing.

So what we should be discussing is something like, “Is ‘tainting’ something seen as sacred acceptable or unacceptable?” ?

At our Zen temple, we just dealt with this question. The temple has a handful of residents, so it’s a home as well as a temple. For decades, we had no formal policy on whether to allow sex within the walls; some married couples have been residents in the past, so it’s not that we believed sex never happened there, or that it was illicit in any way.

But in the end, we decided to write into the code of ethics that sex is not allowed within the walls. This has nothing to do with sacredness of the temple, nor is it meant to imply that there’s anything inherently corrupt about sex. No one feels that whatever sex has occurred there in the past has degraded the temple in any way.

We did this for one reason. We see the temple as a place dedicated to helping people develop a particular skill: non-attachment. In Zen terms, non-attachment doesn’t mean maintaining an emotional distance; it means avoiding the kind of ego-driven acquisitiveness that is at the root of all kinds of craving. We feel that it’s helpful if we make it explicitly clear that this is the frame of mind with which everyone should enter the building. If people entertain even the possibility that this could be a place where cravings can be indulged, then we begin to lose the benefit of the association of the locale with the mindset of non-attachment. For the very same reason, we don’t serve alcohol or even fancy food there.

@elbanditoroso First, a stairwell is a public place, I assume there is a risk someone could come across the couple. I would assume most worshippers would not approve of sex within the walls of the church, and so, for that reason it is offensive, but more than offensive, disrespectful. The church is for those who worship there. They give money to maintain the church, their voices, feelings, and expectations count, along with the expectations and rules of the clergy.

Also, I find it offensive that not being caught or seen is a reason to do something that is dissapproved of by the church and its followers, if that is the case at the church. Civilized society does not conduct itself a certain way because they will be caught or not. They do the right thing because it is right.

Why is it so important to have sex at church? Is there no other place? Seems a little thrill seeking.

It certainly hasn’t bothered ministers, priests, pastors, and reverends of various persuasions and beliefs.

I always thought a confessional would be fun, except when you put pressure on the kneeler it turns on the little light above the door outside. That could be funny to someone outside the confessional.

Not sacreligious. But probably in bad taste.

I just sorta wonder how you would feel about friends of yours doing it on your living room sofa when you aren’t around? Or on your stairs?

What about strangers who somehow found your house open and no one home? Would you like them to do it on your dining room table?

A religious house of worship is someone else’s home in a manner of speaking. I’d treat it the way you want your own home treated.

It wouldn’t be for the type of people who would do it.

Apparently, I’m going to hell/had bad taste. But tell me something I don’t know. :)

I mean, is s/he your wife?

Not if you live there. Although, I think a lot of specific places would be considered an affront to the sanctity of the church. As they say, “Get a room,” but not in a religious house of worship.
It shows a lack of respect and imagination.

I’d say as long as it doesn’t include anal. ~

Yes

Probably unless you can find a church that includes sex in its services, but if you’re a devout believer and want to have sex in your church and won’t get caught by children it wouldn’t bother me, but i’m not a devout person. Western culture was established by puritans so asking this question is probably offensive to their sensibilities.