Atheism and incest

In response to the question, "Why is incest wrong?", the atheist Lawrence Krauss said, "It's not clear to me that it is wrong."[1]

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, incest is "sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry; also: the statutory crime of such a relationship."[2]

## Contents

* 1 Prominent atheists on incest
* 2 University of Kentucky study related to beliefs about atheists/incest/immorality
* 3 New Atheism, the Canaanites and incest
* 4 Atheism and morality
* 5 The Bible and incest
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes

## Prominent atheists on incest[edit]

Lawrence Krauss is a prominent atheist and atheist activist. In response to the question, "Why is incest wrong?", Krauss said, "It's not clear to me that it is wrong."[3] Krauss belongs to the New Atheism school of atheism which is a form of militant atheism.

The YouTube channel TheAmazingAtheist is the most popular atheist YouTube channel with over 685,972 subscribers as of June 2015.[4] The AmazingAtheist produced a video entitled  Atheist Libertarian Defends Incest, Polygamy and Cannibalism!.[5] See also: Atheism and cannibalism and Atheism, polyamory and other immoral relationships

## University of Kentucky study related to beliefs about atheists/incest/immorality[edit]

See also: Views on atheists and Atheism and social outcasts

In 2014, a University of Kentucky study was published by Will M. Gervais, which was entitled "Everything is permitted? People intuitively judge immorality as representative of atheists", and the study indicated that "even atheist participants viewed immorality as significantly more representative of atheists than of other people."[6]

A quotation from the abstract of Will M. Gervais' study "Everything is permitted? People intuitively judge immorality as representative of atheists":

“  |  American participants intuitively judged a wide variety of immoral acts (e.g., serial murder, consensual incest, necrobestiality, cannibalism) as representative of atheists, but not of eleven other religious, ethnic, and cultural groups. Even atheist participants judged immoral acts as more representative of atheists than of other groups. These findings demonstrate a prevalent intuition that belief in God serves a necessary function in inhibiting immoral conduct, and may help explain persistent negative perceptions of atheists.[7] |  ”

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See also:

* Atheism and mass murder

* Atheism and necrobestiality

* Atheism and cannibalism

## New Atheism, the Canaanites and incest[edit]

The Christian Research Institute declared:

On July 1, 2013 the Daily Mail reported that bestiality brothels were spreading quickly through Germany. In addition, there "are even 'erotic zoos' which people can visit to abuse animals ranging from llamas to goats."[8] See: Bestiality and Germany

“  |  The “new atheists” call God’s commands to kill the Canaanites “genocide,” but a closer look at the horror of the Canaanites’ sinfulness, exhibited in rampant idolatry, incest, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, and bestiality, reveals that God’s reason for commanding their death was not genocide but capital punishment....

That atheists are incapable of judging spiritual matters leads some Christians to wonder why we even need to answer them at all, especially if they lack any objective, moral, or epistemological foundation for their claims. Moreover, most atheists do not customarily condemn the very practices that God condemns, for example, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality. Predictably so, their values conflict with what God hates...

Incest. Like all Ancient Near East (ANE) pantheons, the Canaanite pantheon was incestuous. Baal has sex with his mother Asherah,6 his sister Anat, and his daughter Pidray,7 and none of this is presented pejoratively.[9]

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In recent years, various atheistic countries have had noticeable problems with bestiality (see: Atheism and bestiality and Geographic areas where bestiality is posing a notable problem).

## Atheism and morality[edit]

See also: Atheism and morality

Not possessing a religious basis for morality, which can provide a legitimate basis for objective morality, atheists are fundamentally incapable of having a coherent system of morality.[10] See:Atheist population and immorality and Atheism and morality

The Barna Group found that atheists and agnostics in America were more likely, than theists in America, to look upon the following behaviors as morally acceptable: illegal drug use; excessive drinking; sexual relationships outside of marriage; abortion; cohabitating with someone of opposite sex outside of marriage; obscene language; gambling; pornography and obscene sexual behavior; and engaging in homosexuality/bisexuality.[11]

Given the many diseases associated with homosexuality, the biblical prohibition against homosexuality is quite arguably one of the many examples where the Bible exhibited knowledge that was ahead of its time.

## The Bible and incest[edit]

The Bible exhibits a reasonable morality in regards incest.[12][13][14]

## See also[edit]

* Atheism and sexuality
* Atheism and child pornography
* Atheism and children
* Atheism and rape
* Mass rape of German women by the Soviet army
* Atheism and marriage
* Atheist marriages
* Antitheism and antisocial behavior

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ Lawrence Krauss on incest
2. ↑ Incest - definition by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary
3. ↑ Lawrence Krauss on incest
4. ↑ About TheAmazingAtheist YouTube channel
5. ↑ Atheist Libertarian Defends Incest, Polygamy and Cannibalism!
6. ↑ Gervais, Will M. (April 9, 2014). "Everything is permitted? People intuitively judge immorality as representative of atheists". PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092302. Retrieved on October 29, 2014.
7. ↑ Gervais, Will M. (April 9, 2014). "Everything is permitted? People intuitively judge immorality as representative of atheists". PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092302. Retrieved on October 29, 2014.
8. ↑ Bestiality brothels are 'spreading through Germany'
9. ↑ Killing the Canaanites: A Response to the New Atheism’s “Divine Genocide” Claims
10. ↑
* God, Naturalism, and the Foundations of Morality by
Paul Copan
* Can Moral Objectivism Do Without God? by Peter S. Williams
* Atheists and the Quest for Objective Morality by Chad Meister
* The failure of atheism to account for morality
11. ↑ http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/58-practical-outcomes-replace-biblical-principles-as-the-moral-standard
12. ↑ Where did Cain get his wife?
13. ↑ Incest in the Bible
14. ↑ Cain’s wife explanation and incest