Religious Teachings on Sex Infographic
An infographic I made today based on the religious teachings survey conducted by ReligiousTolerance.org ( www.religioustolerance.org/sex_chur.htm )
I'm pretty happy this is getting some attention (1000+ views? woohoo) - if you're interested, I have some other infographics on flickr. I am also available for freelance work- shoot me an email at ejfox@ejfox.com
-- Update --
So this has gotten dugg and tweeted and all sorts of promoted and I am infinitely grateful and surprised. This was one of my first infographics (either first or second) and was really just a practice. As I've been told quite a bit, this source sucks. If anyone would like to supply me with an updated source, including more religions, better citations, all of that, I would be happy to redesign the chart.
I appreciate all of the criticism and appreciation.
For the record, I'm an athiest.
Comments and faves
pixsellr, shellimw, ZCPlayer, agnellina, and 117 other people added this photo to their favorites.
RedForeman (59 months ago | reply)
very creative llooks liek you worked hard on this
:)
Adrian D'Alimonte (58 months ago | reply)
Roman Catholicism is 'neutral' on homosexuality?
Really?
pseudoplacebo (58 months ago | reply)
It's probably more likely that Religious Tolerance (whose data I use for the infographic) deemed there was "no clear position" from the catholic church. I'm not completely clear how they came to that conclusion, but for this infographic I'm simply showing the information in a different way, not doing the actual study I'm displaying.
j l t (57 months ago | reply)
Well, the "official" position has only been codified within the last 125 years, so I think it's fair to say there's no CLEAR position - it was neutral for more than 400 years, so it's hard to imagine the recent about-face is enough to negate so much history.
im_wachu_want (55 months ago | reply)
i cant believe buddhists can masterbate, but i think its like cause they are so spiritual and in touch with them selves, haha that came out rong
Act_Appalled (55 months ago | reply)
no roman cathlicism is not nuetral on homosexualism, it believes that only a man and a women should be united
pseudoplacebo (55 months ago | reply)
I think that j l t has the best explanation I can find of ReligiousTolerance's reasoning for Roman Catholicism's stand on homosexuality.
michelley90 (54 months ago | reply)
Roman Catholicism teaches that sexual acts should be only done within marriage. Since there is no homosexual marriage(in the Church at least) then Homosexuality in itself is not wrong unless you are not abstinent. (which really doesn't make sense to me still)
We used to have a gay priest in our diocese, so this issue was argued to the core.
anendFor (é um anagrama, pô) (54 months ago | reply)
Hahah I guess that buddhism is the coolest then.
krln fnnm (53 months ago | reply)
wow, this is reeeeaaally cool. way to make an infographic.
pseudoplacebo (53 months ago | reply)
Thank you, krin fnnm. I appreciate that!
CharlotWest (52 months ago | reply)
Roman Catholics condemn homosexuality...
MixedPhantoms (50 months ago | reply)
I'm also pretty sure that Catholicism, Christianity, and Judaism (in the most literal interpretation of their holy books) condemn masturbation as a 'waste of seed'.
Also, I don't think Buddhists have any literature specifically attacking divorce..but I don't know. Not too familiar.
MobyTurbo (47 months ago | reply)
It's not very accurate about Orthodox Judaism, though it is correct that Orthodox Judaism allows divorce.
Furee (47 months ago | reply)
great but you should add more religions - can help you with that if you need.
funny how Catholicism is the most restrictive and oppressive of all of them. Even Islam allows abortion, although it's stated for use in the event of rape or in the event of injury/death to the mother, etc.
Buddhism and Hinduism (Buddhism is based off of Hinduism) would be the least strict, and if you added Athiest - it would all be green lol.
merenbey (47 months ago | reply)
Amazing work. Really.
J. Rangel (47 months ago | reply)
I love Anivers ;)
You should include mormons. That would be red on everything but yellow on teen sex.
One Guy Coding (47 months ago | reply)
I'll pass on all of these mythologies, thanks. It's nice to think that atheism is all green.
clindarofeos (47 months ago | reply)
I guess all those catholic bishops fighting tooth and nail against every advance in gay rights over the decades and centuries amounts to neutrality?
WTF?
[deletaeris] [deleted] (47 months ago | reply)
As a Muslim I know for a fact that divorce is allowed. There are extensive laws that were dictated over 1400 years ago that allow a man and woman to be divorced unlike what is implied in the media today. I'm not sure what Religious Tolerance's specific sources are, but you may be mistaken pseudoplacebo.
Fyera [deleted] (47 months ago | reply)
Differentiating "Teen sex" from "Premarital sex" is questionable, at least so far as Catholicism is concerned, because up until recently a huge fraction of Catholics got married, and then had sex, in their teens.
bryanclark82 (47 months ago | reply)
This isn't even close to be accurate. Homosexuality is indeed condemned in the catholic church. Muslims cannot get divorced. Muslims cannot have premarital sex.
I could go on and on, but for the most part... incorrect.
VMOS (47 months ago | reply)
pretty but wrong, I used to be a catholic and EVERYTHING fun and sexy is condemned as in youre-going-to-burn-in-hell-for-all-eternity- with-satan-and-all-his-little-wizards-if-you- even-think-about-touching-your-winky-condemne d
Nemooooo (47 months ago | reply)
Hi I live in Italy, home of the catholic pope, and the homosexual orientation is condamned in most cases (if not condamned at all).
It's a shame, I know.
pseudoplacebo (47 months ago | reply)
As I said in the update, I (now) know this source isn't all that great. If someone would like to do the research (I do not currently have the free time) I would be happy to update the graphic.
And for the record, I think it's at least CLOSE to being accurate.
elthefred (47 months ago | reply)
Wow... Buddhism seems to be the religion if your horny...
clintonneal [deleted] (47 months ago | reply)
Lucky I'm an Atheist. I can do whatever I want. Ah Freedom.
cuto amidei (47 months ago | reply)
To write of religion, we must know theology and philosophy. Otherwise, err, because your base is weak conceptual
Furee (47 months ago | reply)
divorce is allowed in Islam -- but only if the husband says Thalak Thalak, which means "Over Over ". Even if he says it accidentally - that's grounds for divorce (as in the wife can take him on that).
Also if a husband commits adultery or murder or one of the other basic morality sins in Abraham religions - then that can be grounds for divorce as well.
zafarali (47 months ago | reply)
There are quite a few with the Islam one. but its a AWESOME way to show information :)
love the work
rustedlight (47 months ago | reply)
This is what happens when I come in contact w/holy water :P
rdaved (46 months ago | reply)
nice graphic but wgaf?
Omegamogo (45 months ago | reply)
Pretty informative...but may easily cause a whole lot of drama. It's nearly impossible to distill all the disparate views within a given religion into a chart.
A couple of corrections regarding the Islamic teachings though, being a Muslim I can assist with that.
Divorce is completely allowed. It's considered a far better solution to a troubled marriage than 'toughing it out'.
Teen sex, within a marriage, is fine. So long as both parties have already hit puberty.
Homosexuality as an orientation should be neutral. Homosexual sex is what's condemned. Something that someone might not have any control over obviously can't be condemned.
Abortion, in and of itself, is almost universally allowed in Islam while within the first few months of pregnancy. But there has to be a damn good reason for it.
riow2009 (37 months ago | reply)
The Buddhist column is very imprecise. It seems to come closer to Theravada Buddhism (closer to scripture), but then in contradicts itself by saying masturbation and abortion are allowed (they most certainly are NOT). So either you have to change this, or change the other portions of the column to fit an orientation closer to Mahayana/Vajrayana Buddhism. Also, in Buddhism the distinction between homosexual *orientation* and homosexual *sexual acts* is relevant. The Dalai Lama himself said there is no problem in being homosexual, but that the sexual act in itself is wrong/frowned upon. Nevertheless, there are many Buddhist that will tell you that it's more of a cultural thing (in Tibet homosexual acts are taboo, in other places it is not).
ala3letter (31 months ago | reply)
Statistic on statistics: You sure got generous traffic on this one.
Alexander Vega (31 months ago | reply)
Good infographic!
ThereWasADream (23 months ago | reply)