Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today…

--John Lennon

I’m always being asked why the U.S. is so nutty when it comes to sex.

On the one hand, we have some of the highest rates of cunnilingus and premarital sex in the world.

On the other hand, consider: No one is debating sex for teens in Holland. No one is questioning the of birth control in Japan. No one’s freaking out that prostitution is legal and regulated in Switzerland. If anyone suggested withholding Gardasil (the HPV vaccine) from Germany’s young people for of increasing “promiscuity,” he’d be laughed out of town. In Spain, Australia, Israel, and dozens of other countries, gay soldiers serve openly next to straight ones. And contraception is advertised quite openly in countries on every continent.

And yet every one of these issues is considered controversial in American . Ours is the only industrialized country in the world in which people actually demand fewer rights and more restrictions on their sexual expression.

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

The only reasonable explanation for what separates us from other advanced countries is the toxic American form of Christianity that has a stranglehold on our political dialogue, medical institutions, and childrearing.

The Pope has more influence on public policy in America than he does in Italy. More Americans believe in the Rapture than in Evolution—and while they’re awaiting celestial transportation, they’ve captured our school boards, injecting religious dogma into sex education and history courses. Pharmacy schools teach future professionals that they can pick and choose which prescriptions to fill—if they make their choices based on religion (rather than, say, obeying the voice of Elvis).

Tens of millions of Americans have actually invented a god that condemns their sexual feelings and behavior. Interestingly, this doesn’t affect their sexual impulses or behavior—it just makes them feel miserably guilty and alone. Some 10 million American teens are taught that this same god is deeply offended that they’re interested in sex before . Instead of shaping their behavior, however, this teaching simply makes them unable to plan for sex, leading to all the messy stuff that happens when you have sex unexpectedly—unwanted , misunderstandings, exploitation, etc..

When children are taught that certain parts of their bodies are bad or dirty, they often grow into adults who are ashamed of their bodies, unable to accept or even feel their sexual feelings. When children learn that a supposedly benevolent god has created body parts and curiosity that can be dirty and dangerous, their eroticism often becomes the focus of terrible, lifelong internal conflict.

By teaching children that is sinful, organized Christianity gives sexual impulses and behavior meaning where none exists. It creates an external sexual standard against which people believe they are compared—and are always found wanting, which damages them for life. Intercourse is somehow more "moral" than anal sex? Marriage "redeems" sex? The very idea that the consensual and responsible expression of can somehow be sinful is and abusive. Only because religion has so much cultural acceptance in the U.S. are these ideas seen as a system of “ ” instead.

By the way, I spent the weekend in Bethesda, MD, a guest of the American Atheist National Convention. It was as joyful, as thoughtful, and as irreverent a bunch of adults as I’ve ever met. A thousand of them gave me a standing ovation after my talk.

As it is said: religion flies planes into buildings; science flies rockets to the moon. Religion gives people about their sexual desires, and about their bodies; science gives people birth control, lubricants, penicillin, RU-486, sex toys, pre-natal screening, and care.

Imagine.