Religious prostitution

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Religious prostitution is the practice of having sexual intercourse (with a person other than one's spouse) for a religious purpose. A woman engaged in such practices is sometimes called a temple prostitute or hierodule, though modern connotations of the term prostitute cause interpretations of these phrases to be highly misleading.

It was revered highly among Sumerians and Babylonians. In ancient sources (Herodotus, Thucydides) there are many traces of hieros gamos, starting perhaps with Babylon, where each woman had to reach, once a year, the sanctuary of Militta (Aphrodite or Nana/Anahita), and there have sex with a foreigner, as a sign of hospitality, for a symbolic price.

A similar type of prostitution was practiced in Cyprus (Paphos) and in Corinth, Greece, where the temple counted more than a thousand prostitutes (hyerodules), according to Strabo. It was widely in use in Sardinia and in some of the Phoenician cultures, usually in honour of the goddess ‘Ashtart. Presumably by the Phoenicians, this practice was developed in other ports of the Mediterranean Sea, such as Erice (Sicily), Locri Epizephiri, Croton, Rossano Vaglio, and Sicca Veneria. Other hypotheses regard Asia Minor, Lydia, Syria and Etruscans.

It was common in Israel too, but some prophets, like Hosea and Ezekiel, strongly fought it; it is assumed that it was part of the cults of Canaan, where a significant proportion of prostitutes were male (roughly the same proportion as there were men in society at large, about 50%).

According to the Bible, the Canaanite peoples had a system of religious prostitution. This is seen, for example, in Genesis 38:21, where Judah asks Canaanite men of Adulam "Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side?". The Hebrew original employs the word "kedsha" in Judah's question, as opposed to the standard Hebrew "zonah". The word "Kidsha" is derived from the root KaDeSh, which signifies uniqueness and holiness; thus it possibly represents a religious prostitute, although it may be that the same rootword for 'holiness', KaDeSh, is used to express lasciviousness, being that both holiness and promiscuity can be described as 'separate', which is the real meaning of that root word. As a side point, it is known that part of Ammonite tradition, a bride would sit at the gates of a town before the wedding, and sleep with whomever came to the city.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

It is also thought that the pagan priests called qedeshim (the masculine form of "qedsha") in the Torah regularly engaged in homosexual acts. The phrase "mahir kelev", "the pay of a dog" (Deuteronomy 23:18-19) refers to the payment to a male prostitute. Male prostitutes in that time and place usually serviced men, not women. Moreover, Leviticus 18 contains a number of prohibitions regarding sexual relations with different people (some of them incestuous) that are thought to be relevant to Canaanite habits of religious prostitution inside family. These passages are often cited by conservative Christian denominations as indication of proscription against same-sex relations (homosexuality and bisexuality).

In Greece, Solon instituted the first Athenian brothels (oik`iskoi) in the 6th century BC, and with the earnings of this business he built a temple dedicated to Aprodites Pandemo (or Qedesh), patron goddess of this commerce. The Greek word for prostitute is porne, derived from the verb pernemi (to sell), with the evident modern evolution. The procuring was however severely forbidden.

There is a practice in southern India called "devadasi". It involves adolescent girls from villages to be married to a deity or a temple. After they reach puberty they are made to practice prostitution for upper-caste members. This practice was made illegal in 1988.

In the 1970s and early 1980s some religious groups were discovered practicing sacred prostitution as an instrument to recruit new converts. Among them was the alleged cult Children of God/The Family who called this practice "Flirty Fishing". They later abolished the practice due to the growing AIDS epidemic.

Today Kenneth Ray Stubbs changed perspective as to the reasons why women and men participate in sacred sex work through his book "Women of the Light: The New Sacred Prostitute," and his DVD set "Magdalene Unveiled" describing some of the spiritual concepts and practices of the ancient and modern sacred prostitute. This kind of material may sometimes be used to study the neo-tantric practices and is part of the background information for spiritual transformation of the “sacred intimate” or sacred prostitute. The goal is to raise spiritual awareness into bliss and ecstasy and be in close communion with the divine. The sacred prostitute has emerged as a valid spiritual path in the eyes of those who practice it.

Religious prostitution

See also