Incest Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Religious and philosophical views <span class="anchor" id="Religious views"></span>== ===Jewish=== {{main|Jewish views on incest}} According to the [[Torah]], per Leviticus 18,<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse||Leviticus|18|HE}}</ref> "the children of Israel"{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} Israelite men and women alike{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} are forbidden from sexual relations between people who are "near of kin" (verse 6), who are defined as: * Children and their mothers (verse 7); * Siblings and half-siblings (verses 9 and 11). Relationships between these are particularly singled out for a curse in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0527.htm Deuteronomy 27], and they are of the only two kinds of incestuous relationship that are among the particularly singled-out relationships{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} with the other particularly singled-out relationships being ones of non-incestuous family betrayal (cf. verse 20) and bestiality (cf. verse 21); * Grandparents and grandchildren (verse 10); * Aunts and nephews, uncles and nieces, etc. (verses 12–14).<ref>Also see the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]]' [https://ccarnet.org/responsa/142-marriage-mothers-sister-or-half-sister-aunt-or/ Responsum 142].</ref> Relationships between these are the second kind of relationships that are particularly singled out for a curse in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0527.htm Deuteronomy 27], and the explicit examples of children-in-law and mothers-in-law (verse 23) serve to remind the Israelites that the parents-in-law are also (or at least should also be) the children-in-law's aunts and uncles:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0436.htm|title=Numbers 36 / Hebrew Bible in English / Mechon-Mamre|website=www.mechon-mamre.org|access-date=14 August 2021|archive-date=25 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925053705/https://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0436.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> <blockquote>And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying: 'The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaketh right. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded concerning the daughters of [[Zelophehad]], saying: Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall cleave every one to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers. So shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall cleave each one to its own inheritance.' Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad. For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons.<ref>''Hebrew-English Bible'' {{bibleverse||Leviticus|18:12–14|HE}}</ref></blockquote> Incestuous relationships, along with the other forbidden relationships that are mentioned in Leviticus 18, are considered so severe among [[Chillul Hashem|''chillulim HaShem'']], acts which bring shame to the name of God, as to be punishable by death as specified in [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0320.htm Leviticus 20]. In the 4th century BC, the [[Soferim]] (''scribes'') declared that there were relationships within which marriage constituted incest, in addition to those mentioned by the Torah. These additional relationships were termed ''seconds'' (Hebrew: ''sheniyyot''), and included the wives of a man's grandfather and grandson.<ref name="TosYeb23">Yebamot ([[Tosefta]]) 2:3</ref> The classical rabbis prohibited marriage between a man and any of these ''seconds'' of his, on the basis that doing so would act as a ''safeguard'' against infringing the biblical incest rules,<ref name="Yeb21a">Yebamot 21a</ref> although there was inconclusive debate about exactly what the limits should be for the definition of ''seconds''.<ref name="JewEncInce">{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=incest|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=126&letter=I}}</ref> Marriages that are forbidden in the Torah (with the exception of uncle{{ndash}}niece marriages) were regarded by the rabbis of the Middle Ages as invalid{{nbsp}}– as if they had never occurred;<ref name="EbenezerSA">''[[Shulchan Aruch|Shulchan 'Aruk]]'', ''Eben ha-'Ezer'', 16, 1</ref> any children born to such a couple were regarded as [[mamzer|bastards under Jewish law]],<ref name="EbenezerSA" /> and the relatives of the spouse were not regarded as forbidden relations for a further marriage.<ref>Yebamot 94b</ref> On the other hand, relationships that were prohibited due to qualifying as ''seconds'' and so forth were regarded as wicked, but still valid;<ref name="EbenezerSA" /> while such a couple may have been pressured to divorce, any children of the union were still seen as legitimate.<ref name="EbenezerSA" /> ===Christian=== {{See also|Incest in the Bible}} The New Testament condemns relations between a man "and his father's wife" (1 Corinthians 5:1{{ndash}}5). It is inevitable for Bible literalists to accept that the first children of Adam and Eve would have been in incestuous relations as we regard it today. However, according to the Bible, God's law forbidding incest had not at that time been given to men, and was delivered to Moses after Adam and Eve were created. Protestant Christians who adopt the Old Testament as part of their rule of faith and practice make a distinction between the ceremonial law and the moral law given to Moses, with the demands of the ceremonial law being fulfilled by Christ's atoning death. Protestants view Leviticus 18:6{{ndash}}20 as part of the moral law and still applicable, thus condemning sexual/marriage relations between a man and his mother, sister, stepsister, stepmother (if a man has more than one wife it is forbidden for a son to have relations with or marry any of his father's wives), aunt, granddaughter, or his brother's wife. Leviticus 18 goes on to condemn relations between a man and the daughter of a woman he is having relations with, and the sister of a woman he has had sexual relations with while the first sister is still alive. The [[Book of Common Prayer]] of the [[Anglican Communion]] allows marriages up to and including first cousins.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/|year=1962|place=Canada|title=Book of Common Prayer|chapter=A Table of Kindred and Affinity|chapter-url=http://prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/kindred-and-affinity/|access-date=26 December 2014|archive-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129094409/http://prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/}}</ref> The [[Catholic Church]] regards incest as a sin against the [[Marriage in the Catholic Church|Sacrament of Matrimony]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church 2388}}</ref> For the Catholic Church, at the heart of the immorality of incest is the corruption and disordering of proper family relations. These disordered relationships take on a particularly grave and immoral character when it becomes [[child sexual abuse]]. As the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' says: <blockquote>'''2388''' ''Incest'' designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them. St. Paul stigmatizes this especially grave offense: 'It is actually reported that there is immorality among you...for a man is living with his father's wife....In the name of the Lord Jesus...you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh....' Incest corrupts family relationships and marks a regression toward animality. '''2389''' Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care. The offense is compounded by the scandalous harm done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will remain scarred by it all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for their upbringing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church 2388–2389}}</ref></blockquote> ===Islamic=== {{main|Mahram}} The [[Quran]] gives specific rules regarding incest, which prohibit a man from marrying or having sexual relationships with: * his father's wife<ref>{{qref|4|22|c=y}}</ref> (his mother,<ref name="qref 4:23">{{qref|4|23|c=y}}</ref> or stepmother,<ref name="qref 4:23" /> his mother-in-law, a woman from whom he has nursed, even the children of this woman);<ref name="qref 4:23" /> * either parent's sister (aunt);<ref name="qref 4:23" /> * his sister, his half sister, a woman who has nursed from the same woman as he, his sister-in-law (wife's sister) while still married. Half relations are as sacred as full relations;<ref name="qref 4:23" /> * his niece (child of sibling);<ref name="qref 4:23" /> * his daughter, his stepdaughter (if the marriage to her mother was [[consummation|consummated]]), his daughter-in-law.<ref name="qref 4:23" /> Cousin marriage finds support in Islamic scriptures and is [[Cousin marriage in the Middle East|widespread in the Middle East]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inhorn |first1=Marcia C. |first2=Wendy |last2=Chavkin |first3=José-Alberto |last3=Navarro |date=2014 |title=Globalized Fatherhood |location=New York City |publisher=Berghahn Books |page=245 |isbn=9781782384380 }}</ref> Although Islam allows cousin marriage, there are [[hadith]]s attributed to Muhammad calling for distance from the marriage of relatives. However, Muslim scholars generally consider these hadiths unreliable.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Shaykh Faraz A. Khan|title=Did the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) Discourage Marrying Cousins? – SeekersHub Answers|url=http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2011/10/07/did-the-prophet-peace-be-upon-him-discourage-marrying-cousins/|website=SeekersHub Answers|access-date=12 August 2017|date=7 October 2011|archive-date=2 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502215209/http://seekershub.org/ans-blog/2011/10/07/did-the-prophet-peace-be-upon-him-discourage-marrying-cousins/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Saleem Ahmed, Ph.D|title=Cousin Marriage Among Muslims|url=http://muslimcouncilofamerica.org/cousin-marriage-among-muslims/|website=Muslim Council of America Foundation|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=12 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812173119/http://muslimcouncilofamerica.org/cousin-marriage-among-muslims/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ===Zoroastrian=== {{Main|Xwedodah}} In [[Ancient Persia]], incest between cousins is a blessed virtue although in some sources incest is believed to be related to that of parent{{ndash}}child or brother{{ndash}}sister.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qcdrMTprSMC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803085652/https://books.google.com/books?id=0qcdrMTprSMC|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 August 2020|title=Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire|last=Berkowitz|first=Eric|date=2012|publisher=Counterpoint Press|isbn=9781582437965|pages=21–22}}</ref> Under [[Zoroastrianism]], royalty, clergy, and commoners practiced incest, though the extent in the lattermost class was unknown.<ref name="Skjaervo 2013">{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/marriage-next-of-kin|title=Marriage II. Next-Of -Kin Marriage In Zoroastrianism|last=Skjaervo|first=Prods Oktor|author-link=Prods Oktor Skjaervo|website=www.iranicaonline.org|publisher=[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]], online edition|date=2013|access-date=20 August 2018}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> This tradition was called [[Xwedodah]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bigwood|first=Joan M.|date=December 2009|title='Incestuous' Marriage in Achaemenid Iran: Myths and Realities|journal=Klio|volume=91|issue=2|pages=311–341|doi=10.1524/klio.2009.0015|s2cid=191672920|issn=0075-6334}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Scheidel|first=Walter|date=1 September 1996|title=Brother-sister and parent-child marriage outside royal families in ancient egypt and iran: A challenge to the sociobiological view of incest avoidance?|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223430185|journal=Ethology and Sociobiology|volume=17|issue=5|pages=319–340|doi=10.1016/S0162-3095(96)00074-X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=García|first=María Olalla|date=2001|title="Xwedodah": el matrimonio consanguíneo en la Persia Sásanida. Una comparación entre fuentes pahlavíes y greco-latinas|url=https://publicaciones.unirioja.es/ojs/index.php/iberia/article/view/267|journal=Iberia. Revista de la Antigüedad|language=es|volume=4|pages=181–197|issn=1699-6909}}</ref> ({{Lang-ave|Xᵛaētuuadaθa|translit=Xvaetvadatha}}).<ref name="Skjaervo 2013"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cNUEnHU0BPoC&q=xwedodah&pg=PA430|title=Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature|last=Jong|first=Albert De|date=1997|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-9004108448|pages=430–433}}</ref> The tradition was considered so sacred that the bodily fluids produced by an incestuous couple were thought to have curative powers.<ref name=":0" /> For instance, the [[Vendidad]] advised corpse-bearers to purify themselves with a mixture of the urine of a married incestuous couple.<ref name=":0" /> [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], in his book ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]'', cited that among Zoroastrians a wise priest is born only by Xvaetvadatha.<ref>''The Birth of Tragedy'', Friedrich Nietzsche. Anaconda Verlag – 2012.</ref> To what extent Xvaetvadatha was practiced in [[Sasanian]] Iran and before{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} especially outside the royal and noble families ("dynastic incest") and, perhaps, the clergy{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} and whether practices ascribed to them can be assumed to be characteristic of the general population is not clear. There is a lack of genealogies and census material on the frequency of Xvaetvadatha.<ref>Michael Mitterauer, "The Customs of the Magians: The Problem of Incest in Historical Societies," in Roy Porter and Mikuláš Teich, eds., Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science: The History of Attitudes to Sexuality, Cambridge, UK, and New York, 1994, pp. 231–50.</ref><ref name="Fischer 2007">Fischer, Michael MJ. "Ptolemaic Jouissance and the Anthropology of Kinship: A Commentary on Ager" The Power of Excess: Royal Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty"." Anthropologica 49, no. 2 (2007): 295–299.</ref> Evidence from [[Dura-Europos]], however, combined with that of the Jewish and Christian sources citing actual cases under the Sasanians, strengthens the evidence of the Zoroastrian texts. In the post-Sasanian Zoroastrian literature, Xvaetvadatha is said to refer to marriages between cousins instead, which have always been relatively common.<ref>*Jakob Eduard Polak, Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner: ethnographische Schilderungen, 2 vols in one, Leipzig, 1865; tr. Kaykāvus Jahāndāri as Safar-nāma-ye Polāk: Iran wa Irāniān, Tehran, 1982. *James Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, leurs origines et leur histoire, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des hautes études ... Sciences philologiques et historiques 29, Paris, 1877. *{{cite journal | last1 = Givens | first1 = Benjamin P. | last2 = Hirschman | first2 = Charles | s2cid = 143341230 | year = 1994 | title = Modernization and Consanguineous Marriage in Iran | journal = Journal of Marriage and the Family | volume = 56 | issue = 4| pages = 820–34 | doi = 10.2307/353595 | jstor = 353595 }} *[[Clarisse Herrenschmidt]], "Le xwêtôdas ou mariage «incestueux» en Iran ancien," in Pierre Bonte, ed., Epouser au plus proche, inceste, prohibitions et stratégies matrimoniales autour de la Méditerranée, Paris, 1994, pp. 113–25. *Alan H. Bittles et al., "Human Inbreading: A Familiar Story Full of Surprises," in Helen Macbeth and Prakash Shetty, eds., Health and Ethnicity, Society for the Study of Human Biology Series 41, London, 2001, pp. 68–78.</ref> It has been observed that such incestuous acts received a great deal of glorification as a religious practice and, in addition to being condemned by foreigners (though the reliability of these accusations is questionable since accusations of incest were a common way of denigrating other groups),<ref>Porter, Roy, and Mikulas Teich, eds. Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science. CUP Archive, 1994, p.237</ref> were considered a great challenge by their own proponents, with accounts suggesting that four copulations was deemed a rare achievement worthy of eternal salvation. It has been suggested that because taking up incestuous relations was a great personal challenge, seemingly repugnant even to Zoroastrians of the time, it served as an [[honest signal]] of commitment and devotion to religious ideals.<ref>Scheidel, Walter. "Evolutionary psychology and the historian." The American Historical Review 119, no. 5 (2014): 1563–1575.</ref><ref name="Fischer 2007"/> ===Hindu=== [[Rigveda]] regards incest to be "evil".<ref>{{cite book |last=O'Flaherty |first=Wendy Doniger |title=The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology |page=7 |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> [[Hinduism]] speaks of incest in abhorrent terms. Hindus believe there are both [[karmic]] and practical bad effects of incest and thus practice strict rules of both [[endogamy]] and [[exogamy]] in relation to the family tree (''[[gotra]]'') or bloodline (''[[Pravaras|Pravara]]''). Marriage within the ''gotra'' (''swagotra'' marriage) is banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system.<ref>"There can be no matrimony between the sects of Gehlawat and Kadiyan as they have a 'brotherhood' akin to consanguinity."[http://www.indianexpress.com/news/haryana-panchayat-takes-on-govt-over-samegotra-marriage/491548/ "Haryana panchayat takes on govt over same-gotra marriage"]. ''Indian Express''. 20 July 2009</ref> People within the ''gotra'' are regarded as kin, and marrying such a person would be thought of as incest. Marriage with paternal cousins (a form of [[Parallel and cross cousins|parallel-cousin]] relationship) is strictly prohibited. Traditional Hindu laws of marriage suggest that, between a man and a woman who are about to marry, there should be no common ancestor (gotra) between the groom and the bride for up to 6 generations on the fathers' side of the groom and bride and up to 4 generations on the mothers' side of the groom and bride. Some orthodox Hindus might extend this limit to up to 8 generations on the father's side and 6 generations on the mother's side (for both the bride and groom). Although generally marriages between persons having the same ''gotra'' are frowned upon,<ref>''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z'', James G. Lochtefeld, Rosen Publishing Group, 2002; p. 526.</ref> how this is defined may vary regionally. Depending on culture and [[Indian caste system|caste]] of the population in the region, marriage may be restricted up to seven generations of ''gotra'' of father, mother, and grandmother. In a few rural areas, marriage is banned within the same local community.<ref>"In India these rules are reproduced in the form of that one must not marry within the Gotra, but not without the caste" [http://www.sanathanadharma.com/samskaras/marriage/mar3.htm#Limitations "Limitations of Marriage"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103062452/http://www.sanathanadharma.com/samskaras/marriage/mar3.htm |date=3 November 2010 }}. sanathanadharma.com</ref> ===Stoicism=== The founder of [[Stoicism]], [[Zeno of Citium]], stated that incest was permissible in ''[[Republic (Zeno)|Republic]]'', as did the later prominent Stoic philosopher [[Chrysippus]]. However, Zeno only advocates for incest under unique circumstances, such as procreating with one's ailing mother in order to beget "glorious" children, thus comforting her. Otherwise, incest is condemned as being contrary to Nature. Zeno further condemns incest from a moral and psychological perspective, considering it to be a sign of [[Plato]]'s tyrannical soul, defined as a soul that is governed by illimitable desire. He uses [[Oedipus]] as a tragic example.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hook |first1=Brian S. |title=Oedipus and Thyestes among the Philosophers: Incest and Cannibalism in Plato, Diogenes, and Zeno |journal=Classical Philology |date=January 2005 |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=17–40 |doi=10.1086/431428 |s2cid=161961479 }}</ref> Nonetheless, later Stoic disciples by the 1st century BC downplayed the pro-incest advocacy, accusing Zeno of being "young and thoughtless" when he wrote ''Republic''.<ref>A view attributed to some contemporary Stoics by [[Philodemus]], ''On the Stoics'', c. 2. col 9. ed. Dorandi.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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