Slut! Whore! No, I'm not talking about you! You know who you are. But Charles Murtaugh has an interesting analysis of a K. L. Lopez report on a young evangelical couple that practices "Natural Family Planning" in NRO. Charles points out some interesting things about the assumptions and possible implications of the choices and beliefs that NFP devotees hold.

This sort of begs the question of whether it can be a good thing for people to go around the block a few times before they enter into a marriage. It's hardly uncommon, according to my sources, for a person to stay too long in a relationship because the sex is good, and then to wake up one day and realize that it's been a mistake. I also think that, in the long run, sex becomes less important than emotional connection, and that the latter component of a relationship is much harder to improve -- two people either click as friends, or they don't.

OK, so I started to think about flipping things around like this. My parents, being moderate Muslims think that most western women, and to some extent men, lead slutty whorish lives engaged in premarital sex with people who they date! The horrors, the horrors! And yet, they never find it strange that two people could have a marriage arranged by their parents, meet once or twice, and then go through a marriage ceremony and be expected to copulate with a total stranger! Today in the United States most Muslims don't arrange marriages for their kids where they meet the person only once or twice. There's a little more consultation than that. But there is usually no real dating and the contact is very limited. The fact remains that usually these people engage in sex, often their first time, with someone they really don't know too well-on many levels. In fact, many Indian families now make extensive use of newspapers-basically marriage personals. Again, this carries no patina of license or opprobrium and shame. And yet some of the cultures that breed these attitudes condone the execution of women that are raped because there need to be three male witnesses for a rape, while only one witness is needed for a prosecution of extra/pre-marital sex (who can be the rapist)! So girls, next time some Muslim wacko in a goat-beard gives you a weird look, tell him at least you got to know the guy before you spread your legs-his wife most likely knew his name and profession. Who's the whore in that case? Well-I guess if God says it's OK.... Also, read this old article on "temporary marriage" in Iran. Sprinkle some Holy Water and fornication becomes "flesh of one flesh."