I'm sure there are plenty of Christians out there who are not the least bit concerned about masturbation. Many do it themselves and have no issue with others doing the same. These are reasonable Christians. At least, they are reasonable on this particular subject. They recognize that it isn't any of their business whether others are masturbating, and they give the matter little thought. They certainly don't go around crusading to end the practice.
And yet, it seems like there are more than a few evangelical fundamentalist Christians who are convinced that their "god" does not want them or anyone else to masturbate. Some are even determined to warn others about the imagined "dangers" of masturbation, going out of their way to threaten those who do it with eternal punishment at the hands of their preferred god. Others might go so far as to inflict punishment on their own children for masturbating.
I suspect we've all encountered Christians like this. They seem to enjoy words like "fornication" and threatening others will the hell they imagine. They don't want you or anybody else to have fun, and masturbation is just one more example of this. These are the sort of Christians who help to give Christianity a bad name, drive young people away from it, and make it the butt of so many jokes. When we think of the stereotypical holier-than-thou Christian, this is the sort of Christian that often comes to mind.
I suppose if it wasn't for the fact that our many hang-ups about sex are unhealthy and cause a variety of problems, one could be grateful to these Christians. After all, they are doing more to undermine fundamentalist Christianity than most atheists will ever do. They provide everyone with something to point to when asked why their form of Christianity holds so little appeal.
H/T to Godless Mom
