Noyes Beliefs On Love And Religion

Men and women worked alongside each other at Oneida which was enjoyed by all and also helped men and women to find new partners in which to engage in complex marriage with. Noyes believed and taught his followers that for true-Christians, sexual intercourse is a form of worship and that sex is a celebration of God’s goodness. He explains his beliefs about complex marriage in Bible Argument: Defining the Relations of the Sexes in the Kingdom of Heaven that he wrote soon after his arrest in 1847 on charges of adultery. He believed that monogamous relationships were selfish and that love was something that should be shared with everyone. He also believed that being ashamed of sex was a sin because “to be ashamed of the sexual organs, is to be ashamed of the most perfect instruments of love and unity” (156). …show more content…
It was however not allowed for men to practice coitus interruptus because Noyes believed that meant that the men were placing the focus on their own pleasure when it should be on God and his partner. Noyes put into effect a system of choosing sexual partners that he called “ascending fellowship”. Ascending fellowship meant that you were allowed to have intercourse with a person that was considered to be at a higher spiritual level than yourself, this was so that no one felt left out. Younger members often engaged sexually with older members of the community and were taught at the start of puberty by an elder about intercourse. All sexual meetings had to be first approved by Noyes or another high seated