People state that religious (Christian among other) dislike of premarital sex is about an exercise in control. However I rarely believe things are intentional to that degree of malice as they are byproducts of circumstance. My theory is that the viewing of premarital sex as a sin disapproved by god comes from Syphilis and other STIs. Image being in a town with very liberal sexual relations. Everyone has sex as part of natural life, with a variety of people. One day, someone contracts Syphilis, slowly, a large portion of the town becomes infected. Now in modern society we may believe say "Ah, we all have STIs!" but then, I believe as the disease slowly eats at their brains and made them insane, they would jusitfy each others insanity (I hear the whisper of demons, so does my neighbor, and others!) The entire town could quickly come to belief they are being plagued or punished. Those who are still sound of mind (but probably very frightened) and not involved in casual sex with those afflicted would realize the connection. They have remained pure, those in strict monogamous relations with their spouse also would not be infected. While the rest of them devolve into insanity, I could see how the lesson they would pull from this would be. Premartial Sex is evil and punishable by god. What do you think?