Religion and Lust or, The Psychical Correlation of Religious Emotion and Sexual Desire

"Religion and Lust" by James Weir Jr. is a late 1800's scientific study, arguing that religious feelings and sexual desire are deeply connected. The book starts by looking at how early humans saw the supernatural, claiming it began with their interactions with nature. The writer says that people first had religious feelings as useful reactions to survive, and later, as they became more intelligent, they formed more complex ideas about gods. Weir uses examples from old cultures and their religious practices to show how sexual symbols and religious acts have always been linked. His analysis lays the groundwork for discussing the psychological connections between religious emotion and sexual desire throughout human history.