Conservative commentator Dennis Prager, whose PragerU video channel has been an instrumental recruiting tool for the far-right, is under fire for parroting the popular Evangelical Christian claim there is no morality outside religion.
Prager was raised modern Orthodox Jewish, but left Modern Orthodoxy after graduate school but remained religious. Most of Prager's conservative commentary resonates more with Evangelical Christians however if his fan base is any indication.
To illustrate his point about morality, Prager claimed there is "no secular argument" against incest among adults which is nonsense. In contrast, adult incest is implied or overtly occurs in the Bible and the Tanakh or Mikra and is not condemned as immoral.
Prager made the bizarre claim Tuesday on his radio program The Dennis Prager Show, as seen below.
\u201cPrager: "There's no secular argument against adult incest. Brother and sister want to make love, what's your argument? That they're going to produce mentally retarded offspring? That's nonsense. It takes many generations of inbreeding to do that"\nhttps://t.co/L6X82TfYvp\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
Prager began his comments by expounding on what he called his "motto."
"Either the Bible's right or the left is right. They can't both be right."
To underline the point, Prager turned to the issue of incest.
He said:
"There's no secular argument against adult incest."
"Brother and sister want to make love, what's your argument? That they're going to produce mentally r-word offspring?"
"That's nonsense. It takes many generations of inbreeding to do that."
Aside from being ableist, that's also not scientifically correct.
As we all learned in high school biology, siblings are genetically closer to each other than even a parent and child are, and hence are at exponentially higher risk of passing a rare and debilitating recessive disease to children they have together.
This is why even non-JudeoChristian cultures have taboos against siblings procreating.
And, again, the Tanakh or Mikra and the Christian Bible are chock-full of incest.
Like, *chock* full.
But Prager seems to be either unaware of all these details, or ignoring them because they don't fit his narrative—which is that only with the JudeoChristian versions of the Bible can you come up with an argument against incest between consenting adults.
He went on to claim:
"There is no secular argument against adult consensual incest."
"There is a religious argument—sex cannot enter family life."
"It's a big taboo."
As you might guess, Prager's absurd assertion only practicers of JudeoChristians religions think incest is wrong was mocked soundly.
\u201cIt's amazing how often Prager will go on a rant where he admits that the only thing that's keeping him from doing all sorts of truly horrific stuff is religion.\n\nThat's not... a good thing, man.\u201d— Parker Molloy (@Parker Molloy) 1665593970
\u201c@JasonSCampbell someone kindly remind the non-doctor Prager that Abram married his half sister so there\u2019s not really a religious argument against it either? not sure what his point is\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201cIF OLD BOOK NOT SAY NO THEN HOW KNOW BAD CHECKMATE LIBS\u201d— The Call is Coming from Inside the Nash (@The Call is Coming from Inside the Nash) 1665642997
\u201c@JasonSCampbell \u201cSir, the question was, \u2018are you concerned about the deficit?\u2019\u201d\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201cThe secular argument is that it's gross! Normal people don't need a Bible to tell them not to have sex with their siblings, weirdo! And given the Duggars, that guideline doesn't seem to take for the extremist religious right anyway.\u201d— Cheryl Lynn Eaton (@Cheryl Lynn Eaton) 1665690811
\u201c@JasonSCampbell @on_bender He\u2019s actually incorrect. The worst pairing genetically speaking is brother and sister and the immediate offspring can have all sorts of genetic problems as a result. The closest genetic match to any human being is a full sibling. It\u2019s closer than a parent and a child.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201c@JasonSCampbell\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201c@BenderWolf @JasonSCampbell He is saying that secularism is bad because it cant argue why incest is bad where religion can. Even though the reason is "because God says not to do it."\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Oh wow, the old "only religion gives you morality" argument sure has gone off the rails. The Bible is full of incest! As if we need a 2,000-year-old book to tell us right from wrong? How absurd.\n\nHe needs to direct his question to someone like Josh Duggar.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Didn't realize Pager was a geneticist with expertise in evolutionary biology. What a many-talented man, truly blessed by God\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Oh, I see, because only religious people can be good, gotcha. So true. Thank goodness God said that thing about not killing, since that's the only thing keeping the faithful from wiping out us seculars, apparently.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1665589908
\u201cI feel like the secular argument against incest is "that's your sister, dog"\u201d— Aromantic Askellington (@Aromantic Askellington) 1665643309
Even for Prager—who recently claimed telling kids they matter is immoral and women are ruining America with their emotions—this is an unhinged take.
Guess we should never underestimate the imagination of right-wing commentary.
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The Washington Post