Published Articles
By Dr. William R. Morrow

“New Tool in the War on Crime”

Looting is bad, wherever it happens. When it happened in Iraq, a Muslim clergyman, speaking with the weight of Allah on his side, took decisive action: The Knight Ridder news from Iraq recently reported a rumor that a Muslim cleric had preached against Iraqi wives having sex with their looter husbands. Think of it! When all else was in chaos, and cultures were still clashing on the streets of Baghdad, the power of sex subdued the bad behavior, and straightened these errant husbands right up. If these Muslim folks were living under the pale of male domination, you wouldn't know it, because the women became the enforcers, and did their duty to God and country. Would you have guessed it? A good sexual relationship with their wives was more important than having a bit of fun stealing a library chair or some decrepit government statue. I don't doubt that some families were desperate, maybe even for water and food, but these Baghdadi women had their values straight and in order. They got the message about materialism (it's bad!), and set such a commendable example that, if I knew who they were, I would personally send them some food and water. Unfortunately, they are not likely to reveal their identities for fear of being interviewed by Geraldo Rivera.

If the rumor is true, we have a show of woman power which exceeds anything that secular feminists could have ever dreamed up! The imam's edict was intended to have a moral impact, and hit those thieves where a bullet wouldn't go. (For all I know, the only thing these men had against them up until this point was unpronounceable names.) No loot returned; no sex. This new form of pastoral counseling demonstrated some very useful knowledge about the power of sex.

As a counselor with some religion credentials myself, I hadn't thought of getting into the crimestopping business. Nor did I seriously realize that the marital relationship unit is such a powerful building block in keeping our society civil and stable. The lessons to be learned, nevertheless, are useful gems for any marriage therapist. One. Sex should never be used as a weapon, except maybe in national emergencies. In whatever religion you subscribe to, sex as a weapon, especially for building character in males, is considered hitting below the belt. And, (I speak advisedly here,) there is a fat chance that men would withhold sex from their women mates because, they don't think this way, and would not be inclined to make the supreme sacrifice just to accomplish something less tangible or far less important.

Two. The next lesson: Men will do almost anything for sex. This is not a lesson anyone is proud of, including in the world of Western Judeo-Christianity. It means that the marriage therapists of our culture have to tame down the testosterone effect, and to continually be reminding men about the LOVE part of sex. Men tend to forget this. The only good part about this researched factor is that dissatisfaction with the sexual relationship is one of the few reasons that a man will seek marriage counseling. He tends not to notice the other problems in the relationship.

Three. There is another lesson to be gained from the Iraq story: Women should get credit for keeping the moral center of the marriage. When social forces are tearing at the foundations, religious and civil institutions can count on wives. It leaves you thinking that a man without a wife may be in danger of bad judgment when his conscience is tempted.

________________________________________________