From a netfriend

One of the distinctions that appears frequently in discussion of Islam is that between culture and religion. Even Muslims wish to draw the distinction and point out that some things attributed to Islam are actually not Islam at all, but cultural things confused with Islam. Even customs like the veiling of woman appear to impose cultural norms on notions of modesty.

The three religions of the Middle East – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have all been influenced by their Semitic culture of origin. By “Semitic” I mean here not Jewish (exclusively), but the racial/cultural groups of a region. To what extent does that attitude of Semitic culture to sexuality exert its influence over the three religions? If Christianity had its origins in Anglo-Celtic culture, would we have an entirely different notion of the relationship between sin and sex? Has Semitic culture had far too much influence already?