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Neither shalt thou lie with any beast
to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman
stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
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Leviticus 18:23
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This passage from Leviticus clearly condemned bestiality. Even
more to the point was Exodus 22:19: "Whosoever lieth with
a beast shall surely be put to death".
Accusations of bestiality were difficult to refute, since evidence
of a particularly dubious nature could be used to identify a
guilty party. The belief seems to have been that a man who successfully
inseminated a female animal could get it pregnant. Any similarity
in appearance between an animal's offspring and a particular
man might thus cast suspicion that he was the father. Anything
like a characteristic blemish, a squint, unusual hair colour
or disability might cost him his life in a credulous society
that interpreted the Bible literally*.
It is easy to blame simple rural folk for such folly, but
learned ecclesiastics also believed and promoted it. Ecclesiastics
were as keen to inflict the death penalty for this crime as
for hundreds of others. Often (see page 367) the human and the
animal involved in bestiality were both tortured and executed.
In England, the death penalty was confirmed in 1533
after the Reformation: "The detestable and abominable crime
of buggery committed with mankind or beast" remained punishable
by death until 1861. For the next century it was punishable
by life imprisonment.
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