Fear, in religion, is a mode of law enforcement, and a dictation of moral standards. ¬In Catholicism, men-of-the-cloth are not permitted to be sexually active, and the same applies to nuns. Women becoming church leaders have also become a hotly contested issue.

However, this practice is not limited to the Christian Church; it is also seen in Ancient Greek mythology. Artemis, Zeus, and Leto, brother of Apollo, were crusaders of purity, smiting those who attempted to breach the divine chastity of Artemis and her nymphs. She once turned the legendary hunter, Actaeon, into a stag that was killed by his own dogs after she caught him gawking at her and her nymphs bathing in a lake.

Perhaps it is not just sex or lewd behavior that is feared, but women in general. Bishops from the Church of England are in the grips of an archaic struggle in dealing with those who are opposed to female Bishops. It seems as if the eon of people worshiping and studying Christian scripture has lead modern followers to have an illogical fear of a woman in a position of authority¬, or in this case, a messenger of God. So, the makebates continue to quibble, claiming that the Bible dictates that only men can be Bishops, while the campaigners for women Bishops hope that they can one day wear the Bishops hat, a tradition that dates back to the Apostles.

Although Artemis came across rather rough when she was offended, she was also seen as the goddess of fertility and childbirth in many cities. Unfortunately, Artemis was armed with a bow and some deadly arrows, capable of spreading disease and petulance, which also made her the cause of stillbirths. She was the perfect scapegoat for every thing that could go wrong when having a child. This was a tremendous burden for one goddess to bear. At this point, the fear shifts focus from sexual curiosity to a woman's ability to reproduce. It seemed like a lose-lose situation for the righteous Artemis, allowing every gawker to lay blame on a female deity.

But why would anyone want the position that essentially labeled Artemis as the pleasure police? Apparently, Artemis asked her father, the promiscuous Zeus, to make her an eternal virgin when she was three years old. Knowing what behavior Zeus was accustomed to with women, he probably had no qualms about this request, but it was a hypocritical judgment nonetheless.

In many cases, the ancient modes of understanding life's hurdles has been replaced with more rational explanations, but some of the draconian traditions regarding women and sex seen in organized religion have survived the test of time and are still vivaciously debated.