'No secular argument against adult incest': Dennis Prager downplays the dangers of inbreeding
Right-wing radio host Dennis Prager declared on Tuesday's broadcast of The Dennis Prager Show on the Salem Radio Network that incest between immediate siblings that results in childbirth should not necessarily be avoided.
Birth defects due to inbreeding are well-documented and result from a lack of DNA diversity, increasing the chances that a baby will inherit and display recessive genetic traits. The risks grow if the illicit reproductive practice is continued by future generations.
But Prager's views are formulated from his fundamentalist interpretation of a verse from the biblical book of Deuteronomy.
READ MORE: Mehmet Oz said incest with 'more than a first cousin away' was 'not a big problem' in 2014 interview
"It's a big deal, and I try to explain everything. Just this one verse that men should not wear women's clothing or women men's clothing. So, let's go to my motto, preferring clarity to agreement. Either the Bible's right or the left is right. They can't both be right," Prager said in the latest edition of "The Ultimate Issues Hour."
First, he proclaimed that "you can't be a serious Jew or Christian and be a leftist. You can be a liberal, you can be a conservative, but you can't be a leftist. Just on this issue alone. You just would have to say the Bible's wrong and you're right. Mm, mm here. The public nudity calls are interesting. Anyway, none of you have a secular argument against it and I don't blame you for that because there isn't any."
Prager then pivoted to bolster his point.
"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. There is no secular argument against adult consensual incest. There is a religious argument – sex cannot enter family life. It's a big taboo," he said.
READ MORE: 'Pure misogyny': Dennis Prager ripped for accusing women of 'disproportionately' destroying America
"See, people think we can live without the greatest source of wisdom and morality in the history of the world, the Bible," Prager added. "That's what they think. And some secular conservatives think that. They don't realize that they're living on the fumes of the Judeo-Christian value system. But if you ultimately extract those flowers from the soil that nurtured them, those flowers will wither and die. I don't want to see that happen."
Watch below via Media Matters for America or at this link:
READ MORE: 'What a stupid message': Dennis Prager blasted for suggesting that children are pointless
