the Ewe and Tshi speaking peoples of the African west coast, for example, priestesses considered themselves the wives of a god, and worshippers would pay the church to have sex with the priestess as a ritual to get closer to their god. Recently, a small church in the United States pursued this practice, with the priest (husband) renting out the priestess (wife) as a religious ritual for church members to attain intimacy with the goddess herself. A "right of religion" argument was thrown out of court as the couple was convicted of simple prostitution.
Throughout the Middle Ages there was considerable vacillation in policy toward prostitution. The Church of England generally condemned prostitution, but friars were among the best customers of prostitutes. Brothels were established under local municipal protection in Augsburg, Hamburg, and Vienna, yet the Germani
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