Hmm...allow the accursed athiest to interject something here.
First of all, I was born a Catholic...and then later lost the faith. I will not go into detail, but I have my own reasons why this occured and why I have no interest in finding it again. In fact the closest thing I have to a religion right now is the philosophy of Bruce Lee.
Now, that being said, human beings (as we've so labeled ourselves) are animals. We are not so different from the others that inhabit the earth. We have a fairly evolved, primate brain and opposable thumbs, but beyond that, humans are not really all that evolved (or as evolved and special as we would like to believe). We even still have useless appendages on us that still haven't evolved out yet (apendix, tailbone, etc.). Therefore, we still have quite a bit of animalistic tendencies and insticts about us. We're just very good at hiding/denying them by covering them with veneers such as "civilization", or "religion". Sometimes people run into problems with their inherent animalistic nature when they try too hard to pretend like they aren't there. Remember, in order to properly deal with something, you must first acknowlege it's existence. To me, the most healthy people in the world are the ones that acknowledge ALL parts of themselves...pleasent and unpleasent. Only then can you deal with them and move on through life as a "well adjusted member of modern society". Granted, it's all a facade, but for the moment, it's all we have.
Now, all of that being said, sexuality, fetishes, etc are all very animalistic parts of us. Animals are driven by an instinctual need to procreate (thus promoting the survival of the species) and are ruled by a pain/pleasure paradox. If you forget civilization and morality for a moment, the basic goal of every animal on the face of this earth is to procreate and experience more pleasure than pain (unless, of course, pain is pleasurable to them). For us, tickling is highly pleasurable and for some of us it gives us sexual gratification. Sex and pleasure...we are therefore fulfilling two of the most basic wants/needs of any cognizant creature, and remember, the willful denying of either of these is a human fabrication (and you can thank the gnostics for that).
Now calm down, I'm not saying that religion is bad or anything of the sort. In fact if it weren't for religion and civilization we wouldn't have accomplished as much as we have today. So, in one respect, the denying of our inherent nature has allowed us to prosper. However, whether we like it or not, every once in a while, someone comes along that reminds us of just how much like the rest of the animal kingdom we still are.
Anyway...
What an organized religion's take on Tickling was would be anyone's guess. However, I would be careful of any institution that did it's best to convince you that something you enjoyed, which was inherently harmless to yourself and others, was wrong.
For the record though, Tickling does have the approval of ONE preist in Philly who, after witnessing a rather intense tickling scene in the hotel lobby at NEST, walked by and said "I'm next." 😀
