Joseph was Mary's husband as defined by the time. The idea of immaculate conception was very popular in the Greek and Egyptian gods. Bottom line -- gods came down, had their way with women and then left. Another way to look at this in more primitive ways: you have a daughter or wife and she has never lied to you about anything (lies always come out sooner or later). Wife -- you've been away for some time, come home to find her pregnant and she swears that its a miracle -- you believe her -- so immaculate conception. Your daughter turns up pregnant, she swears she's been with no one, you believe her -- same thing. Tennessee has a Blue Law that says men and women can not swim in a public pool at the same time and that there must be an hour between when men swim and women may swim. Gee, I wonder how they came up with this/