Gimme that old time religion

As a true religious conservative, I'd love to see my milquetoast reactionary brethren and sisteren get serious about bringing back religious prostitution, that time-honored and sacred activity that, were it around today, would certainly make nine o'clock mass more interesting (and better attended). The truth is, though, we don't seem to know who these good-time nuns of pagan antiquity were; Many folks based their claims on the testimonies of Herodotus (writing about Babylon) and Strabo (writing about a temple with 1000 temple prostitutes in Corinth), but scholars and theologians now doubt these reports.

I'd love to know how the whole institution worked and why it went away--if it in fact existed. Was it part of the Canaanite worship of Yahweh's chief rival, the embarrassingly named Baal? Were Dagon's ladies hotter? Questions abound on this one, and I could use some answers, if I'm going to pass my agenda around to my local churches.