Re-post from April 3rd

Nudiarist: Religion Threatens Nude Beach

Posted 3rd April 2010 at 04:58 PM by stringsinger

Nudiarist on his "Diary of a Nudist" Blog posted this today (my comments follow):

Religion Threatens Nude Beach in Key West

A section of Smathers Beach in Key West slated for naturist use is under threat from religious groups who are "uncomfortable" with the idea of nude people enjoying the sun and surf.

"I'm convinced that the naturalist is not an evil person," said Adam Walker, pastor of Calvary Chapel. "Let's just look at facts about humanity: The naturalist does not see anything wrong about nudity. I believe that. You've got to know that not everybody going on that beach is going to be a naturalist. Twitter has opened the world. What do you think is going to be going on on these beaches?"

"I personally would not want this temptation there for my sons," Walker's wife Patty said. "It's hard enough for them to go through life as a teenager. I don't want their mind dwelling on things like that. You go in there and you're not in there for the right reason and you come out, you've got to go let that out somewhere, and things happen in our community."

So, in a nutshell, naturists and naturists are not evil, but nudity attracts evil people. And the argument is not about reality, but about what people "think is going to be going on". And what on earth does Twitter have to do with nude beaches? Fear, ignorance and religions zealotry once again stand in the way of the basic human right of enjoying nude recreation.

Posted by Nudiarist at 9:52 AM

My comments:

stringsinger said...

Yes, Christians too, are effected by cultural attitudes. Unfortunately, that often means that, when confronted with something they are unaccustomed to like social nudity in a public recreational setting, rather than thinking carefully (or biblically) about the issue, they just assume it is wrong. That is how we get silly statements like the one you referenced. But, the knee-jerk reaction of condemning something as immoral because it causes one cultural discomfort is as common among secularists as it is among those that are religiously minded. Fortunately, Christians who are able to overcome unfounded acculturation and treat the subject seriously, will find nothing in the way of a biblical argument against such practices. And, in fact, Christians in earlier historical times were (rightly) much more comfortable with their bodies and those of others. Sadly, the two biggest hurdles to greater body acceptance among Christians today are a resurgence of heretical Gnostic dogma and (ironically, in light of the popularity of Intelligent Design Theory) the co-option of ideas of Social Darwinists, that treat human sexuality as a mechanistic (bio-chemically determined) process of stimulus and response.