Re-post from April 4th

Women's Topfreedom March in Maine

Posted 4th April 2010 at 07:22 PM by stringsinger

Two articles appeared in the Maine Sunday Telegram about a a topfree march through Portland which was organised (via Facebook) by a young woman named Ty McDowell:

Women march topless in Portland without incident

Marching for right to bare breasts, women faced with sea of cameras

It is also interesting to read the comments section after the articles. I respect Ms. MacDowell for her effort, but am a bit surprised at her naivete as to the kind of response she might have expected from the public. If her aim is to desensitize the public to women's topfreedom, it will be important to persist. The legal right to be topfree has already been won in Main, but public acceptance will not be won until enough women are willing to exercise that right. I think she learned some valuable lessons this first time out. According to one of the articles, Facebook was used to promote the event. She might do well to publicize the next one a little less publicly, to avoid drawing a crowd of onlookers who otherwise would not have been there. I do think that if a group of women (and perhaps some of their shirtless male supporters) would commit to publicly going topfree on a regular basis, it would go a long way towards achieving their goal--once this becomes commonplace, the public will accept it. Some brave women must be willing to face the immature reactions of some (ogling, mocking and scorn), if wide-spread public acceptance is ever to be won. What good is a legal right, if that right is never exercised?

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.

Purpose

The idea and purpose behind this blog has remained essentially the same since its inception, so I will re-post here my original introductory post from 2006:



The Naked Truth - Journal of a Christian Nudist



Most Christians today would assume that to merely look upon the unclothed form of anyone other than one's spouse would be an occasion for sin. This however, is an idea that comes from our culture rather than from any appeal to logic or a careful examination of scripture or early church practice. As a biblically conservative Christian who was raised in a home where seeing other family members nude was common and never considered a big deal, I have actually taken the time to test my experience against Christian teaching about the body. In the 30-some years I have been studying scripture, Christian philosophy, Church history and theological anthropology, I have yet to come across a cogent argument that seeing others in the state in which God created them is morally wrong. To be sure, some have proposed such arguments, but they have all failed to hold up to serious scrutiny. I therefore became a nudist (or "naturist" as some prefer to say.)

I now endeavor to be "salt and light" and to represent the truth of the Gospel of Christ among a growing sub-culture here in the U.S.A. that regularly chooses to recreate "au natural." Whether among casual skinny-dippers or year-round nudist club residents, myself and other Christians are beginning to have an impact on this often un-churched people group. The obstacle to faith for some, is that many Christians wrongly condemn their nudism. My task is to show that the Gospel is true and worthy of believing in spite of the false ideas of these misguided Christians. Please pray that many nudists will come to a saving knowledge of Christ and that they may find churches that will welcome them.

From time to time I will post my experiences and specific prayer requests on this blog. I use the same screen name "stringsinger" on a number of Yahoo! groups and naturist/nudist forums, so you may find my posts elsewhere on the net. Try Google-ing "stringsinger+nude" or some similar variation.

-stringsinger

Beginnings

Back in 2006 I started a blog of this same name in a more obscure corner of the Internet called "Christian Forums." At the time I was updating it rarely, and didn't give it nearly the attention I had intended. Recently, I have decided to take up blogging more seriously though, and I am finding the Christian Forums venue a bit limiting. What Google offers here on Blogger just feels to me more like a "real" blog, whereas CF is more of a community of on-line gamers and folks who like to chat, all done under the banner of "Christian", though membership is not limited to Christians, and many do not identify themselves that way. So what follows is the new-and-improved "The Naked Truth" 2.0, with a better look and for a (presumably) wider readership. For continuity's sake, as I make the move to this new venue, I will re-post some of the recent and more relevant early entries from the former blog site. At the time of this writing though, all of the archives of the old blog may be found at:

http://www.christianforums.com/blogs/u121607/

Blessings in Christ, to all who find their way to this new blog, and thank you for your interest, comments and questions.

-Gregg