A Mormon and a Nudist

For centuries, religion has taught modesty, and aside from the obvious use for warmth and protection, clothing's primary use is simply to cover the body so nobody can see what's underneath. The indoctrination of shame is so powerful that in the vast majority of modern civilization, exposure of the human body is a crime.

So when a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints argues that nudity is not a sin, it's bound to create some controversy. After all, Mormons take modesty to the extreme, even requiring special undergarments to be worn 24 hours a day as a sacred act.

Speaking at the annual Sunstone Syposium in Utah, D. Michael Martindale explained that he feels closest to God when he is naked, and that modesty is a self-imposed illusion.

"What we feel modest wearing today would have scandalized Brigham Young. What we wear to the swimming pool would horrify us if we wore it to church," Martindale said. "Modesty is a fluid concept."

True modesty is in the heart and the mind and not in the amount of fabric we drape over our bodies, he said.

Some also have objected to social nudism, presuming it increases illicit sexuality.

Nonsense, Martindale says.

"Rather than diffusing lust, clothing creates it. We make certain parts of our bodies more mysterious, more alluring. That heightens sexual awareness."

A naturist resort is one of the least sexual places on Earth, he said.

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