Saturday, April 03, 2010

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.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sigh. They're not wrong per se - we've all seen the meerkats in action at nude beaches, even in the more liberal countries, but the argument that this is a reason to punish those who are suffering their attentions is bizarre.

The solution has always seemed to me to be to encourage people to actually particiapte rather than watch - I challenge anyone to actually go nude to a nude beach and be titillated into committing evil acts. It's the 'dwelling on it' that's the problem here.

Unknown said...

Someone should tell this cracker preacher that Marlon Perkins was a naturalist and seldom took his clothes off. Someone should also tell the cracker's wife that her teenaged sons might think of naked women from time to time, whether that beach is covered with naked or even suited women

Elton said...

I would just chalk it up to the Victorian attitude about the body combined with modern attitudes about Sex. It still is a vestige in the Church.

In Ancient Times, attitudes about sex were different than what we have now. For instance, the Ancients would massage their babies' genitals to see if they had colic or they were just bored when they cried. Now, if parents did that with their very young children they would be accused of child molestation.

There are other examples in Ancient Times in regard to sex. To be sure, the Modern attitude about sex is all wrong -- yet many churches disseminate this as truth -> Christian and non-Christian.

active naturists said...

I totally agree with you that there is not much logic in saying that naturists are not evil but naturism as activity )in this case a naturist beach) is. But Catholic church applies the same logic to gays, saying that they are themselves are not evil, but a homosexual act is a sin.
Another thing which I find amusing is that they describe it as tempting. So they agree that it is a joy, but they couldn't describe what was wrong with that except some vary vague phrases and hints...

Anonymous said...

You know what attracts evil? Organised religion. They have such a clean history.

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 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.

Christina said...

I am trying to upload a video of this workshop in Key West to youtube. That was just one ignorant speaker. There were many. One guy said the nude beach will distract pedophiles from being in the library reading sonnets by Shakespeare.
Really? Perhaps our children should not be allowed in the Key West library.

Nathan Powers said...

Stringsinger said:
"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."

As a proponent of "Intelligent Design", I fail to see how it relates to this issue. ID summizes that we are NOT merely "mechanistic" organisms.

Christina said:
"Perhaps our children should not be allowed in the Key West library."

That probably goes without saying. IMHO, they would be FAR safer at a naturist beach.

Rick said...

What do you think is going to be going on on these beaches?"

I'm guessing sunbathing, swimming and volleyball with some Frisbee tossing on the side.

(Probably a lot less than what's going on over on the textile beach.)