Nudism as a religion

[Rex]

If a few theologians, a few lawyers, and a few lateral thinkers got together, they should be able to come up with a workable framework for a "religion", with social, non-sexual, nudity, as one of the basic tenets.
Maybe a reverence for nature would be a good start, something which most of us probably share anyway, and which is becoming increasingly relevant to politics.
A simple, non-judgemental, non-exclusive principle, which would allow people who already hold various beliefs, to be comfortable with.
The objective would be to be accepted by government as a religion, and enjoy all the benefits, and advantages, which would follow.
There is a sort of precedent in Australia.
Years ago, Scientology regularly got less than ideal media coverage here. After a long campaign, Scientology was accepted by the Australian govt as a religion, and now it's just a minor part of the religious scene.

[Rex]

If a few theologians, a few lawyers, and a few lateral thinkers got together, they should be able to come up with a workable framework for a "religion", with social, non-sexual, nudity, as one of the basic tenets.
Maybe a reverence for nature would be a good start, something which most of us probably share anyway, and which is becoming increasingly relevant to politics.
A simple, non-judgemental, non-exclusive principle, which would allow people who already hold various beliefs, to be comfortable with.
The objective would be to be accepted by government as a religion, and enjoy all the benefits, and advantages, which would follow.
There is a sort of precedent in Australia.
Years ago, Scientology regularly got less than ideal media coverage here. After a long campaign, Scientology was accepted by the Australian govt as a religion, and now it's just a minor part of the religious scene.

[Trailscout]

Rex, that's how European (and then American) nudism got started in the first place: "Frei Korper Kultur". A fair number of us still believe in it.

For a lot of people, nudism means nothing more than chain-smoking by the pool while they sip beer from the comfort of their lawn chair, which is groaning under the weight of their morbidly obese bodies. They might not even be nude or want to be nude, but they don't mind if someone else is nude. This has been the popular conception of American resort nudism for several years now and its high time we resume the dialog about nudist values and lifestyle issues. But we don't need to reinvent the wheel, just go back to what we were 100 years ago when this whole thing started.

[Naturist Mark]

This is mostly retreaded from a post in another thread, but it seems relevant here as well:

In the US it is not necessary to create a 'nudism religion', it is sufficient to assert that nudism is an integral part of your religious beliefs.

In US v. Seeger the US Supreme Court ruled that religion is essentially any strongly held belief system. Your mere membership in AANR,TNS or INA may be enough to demonstrate your 'religious' belief in nudism.

There is no right to engage in any activity you wish by calling it part of your religious beliefs. But until recently the government had to apply a standard of 'strict scrutiny' to curtail your activities. Strict scrutiny means that the government cannot restrict an activity without giving a compelling (and legal) public interest in doing so, and further requires it to use the least restrictive means possible. In 1990 the Supreme Court abandoned 'Strict Scrutiny' in matters related to religion (a decision that is ripe to be overturned). Congress reacted by passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to restore strict scrutiny protections, but that too was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1997 saying that congress could not impose such a requirement on the States. Since then a number of States have enacted their own versions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to restore what the Supreme Court stripped away. California and Florida are among those States.

That doesn't mean we can automatically assert a right to public nudity under various State's Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, but it does mean that we can fight enforcement of IE laws on that basis when prosecuted and demand the least restrictive means of compliance.

-Mark

[hm0504]

I think that naturism has profound spiritual implications and thus has played a role within a number of religious systems; see
http://www.religioustolerance.org/nudism.htm
and
http://www.religioustolerance.org/nudism6.htm
for more info.

However, naturism as a religion in itself would seem to me a rather limited religion.

On the other hand, if naturism could be considered a religion in the U.S., maybe naturist groups could get some of that Faith-Based funding (;-})

[David77]

In Austin Texas, I believe, the Ethical Society had to go to court, as the state of Texas, unlike other states, refused to recognize that the Ethical Society can be a religion. Ethical Society won the case!

[Evernude]

From another string:

quote:

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Originally posted by Trailscout:
[qb] We know from Genesis that God's original standard of modesty for mankind is total nudity.
[/qb]

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This should be the basis for the "nudist" religion. The actual religion would not be nudity, but the required state of being to properly worship would be nudity. Lots of religious groups require certain things to be worn to please God. (Jews, Mormons, Quakers...etc must wear certain things as per their beliefs.) "Edenists" or "Genesists" must be nude. Make sense?

Hey, but what do I know? I'm just lousy, un-American, evil, Godless, athiest/nudist/naturist prehistorical pond scum. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

[David77]

Evernude,
Quakers don't have any special garb. Possibly you are confusing them with some Minonites, Amish or some other religion. However, I well understand your reasoning of what you are saying.

[Trailscout]

When I was a kid, I used to think that Quakers looked like the guy on the oatmeal box. After I met a few, I noticed that they wore clothes that looked like the man on the street.

Quakers used to have a reputation for being old-fashioned because they used "thee" and "thou" when addressing other people, even after those words passed out of common usage. I don't think that they were trying to be old-fashioned. Thee and thou are the friendlier, more informal way of addressing people and they deliberately tried to retain that friendly feeling when speaking to people. I think they eventually dropped it because as the years went by, most people didn't understand why they were doing it.

A Quaker gentleman who used to post frequently on this forum said that the Quakers have been very tolerant of social nudity for a long time.

Former president Richard Nixon was a Quaker, but hey I guess every organization has a bad apple or two.

[Buzzer]

I think a person's true religion is the way they coose to live thier life, father than what church or temple they join. To live in harmony with nature and other living beings is the most important aspect, to me.

[MikeJB]

Yeah, I mean if christians usually want you to get all dressed up for church, how come a nudist religion couldnt have a church but say all members must come naked or at least take their clothes off once inside, that sounds reasonable. I also think it should have some connection to nature, because alot of people these days are nature nuts and I think youd get alot of the "protect the animal" type people to support the religion if it had something to do with preservng nature and all its beauty. I mean the nature part of it doesnt even really have to make sense seeing that what most animal activists say doesnt usually make sense, that way us and the animal people would have something in common [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Rex]

I'm a pragmatist. Nudists suffer from prejudice and unfair discrimination. Basically, I'm looking for a practical way to get official recognition and share some of the advantages that most of the community takes for granted.
Mark has already explained one legal advantage in the US.
Maybe the Scientologists in Australia were just looking for a way to say, "Look you guys, just get off our backs", and they found it.

[Atlantis Buff]

quote:

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Originally posted by MikeJB:
[qb] Yeah, I mean if christians usually want you to get all dressed up for church, how come a nudist religion couldnt have a church but say all members must come naked or at least take their clothes off once inside, that sounds reasonable.[/qb]

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Come to think of it, there is a nudist religion in the world. It's called Jainism, and there are two sects. One sect the monks and nuns all wear white, the other sect everyone wears nothing.

Jainism takes Aesteticism to an extreme. This is because all Jains are taught to rely on nature's bounty for their basic necessities. They also have a high regard for animal life and have been known to sweep off insects from the places where they sit. However, as much respect I have for Jainism, I prefer my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to any other religion any day.

[David77]

quote:

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Originally posted by Atlantis Buff:
[qb]Come to think of it, there is a nudist religion in the world. It's called Jainism, and there are two sects. One sect the monks and nuns all wear white, the other sect everyone wears nothing.
[/qb]

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Only the monks, but not the nuns in the Jain religion are nude,as we were told in a lecture by a Jainian.
See my web page about the Jainians at,
http://community.webtv.net/NatureReg...AYAKSLECTUREON

[Atlantis Buff]

quote:

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Originally posted by David77:

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Only the monks, but not the nuns in the Jain religion are nude,as we were told in a lecture by a Jainian.
[/QUOTE]

Oh. I was wrong.
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]