Many people frown on nudity. I still don’t understand (and you probably don’t either). We’re all born naked, and we can’t take any clothes with us (even if we wanted to) when we move away from this realm.
Christianity
To start with, even the Christian bible starts off with nudity.
Would the power of religion really be strong enough to convince / convert people to be nude more often? It’s something I suddenly wondered about. Of course, this is mostly a thought experiment, because the big religions with their shame attitude towards the nude body (a very good way to keep people under their thumb) cover most of the world and its population.
India
Still, there are areas in the world where things are different. For example there is a World Naked Religion in India – Digambara, the Jainist sect.
Digambara, (Sanskrit: “Sky-clad,” i.e., naked) one of the two principal sects of the Indian religion Jainism, whose male ascetics shun all property and wear no clothes.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Digambara
It’s a bit weird that this is only done by men, but it’s something, at least.
History
Long ago there were Adamites, who practiced holy nudism during worship. Followers of ancient Adamism were centered in North Africa and Spain. The strength of the ideas, and its subversive nature to some, can be seen in authorities’ reactions, for example how they charged the ascetic Priscillian with praying naked, which was one reason for his execution as a heretic in circa 385 CE. (Via HistoryOfYesterday.)
Adamists were not only men. Men and women would gather naked for everything about their religion.
Our now
Would there be room for a nude religion? Would it be viable? Accepted?
Would many people join? Perhaps at first, to peek and laugh, I’m convinced of that. But what would they do after the peeking and the laughing? Would they notice how much more pleasant life and body are without those coverings?
I wonder…
I wish nudism could be concidered a religion because then it could be protected (maybe) by freedom of religion. The trouble is to be a religion rather than a philosophy it would need a supernatural being or beings with the ability to reward or punish depending on our actions. The INF definition of naturism is about as close to a theology as I would go.
I am very much not a religion person. I’m an atheist pagan. Yes, you have a point about the deities and such. Perhaps something along the lines of Buddhism would be better. All in all it was an interesting thought to follow.
For many nudists, nudism or naturism has become a religion. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
Good point, Fred. There are people who take things too far. That can be dangerous for us.
The same is true for most anything. Ever more people take their ideas to the point of becoming ideology and than do religiously adhere to it and preach it to everyone, trying to cast those that don’t follow their ideology from society.
Whether it be naturists, environmentalists, vegans, feminists, libertarians, or indeed almost any group out there, there are at the core groups that want to force their ideology on everyone else with whatever force it takes.
I’m on a very strict ketogenic diet myself, and see the same among some of the people promoting that. It’s saddening as there’s good in all those ideas, but taken to the extreme at an ideological level they all become parodies of themselves.
As a long time nudist (I explicitly don’t call myself a naturist because of the religious zealots among them that I don’t want to be associated with) I’d love for public nudity to be accepted and normal, but I’d never want to enforce it on anyone who doesn’t want to practice it.
I’ve always been a naturist, and a TRUE classical environmentalist who likes nature, wants to see it thrive, and thinks preventing pollution is a good thing. But the last several decades that movement has become so corrupted to the point I no longer call myself an environmentalist because I again don’t identify with the radicals who are in control and push for ideologically driven targets that have nothing to do with actual reality, based on fraud and overt lies and misinformation in the arguments they use (which, worse, are counterproductive as billions upon billions of Euros are spent each year on nonsense like CO2 capture and reducing the amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere, when real environmental destruction like the open dumping of toxic waste in China and Africa is swept under the rug, as is the destruction of forests and other natural habitats to make room for plantations to grow the crops that are then used to make “biofuels”).
Etc. etc. etc.
Gnostics have a comfortable healthy relationship with Nudity and the Copts should (the closest remnant of ancient egyptian spirituality) but they do not seem to. I’ve been pulled closer and closer towards gnosticism as of late which makes my Irish-catholic fam not exactly comfortable hehe and i approve greatly of the decreased patriarchal structure and the willingness to embrace us all. I think in the end though, any form of spirituality without commitment is healthy, keeps us grounded and reminds us we are so small compared to the vast universe.
I do kind of Agree with Fred a little bit here and in a way, Naturism has been a critical part of my life since i was 6 years old and its always been a part of me but at what point does something become a religion, pseudo or otherwise? at what point does something become unhealthy and how do we differentiate between an enjoyable way of life and an obsession or an unhealthy focus? The eye of the beholder rings true here and usually things have to have a net negative detriment to ourselves and others for them to be considered toxic but i am yet to meet a single nudist or naturist whose way of life is a net detriment to them.