Naturism and Atheism: A Match Made in Heaven
One of the greatest untapped potential audiences for Naturism’s message is being ignored. We need to change that.
I’m sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Washington, DC, having just spent several hours walking around an event called the Reason Rally. This is an event sponsored by most of the largest American atheist, agnostic, humanist and other secular organizations. They set up a stage and large screens in front of the Lincoln Memorial and gave an opportunity for many renowned secular speakers to have a chance to talk. Some of the more well-known included Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller) and Bill Nye the Science Guy, but there were also many folks better known to the atheist advocacy scene.
The crowd wasn’t huge, but it was large enough to feel like a substantial gathering. Standing in the midst of it all, it was a remarkable feeling to for once feel as though you are not part of a marginalized minority. Although the crowd tended to be white and male, there were enough families and minorities there to feel as though we were truly representative of America as a whole. All Naturists, I’m sure, understand the great feeling of having your minority lifestyle affirmed by such large gatherings.
At one edge of the event, there were several tents set up where nearly every major secular organization was running a table taking donations and email addresses and handing out literature, buttons, and stickers, and selling t-shirts and books. Aside from the big ones (American Atheists, American Humanist Association, Richard Dawkins Foundation, Center for Inquiry, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Secular Coalition for America, etc.), there were a number of specialized groups for secularists in the military, black and latino atheists, Ex-Muslims, and so on.
Walking through this crowd, in the stifling musty swamp of DC in the Summer, I couldn’t help but be convinced that this was an audience that would be highly receptive to a message of ethical naturism and nudism. These are people who care very much about many of the things we as naturists care about. They care about justice, equality, logic over superstition, women’s rights, and so on.
Most importantly, most of them have already done the hard work of challenging the basic premise of society’s prevailing moral system. They are therefore ready and open to take it further, to challenge religious “modesty”, textilism, and gymnophobia. They may not know it yet, but I’m certain that most of them are ready for naturism.
Imagine if there was a kind of Secular Naturist Coalition with a table at an event like this, communicating the humanist and progressive message of ethical naturism to an audience that is already quite primed to reject mainstream religious morality. The people at this event tend to be intellectual or philosophical. They are generally polite and well-behaved. They are middle class — if they have money to travel to atheist events, they have money to spend at naturist event. They care about morality and ethics, and are especially thirsty for moral systems not based on the dictates of the old religions. A lot of them seem to take pleasure from openly challenging societal norms — make them naturists and they will not shy away from preaching naturism.
Put simply, selling naturism to atheists is an effort that simply cannot fail.
Going back to this boothes, imagine the buttons, t-shirts, and stickers that would be grabbed by the fistful:
“Naked and Godless”
“No gods. No clothes.”
“I don’t need your religion or your modesty.”
“Good without Clothes.” — — A twist on the Humanist favorite, “Good without God.”
OK, OK, maybe those aren’t so great. This is just a wild stab at sloganeering — I haven’t actually given it much thought. But I guarantee you that it wouldn’t matter. This is an audience that loves to wear its beliefs on its sleeve. Give them a new non-religious meme featuring a celebration of nudity and they will carry it for you everywhere.
I suppose I should note that there are of course religious nudists and naturists. Religion is definitely compatible with naturism, and I don’t wish to split the religious and secular halves of the movement. But I’d also point out this: The vast majority of naturists in the world are European. Most Europeans are not at all religious. I don’t have the stats to prove it, but I feel somewhat safe in asserting that most naturists in the world are in fact secular, whether atheist, agnostic, or simply apathetic about religion. It is almost certainly true that most naturists spend more time at a resort than a church. Even among religious Naturists, the majority are likely of a moderate variety politically aligned with agnostics on most issues.
Furthermore, naturism and nudism are not and never should be anti-religion, but the indisputable fact is that our adversaries are nearly always motivated by at least implicitly religious motivations. Religious nudists notwithstanding, religion has never been neutral about nudity, we therefore shouldn’t expect naturism to be totally neutral about religion.
So what to do about this:
I believe the best approach would be for some atheist and agnostic naturists with experience in advocacy to establish an organization for the purpose of secularist outreach. Perhaps it could be ran as a project of one of the larger naturist organizations, such as AANR or The Naturist Society, just as both of these organizations sponsor smaller projects such as TNS’s Naturist Action Committee. But I think the best approach would be one which is sponsored by both of the larger organizations (and any willing smaller ones), just as the Reason Rally itself is sponsored by all of the major secular organizations. No organizations in the naturist movement are rich, so it is unlikely that any organization could fund such an effort by itself, and an effort like this should be cooperative and oriented towards educating secularists on the full spectrum of the naturist/nudist movement, not focussed on one or other of the approaches.
What would a Secular Naturist outreach organization do?
First of all, it would operate an internet and social media presence that would speak directly to atheists and agnostics on the issues they care about, such as environmentalism, separation of church and state, censorship, secular morality, and so on.
Secondly, it would produce literature, swag and tchotchkes and whatnot targeted directly to secular audiences. As I’ve mentioned, this is audience that likes to advertise itself — it is evangelical, for lack of a better word, and has been far more successful at growing its base than our own movement. We should use that tendency.
Thirdly, it would send representatives to set up booths and tables at events like the Reason Rally that bring together large numbers of non-religious people. Other events include things like the Women in Secularism and American Atheist conferences and any other annual conferences for the larger secular organizations.
Fourthly, the organization would engage in direct outreach to these many organizations to organize cross-over events. An example of this might be a special open house or outing organized for exiting active local atheist groups.
Lastly, the organization could try to place articles about naturism in secularist periodicals, along with advertisements for naturist resorts.
The goal should be that no self-identified atheist or agnostic should be ignorant of ethical naturism and the natural overlaps between the two movement’s worldviews and politics.
If you’re reading this and agree with me, perhaps you’re thinking, “Sounds good, dude, why don’t you do this?” Unfortunately, my life circumstances simply don’t allow for it at the moment. My hope is that this idea will make itself to AANR or TNS or elsewhere and someone can put it into effect. I don’t know what an effort like this would cost, but I think the long term investments would be worth it. This is just one of many such efforts that should be started if our movement is to grow and have relevance in the 21st Century.
