NEWS: Trading Bibles for Porn

An Athiest group at the University of Texas in San Antontio has been urging students to trade in their religious texts for pornographic material. The initiative is being called 'Smut for Smut' and is being sponsored by a student organization called Athiest Agenda.



This is just sad. Regardless of if you are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Athiest etc. I would hope we all see the wrong in this. Its one thing to have your beliefs, but another to tempt others out of their current faith with this trash. Really sad what this world is coming to.


[edit on 7-12-2005 by noslenwerd]

I saw this on the show too. It's proof that atheism is really a proselytizing religion. They must be not as firm in their belief than they'd have you believe as there's no motivation to turn others to atheism other than self reinforcement.

wow that is pretty messed up ...trading faith and hope (and some extremely great stories of triumph thru aversidy) for the works of images defiling our women......

THOMAS JACKSON: All right. Well, we have Bronze Aged tribal nonsense, these things written by people in tents ages ago, and we're using this to renounce science standards in our classrooms in America. We're using it to kind of influence our political agenda.

Sorry that you missed the whole point on this man radical point of view, he is actually showing what religion is trying to do in the classrooms of American with the bible or other religious paraphernalia.

Perhaps his direct and radical way is offensive to Christians or other religious groups and even you. but if you see it with an open mind you will be able to grasp his meaning.

I find it amuzing but . . . to direct for my liking.

Is up to people to refuse or not or complain about it.


[edit on 7-12-2005 by marg6043]

Sounds like a fair trade to me.

As the article mentions, whatever you see on the porno (nakedness and private parts) is not going to be more salacious than what's in the bible (incest, rape, etc) ...All things that are _not_ legal to film for pornographic viewing. The bible contains porn that's way more illegal and harmful (Lot's daughters raping him while he's drunk?)

Ha ha... Bronze Age thinkers in tents. Wish I'd caught this interview.

[edit on 7-12-2005 by smallpeeps]

smallpeeps, glad you got the point I guess when it comes to bashing non Christian or religious believers the point is to completely by pass that point and get direct to the agenda.

The moralities views of the bible while may be OK to some degree. much of the bible main figures where after all humans with the needs of the time and they commited sins of the flesh just like modern man.

Slavery, murder, crimes of passion and anything that goes on in our society it was part of the ancient world of the bible and their main figures too.

Do these people not have the internet? You don't need to trade in a bible to get porn.

What are these atheists going to do with all the bibles they get anyway?

I do not support this practice at all. However, the purpose of the program is just to bring a couple things to light, as Marg pointed out... And I think it does a great job.

Its one thing to have your beliefs, but another to tempt others out of their current faith...

Some religions, specifically Christianity (in my experience) have been doing exactly this since their inception. It's even a necessary part of their religion to do so. Regardless of the materials or tactics, it's one thing to have your beliefs, but another to tempt others out of their current faith with promises of Heaven or terrorism of hell or pornography.

It's proof that atheism is really a proselytizing religion. They must be not as firm in their belief than they'd have you believe as there's no motivation to turn others to atheism other than self reinforcement.

Same things many say about Christians or Jehovah's Witnesses. These people come to my personal home peddling their religion. What's the difference?

Well at least in a religion like Christianity, the people who do this think they're saving the eternal soul of the people they try to convert. There's no such incentive to convert people to atheism.

Umbrax said -

What are these atheists going to do with
all the bibles they get anyway?

Considering their possible addiction to porn (they were
giving out porn in mass quantities) - I'd say that they
could have a big bon-fire and they will invite everyone
to dance naked around it and to worship the great nothing
of 'nothing'. But that's just a guess ...

And yes, I subscribe to the thought that atheism IS a religion.
It USED to be said to be a way of thought ... but I believe it
is a religion for many and it has followers.

I like the way you question the ability of te atheists to try and sell their "Religion of Nothing" by this deal. However do you not see the implications that it holds for the Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc at the College?

Think about it for a moment.

That holy book, they are willing to trade for some "porn". Doesn't that begin to tell you what these people really think of the Religion many of them are forced to follow?

Well at least in a religion like Christianity, the people who do this think they're saving the eternal soul of the people they try to convert. There's no such incentive to convert people to atheism.

DJ, you're missing the point, bud. For one thing, it doesn't matter whether the Christians think their reasons for coersion are honorable or not. It's disrespectful to try to pursuade someone away from their beliefs with tempting and/or scare tactics. They're making a point.

They're not trying to convert people. They're making the point that a lot of the stuff that's in the Bible that people blindly follow is... well... smut. Crap.

They're trying to encourage people to think for themselves. They're trying to keep religion out of the science class.

They're probably really sick to death of the holier-than-thou Christians and others trying to pull them away from their beliefs.

I guess if you don't get it, you don't get it, but it's pretty obvious to me. Did you read the whole article? Maybe that would help.

I read the first few responses and realized this is being misunderstood. There are several points being made with such a "movement".

The first is that the Bible is filled with offensive material, such as the degradation of women and children as chattel, the sanctification of slavery and genocide, that is much more offensive than pictures of sex.

The second point is an in-your-face style reactionary mockery of what Christians do; push their silly and offensive ideas in public and by force of law when they can.

The third is somewhat of a "come out of the closet" campaign for those who call themselves Christians/Muslims/whatever but aren't really.

I suppose a fourth and lesser point is that sex is not "evil" regardless of what the Bible/Koran/Vedas... might say.

I doubt this group actually expects to make "converts". I think they're just trying to enrage evangelicals.

Exactly BH, missing the point is what the intention of the selected paragraph of the opening is all about.

Redirecting the readers in this thread to a debate about moralistic religious followers against atheists.

Perhaps intentional or unintentional. The point of the Atheist groups is to show how the bible can no be trusted to every single world written in it to take over the science in the classroom.

This quote from the article give you an idea.

CARLSON: OK. So it sounds to me like an attempt to create, a fracas on campus and get attention. What kind of attention have you gotten on campus?

Is all about getting people, young people's attention to what the Atheist believes is a religious agenda.

This people are not knocking doors selling salvation but sitting on a table offering information, and they are the ones having people approaching them.

But we were sitting at a table, and people came to us. We didn't knock door to door. We don't have a church on every corner in our country to push this on people. You know, we're just a bunch of college students down at UTSA. There's nothing more to it.

Like I said . . . in a very radical move he is actually making a point.

spamandham
Great analisis.

[edit on 7-12-2005 by marg6043]

These "atheists" are really really dumb, this move does more damage to their cause then good(that is if it really is their goal to promote their belief system which I don't think is the case I believe these are a couple of bible nuts set out to discredit the atheism movement.)

worship porn

now theres a new religion for you

the level of ignorance on this thread is absolutely appalling. is it fair to base your ideas of christianity on a few select extremists? as i have said elsewhere, christianity is full of highly educated professionals from doctors to scientists etc. are all of these well educated individuals ignorant simply because of their faith? nobody is forcing you to believe in christ. when they show up at your door, you can shut the door in their face, just as you would a travelling salesman. regardless of what you've been told, christianity is not even allowed in the school systems anymore, so your kids are growing up happily ignorant of the word of god.

furthermore, most of the quotes about how horribly women are treated in the bible are taken way out of proportion with the rest of the text. it does not say that it's alright to do these things. it specifically shows you what happens to individuals who act wrongly, and believe me, they get their just rewards. of course, most of this is in the old testament, ie the old covenant. christianity is the new covenent through christ's sacrifice as expressed in the new testament.

why is it that when you go to any other thread, your claims must be substantiated with proof (ie source links or quotes), but when the discussion centers around christianity, anything goes? people can make wild, outlandish remarks with no supporting data. a double standard maybe? i for one am sick of it. say anything you want about my religion, but support it with facts so that we can have an honest discussion....not with crude remarks and name-calling.

Hmmm...this actually seems quite economical. Bibles are handed out for free, while porn can get relatively expensive... Do they have a limit on the number of bibles you can exchange?

Seriously though, I don't see where the issue is. If someone is turing in their religious literature for porn, they were going to look at the porn anyways. Just because they turn in said religious document doesn't mean they're going to stop believing in whatever deity they choose. They may have to ask forgiveness every day for a year, but if getting a copy of Penthouse makes them bail out on their God (as it seems many here think is the resultant affect) they probably weren't a very stout believer anyways. If they are that firm in their beliefs, they probably won't do it.

I'd like to know if these guys are truly going to be doing this, or if this is just something spouted off at an interview to spark angry religious debates.

posted by snafu7700 why is it that when you go to any other thread, your claims must be substantiated with proof (ie source links or quotes), but when the discussion centers around christianity, anything goes? people can make wild, outlandish remarks with no supporting data. a double standard maybe? i for one am sick of it. say anything you want about my religion, but support it with facts so that we can have an honest discussion....not with crude remarks and name-calling.

I agree with you. We have a double standard when it comes to this topic.
Would someone please provide a link that proves the existence of God. Otherwise we may as well be talking about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

EDIT: correcting quote...

[edit on 7/12/2005 by anxietydisorder]

maybe you could provide a link that proves darwin correct while youre at it? last time i checked, it was still a theory with no data to prove it correct.

how about some proof that the big bang happened? more unproven theory.

how about any proof at all of how this universe and all of its matter was formed without a supreme being?