I tend to steer away from religion, but I cannot deny, I have been tempted. (The devil is upon me.) 

Okay, so, firstly, I am not a Christian, and yet have read the bible twice, I was raised one, and believe it or not, I was once an altar boy, and I covered for six months as a Sunday school teacher, poor children. :) 

The way I see it, The Lord made Adam and Eve, and as far as I can tell, they were two naked vegitarians living in a garden. So, before the snake, (Which talked?) The Lords plan was for naked living people who had no shame, I am hoping Sam agrees with me on this. The fruit of the tree of knowledge, encountered the Lords wrath, and as a result, Adam and Eve felt ashamed of themselves and covered themselves. 

Okay I am reaching here and I know Sam will correct me, but surely, to be ashamed of nudity, is actually the work of the devil, and so therefore, as naturists, we are in the Lord's eyes, how he intended?

That is me done with religion on ANW, but I am interested in peoples beleif systems as a studier of humanity, especially what drives shame, so I thought i would chip in. 

Interesting thoughts here - though maybe we are straying away from the idea of telling people we know that we are naturists. 

I guess there is that concern that if we tell someone they may think we are terrible sinners, but I don't think I would worry about losing the friendship of someone so foolish.  

I'm just a simple minded country mechanic but I think these topics can be divided into two separate areas.  Personal and public.  My concern is when they overlap and laws, rules and regulations get influenced by that overlap. 

The U.S. has always had a pretty good separation of church and state and to me it should strive to keep it that way.  There are many things that are simply for the common good.  For instance, I may think those on the other side of the "pond" drive on the wrong side of the road but when driving there I will certainly obey their rules because it is best for all.  

Anyway, I agree that we have drifted and just want to say that, personally, I am now more open and so far have had no negative reactions.  Folks that I thought would certainly look down their nose have surprised me with their reactions.  They know about me, the causes I support, and the way I lead my life and now they know that I practice nudism.  Hopefully they are thinking that it can't be a bad thing.

Anna,

I wanted to say that I really appreciate the efforts that you, Steve and the boys have done to make this forum happen.  I am sorry for the attacks that you have been the target of but know when you are brave enough to present yourselves as you have in a pure attempt to represent honest nudism there will be those who take advantage of that and attack you all.  I suppose we can never figure out why some do these things but there is hope in knowing that we all are not like that and that we thank you.  DG

As Ron Reagan says in his commercials for the Freedom From Religion commercials, "I am not afraid of burning in Hell".   He has been on the forefront of the anti-religion campaign.  You might recognize his last name and see that he is the son of one of our latest politicians.