The Real Moral Issue
Index
by Paul Hazelden

Introduction

Some years ago, I was asked by a friend to do an article about the moral issues relating to naturism. After some thought, I produced the piece about 'Naturism in a Cold Climate'. This was subsequently published in 'BN', the quarterly journal of British Naturism, and has been copied on several web sites.

The article is slightly tongue-in-cheek, and produced a number of responses. Many people said they live in warm places, so it is not a problem for them. A few claimed that they do not heat their houses any more since they stopped wearing clothes at home. Several people explained that you feel warmer if you are completely naked than you do if you if you are wearing just a few clothes. It was an interesting exercise.

The first article looked at the morality of being naked at home. The second, 'Imposing Our Beliefs', looks at the morality of being naked in public. Much to my surprise, my current understanding is that there is a real moral question mark about the ethics of being naked all the time in your own home if you live in a cold climate, but no moral question about being naked in public. Please, have a read of the articles and let me know if you agree with them.

The third article, Living As Christians, looks more at the underlying questions concerning how our beliefs and actions tie together, and is explicitly written from a Christian perspective.

Number four, A Kind of Fasting, explores the question: if all this is true, how should this truth affect the way we live?

Number five, Standing Up For What We Believe, addresses the social aspects and how we work to change society for the better.

Number six, Squeamish Translating (written by Matthew Neal), looks at the way modern translators of the Bible avoid correctly translating passages which refer to ordinary nudity.

Priorities

The only other thing I would like to say about the moral issues discussed in these articles is this: I don't think the issues are, in the bigger scheme of things, very important. How much people choose to wear or to not wear, and in what circumstances, is pretty far down the list of moral issues we face.

Third world debt and fair trade matter; global warming and biodiversity matter; starving refugees and ethnic cleansing matter; abortion and euthanasia matter; forced marriages and female circumcision matter; the unsustainable growth and consumption of Western countries matters; the breakdown of family life and moral codes in those same Western countries matters; I could go on.

Justice and righteousness matter. Love matters. What you wear is a moral issue, but let's keep it in perspective.

The Articles

The six main articles, as described above, are:

• Naturism in a Cold Climate.
• Imposing Our Beliefs.
• Living As Christians.
• A Kind of Fasting.
• Standing Up For What We Believe.
• Squeamish Translating.

The other pages on this site that link in with this theme are:

• Answers to some objections.  People occasionally object to our beliefs about the human body and nudity, and I have tried to answer the most common objections on this page.
• Comfortable.  The story of how Paul learned to be comfortable in his skin.
• Eczema.  The main reason why we use saunas is the condition of Paul's skin. You can read about the connection on this page.
• Light.  The strange world of Light Treatment.
• Living As Christians.  Should we use food offered to idols as the model for our apporach to social nudity?
• The Real Moral Issue.  An enquiry into the real moral issues concerning people not wearing clothes - both in public and in private.
• Paul's Health.  The introduction and overview page.
• Sauna.  More about Paul's experience of the sauna, what it is, how to use it and what it does for you.
• Saunas and our Christian belief.  If you are interested in how our use of saunas ties in with our Christian belief, you can read about it on this page.
• Sex and Violence.  A plea for Christians to get these issues into perspective.