My first reaction to this activity was amusement, I'll admit. There's nothing better than irreverence in comedy, and I find many things offensive to be quite funny, really. It's clever, has a catchy slogan, and overall entertaining to think about. I'd probably trade in a bible for porn just for the shock value alone. Let's face it: making fun of religion is funny. If it wasn't, I wouldn't laugh my ass off every time I heard this song:At the University of Texas San Antonio campus, a college atheist group is offering students pornography in exchange for Bibles, Korans, or other religious texts. The group, Atheist Agenda, calls the exchange "Smut for Smut".Group members claim that the Bible and other religious texts are just as as smutty as any pornography. According to the group, the Bible contains all sorts of misogyny, violence, torture and questionable sexual practices.
(The animation in particular makes me giggle)
That said, I also wonder if this is as inappropriate as the qu'ran burning last year was. The two incidents bear some striking resemblances, as both involve desecrating what people consider sacred. Is it as tasteless, or is there a difference in that one is rife with hypocrisy and the other treats everything as irreverent? It's a worthy question for contemplation, and one I don't really have an answer to. The only thing I do know is that the inappropriateness is irrelevant, because both activities are and ought to be legal. None are truly harmed by the burning of the Qu'ran or the trading of bibles for porn, and while I equally support the right of others to protest these actions, there is and should not be anything wrong with the atheist organization doing this. Reverence belongs to the believer, and has no place in the eyes of the nonbeliever nor the government.
At least that's my take on things. What do you think about this incident? Kosher or not? I haven't given it enough thought to come to a full-on conclusion yet, and I'd like to hear the input of my friends. :)
Hey David! You may have noticed I commented on g+ before I noticed you blogged about it. But since you asked ill answer your question and say my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteOf course there is nothing wrong or illegal about this, offensive to a lot of people? yes. I guess for me the thing that comes to mind is...'you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar' and this reeks of vinegar. As an agnostic this just pushes me away from atheism. I thought the fiction for fiction trade I read about a while back was much more tasteful. This almost seems like they are blatantly trying to offend people, and what does atheism have to gain in doing that? I would argue atheists have a lot to lose from things like this. I mean are atheists not already the most hated group in america? Do they like having that title?
There's an interesting division among vocal atheists right now between the "rude" mentality and the "don't be a dick" mentality, and interestingly I've found that both sides can claim a lot of people who argue they were converted by both attitudes. I don't mind the vinegar, per se, just like I don't mind the Pope song I linked to, but you raise a point in that their actions seem solely based on the idea of creating offense, and I'm not overly fond of that.
ReplyDeleteYou raise some interesting points. I'm still really not sure what to make of it.