Christian Bloggers appalled at Porn for Bibles trade-in campaign

Atheist Agenda is a student organization at the University of Texas, San Antonio. They are a new organization, but it is apparent from their initial splash that we can expect great things from them.

Recently Atheist Agenda sponsored a three-day exhibit that allowed campus students to trade pornographic magazines for Bibles – The campaign was appropriately named, “Smut for Smut.”

The campaign didn’t set them back very far – not many people turned over their religious texts. I found it fascinating that they did get one Satanic Bible, which was happily accepted as being as silly as any other religious text. (But this makes me wonder about something. If you sin against Satan are you banished to Heaven? Hmmm…)

I wish I had thought of this when I was president of The Freethought Society on campus at CSUF. This is just pure genius.


I’m constantly amazed that under the Christian-supported Comstock laws of the late 1800s and early 1900s a book or magazine with the word ‘contraception’ or ‘rape’ in it was considered obscene, but the Bible was (and is) handed out to children, still containing smut like that found in 2 Samuel 13:1-22. If Anthony Comstock had been sane, instead of merely religious, he would have confiscated every Bible in America.

Even today, when the Arlington Group attacks free speech, or when the FBI goes ‘smut hunting’ in blogs I have to laugh at their hypocrisy. Matthew 7:1-5 is very clear here – “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?”

I would laugh, except it’s too painful to watch the squeeze put on personal freedoms.


I’ve been having a great deal of fun reading fundamentalist blogs that condemn Atheist Agenda for their ability to shrewdly market themselves, thereby increasing their membership while making a point that the Bible is just as full of smut as any Penthouse Forum submission.

I won’t deep link to these people because I don’t think they’re worth the small nudge I’d give their Google search rating. But you can find them through Technorati


Amusingly, from a blog called "The right side of gay politics" from a gay conservative blogger (who’s lack of identity in his or her blog leads me to believe he or she is still in the closet):

It does not take skill and courage to believe in nothing. Where is the integrity in bashing someone else’s belief system? I would dare to say that there are very few who would hold an atheist as their hero.

Really? It doesn’t take courage to come out of the Atheist closet? This from a closeted gay? Tsk. And if you can’t think of any Atheist heroes I can help you out – try here, or here.


Dave Olsson, in his blog says:

Why do people overtly and shamelessly smear Christianity? … Among other reasons, because it's safe. …. More importantly, it's safe because Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies, to "turn the other cheek," and to pray for their persecutors.

Uhm no. Atheists don’t ‘smear’ Christianity because it’s safe to do so. We work to ensure that our rights are not trampled by the religious majority of this country. And if you think that’s safe, then you missed a history class or two.

Atheists, like any minority maligned by Christianity, have been subject to ostracism, banishment, torture, and death throughout most of history just for having an opinion. Minority religions in America, such as Judaism or Jehovah's Witnesses, have enjoyed some protection from the religious majority as part of their rights bestowed by America's secular constitution. (But even our Constitution can not protect people from religious radicals who choose to ignore it.)

Jesus may have taught his followers tolerance and acceptance – but only for those who were not divorced, enslaved, or women. The Old Testament makes it clear that God sometimes actually enjoys wiping a city or two from the map instead of just ‘tolerating’ it.


From Patrick Bobo:

First of all, who would do this? Second of all, they shouldn't refer to Bibles or any religious text as "smut." It is appalling that they are even trying to place pornography and a person's religious belief in the same category.

Well, they did it to increase membership in their student organization, to have some fun, and to let people know that they exist.

Face it, any time an Atheist group so much as quietly announces their existence, religious people start putting on war paint. My guess is that the members of Atheist Alliance knew they would be attacked anyway, and so thought they might as well use this to their advantage.

Secondly, the Bible is so full of smut that I’m still surprised that bookstores haven't put it in a plain brown wrapper on the top shelf of the bookstore. I’m amazed that a store will happily sell a Bible to a 5 year old , and the very next customer is required to present proof of age to purchase the Penthouse Forum.

Want to know where the good smut is in the Bible? Try looking here and here.


I could go on and on with all the religious people who have their knickers in a twist over this – it is a lot of fun reading their righteous indignation – but I’ll let it go for now.