Morality or Compassion?

No Christianity is an anomoly. Great goods and horrific bads achieved. St Francis to Hitler.

It is commonly practised on fourth century establishment dogma based on the life of an individual whom was breaking with de-establishment [Jewish]first century dogma. Besides, there are several Christianities, some secular & some religious; some Christian-Jewish, some Jewish-Christian. Even post Nicaea, there are schisms and re-interpretations. Wars and conflicts on turns-of-phase or a word "Filioque" [from the Son] and transubstantiaion.

I don't think you can generalise about Christians just as you cannot generalise about Muslims or any other group. Groups are made up of individuals who might agree and disagree on many issues including Henson. Previous threads have shown that some Christians approved of Henson's photos for example, and some atheists like myself disapproved.

The sexual exploitation of children for profit is not ostensibly a religious issue but a socio-economic one.

While some might believe that art is privy to a different set of rules than the rest of society there are some that believe art to be for all. Artists should not be separated as an elite group devoid of any responsibilities.

Freedom is a choice made on where the line sits between rights and responsibilities.

Do not forget this moral debate involved the use of children in art, it was not about nudity in art as a general sense. It is easy to dismiss the importance of this issue by blurring and detracting from the real issues at play.

Gibo,
If you knew some of the Christians I know that are in the Nudist movement, (but didn't know about their nudist activities) you would probably think what wonderful men and women of God they are. They represent many denonimations and include ordinary church members, deacons, elders and pastors. I don't profess to be a perfect Christian (who is?) I don't like to pass judgement on others, although the Pharasee Christians really do rub me up the wrong way. (ie the "Holier than thou" brigade, which you appear to be a member).

The problem that too many people have is comparing nudity with sex. It's like saying a dog is an animal with four legs and a tail. My cat has four legs and a tail so therefore my cat must be a dog. On the same comparison, if people have sex in the nude, nude people must be having sex.

Nudity is not forbidden in the Bible. In fact on at least one occaision (Isaiah) God commanded it.

Anyway, I didn't start this thread to discuss Christianity and nudity. I started it to discuss the issue of Christian morality and compassion. I was inspired to start this thread following a train trip home a couple of weeks ago where an 11 year old runaway child (who had been missing for four days) was in my carraige. I didn't know she was missing because the media was more concerned about a naked 6 year old girl on a magazine cover and didn't report anything on the missing 11 year old girl.

PS: I should add that I agree that compassion is not the domain of the religious. In fact often a strong religious belief may come at the expense of compassion.

The most extreme example is those that would kill in the name of their God at the expense of the lives of other human beings. Such as those that might murder a doctor for performing an abortion or a religious zealot advocating the death penalty. So the issue becomes not about killing but who is allowed to die as dictated by the zealot's own self-serving interpretation of their God's law.

Thanks Pelican for your input,
I set up this thread for both Christians and the non-religious, in your case athiest.
I wanted to see how the non-religious/non Christian/ athiest perceives us, and at the same time I wanted to challenge Christians. I'm not suggesting that Christians should abandon their moral standards, but sometimes they need to use wisdom in their judgement. A good example of this is the situation which occurred a few years ago when a doctor was performing an abortion in a hospital, but something went wrong, and another doctor in the hospital refused to help because he was a Christian, and therefore put the woman's life at risk because of his anti abortion stand. Don't get me wrong, I hate abortion, but this is one occasion when compassion should overide morality.

I agree, however it is not new. There is a great distinction between ethics and morals. Dogma's do not breed good ethics, and for those who require dogma to have morals then their innate ethics are bankrupt.

Too many fight against abortion rather than trying to stop the innocent slaughter of children in Iraq, too many fear the human body's natural nudity and ignore the actual crimes being committed on children, a great number by church groups.

Too many fight against equal rights (they used their good book to uphold slavery, too uphold discrimination against women and now use it against gay people) rather than fighting for them.

The atheists I know have far greater compassion and ethics than any of the christians I know.