Which is more logical--being clothed or being nude?

[peterkacalanos]

Logic dictates that nudity is the default condition for everyone at almost all times and all places. Clothes should be worn when there's a compelling reason, such as when you feel cold. But if there's no such compelling reason, wearing clothes does not compute.

No animal of any species was ever born wearing clothes, and that includes our own species. If being clothed instead of being naked were better for us, surely natural selection would have created clothed humans from birth some time during the millions of years that humans have been evolving.

Those people who feel our naturally naked bodies should be clothed at almost all times feel we should be ashamed if we're seen in the nude. No other animal on this planet is ashamed of its nudity, so this also does not compute.

Religious people tell us that God created us in His image. If so, why do they insist on hiding His creations under clothing? Logically they'd be implying that He created a ----ographic image.

It seems odd to us that we nudists are considered to be the odd ones by people who wear clothes at almost all times and all places, especially when there's no compelling reason. Why should anyone want to change our default state of nudity?

PeterKacalanos and Suzanne in Naples, Florida

[gwynplane]

` HEAR, HEAR!!

[mossytrail (deleted)]

`I wouyld add that there is no consistency in the "logic" of what clothes are specified by religions. The earliest Christians were Jewish, Greek, and Roman, and wore clothing like we see in movies like "Ben-Hur." Then came the barbarian invasions, by Germanic tribes who wore pants. So now the distant descendants of those invaders think their way of dressing is the "Christian" way, and give pants to naked tribes when they go as missionaries.

And then there is Islam. The ancient Arabs dressed for the desert, in flowing linen garments that protected against the sun and blowing sand. But because the founder ofIslam happened to come from that part of the world, that style was assigned a moral connotation. Now, in the jungles of Malaysia and the strrets of Paris, we still find Muslims dressed for the desert.

It is enough to make we wish Christianity had arisen in the pre-Columbian Amazon. Then that way of dressing (or not) would have been assigned as the "Christian" way, and missionaries preaching the Gospel would also have forced clothed heathens to give up clothes.