Find Religion

With the recent Vanessa Hudgens fiasco, I got to thinking…should we be ashamed of being naked? A lot of High School Musical fans are speaking out against Vanessa or publicly “forgiving” her on their blogs and websites. She’s come out with a statement saying that she wishes she had never taken the pictures and that she’s embarrassed and sorry that they’ve leaked to the web.

I wonder what God thinks about all of this.

Now, admittedly, I don’t think God likes the idea of throwing out naked pictures for the world to see. And I’m not too crazy about the thought of someone who is barely legal thinking that she loves her boyfriend so much that she wants him to see her naked. However, the concept in and of itself, it a bit deeper than “don’t take naked pictures of yourself.” Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with celebrating the human body. Given, it can be done in classy ways (and pornographic pictures are not it), but when we’re talking just about nakedness, I think too many Christians have their panties in a wad.

After all, the naked human body is the closest thing we have to an image of God, right?

In other cultures, sexuality is embraced. You’ll see fertility artwork created in almost every ancient culture, and in some religions, it is still celebrated quite deeply. The Karma Sutra is a religious text at its core, for example.

I’m not saying that people should have premarital sex or jump into a physical relationship at a young age…but instead of telling Vanessa that we “forgive” her (when really, has she wronged anyone? If you monitor your children’s activities, they shouldn’t have ever seen the pictures), perhaps we should congratulate her for feeling confident and happy in her own skin and for wanting to celebrate that.

Bottom line? There’s some gray area here. Stop making everything black or white, wrong or right. God has given us beautiful gray areas with every issue, so enjoy it.

Marriage is a tricky thing. Recently, some of the writers here at 451 has a discussion about homosexual relationships and marriage, sparked by a question by Lyndsey at Lez Keep it Real. That question? “Do you support gay marriage?”

A few weeks ago, I did a post about the Bible and homosexuality, theorizing that perhaps God is making people gay on purpose. The bottom line with that post was that the world is changing, so why should we think that God is staying the same. Religion is about keeping an open mind and listening to God speaking to you, however that may happen. So if we can “update” our version of marriage?

Because marriage, in my opinion, isn’t specifically linked to religion as much as it is linked to culture and history. Religion is a part of culture and history, but it is not COMPLETELY culture and history. After all, there have always been atheists.

So my answer to Lyndsey’s question? No. I don’t believe gay couples should be allowed to marry.

Now, before you crucify me (which would be really ironic, since I write the religion blog), hear me out.

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As many of you know, I’m also the blogger for Reality on Bravo, and since many of you here may not read that site, I just wanted to bring to your attention that I’m running a humungo contest for bloggers on that site. There’s already lots of blogtestants, sponsors, and judges who’ve signed up, and I hope you will too!

You can find all the information to enter the competition here. Don’t be afraid to throw your hat in the ring–there are some awesome prizes lined up!

(Note, you don’t have to be a Project Runway fan to enter–you just have to write a blog, either on your own or through another network!)

Good luck everyone!

The whole “base” thing when it comes to relationships confuses me a bit. If first base is kissing with your mouth open, what’s holding hands or hugging? Do couples really “stop” at second base at all, or just round about it on the way to third? If you hit a “home run”, does that mean you have to wait for the whole line up to bat before you get another chance again?

So I’m rewriting the base rules. Let’s call “at bat” asking a girl or guy out. Nothing weird there. Instead of the bases representing something physical, however, let’s have them represent all the things you need for the ultimate home run–marriage (or committed partnership if you don’t believe in marriage or can’t get married for whatever reason).

I think first base would represent attraction. That doesn’t just mean physical attraction, although that is a part of it. You can be attracted to someone on many levels–maybe you admire her book smarts. Maybe you think he’s funny. Whatever the reason, without attraction, you’ll be better as just friends. The first-base attraction is the difference between a potential spouse and a best friend. It can be hard to describe, but you know it’s there. It’s a combination of having things in common, complementing one another, physically being attracted, etc. If you get butterflies when you see/talk to one another, you’ve probably got to first base.

So let’s call second base the “alignment.” In other words, your lives have to be on the same track in order for a relationship to work. No matter how much you care for someone, you can’t be together if you’re interested in a career and he’s interested in a big family, or if you live on opposite sides of the planet with no intention of moving, or if the age difference is just too great, or if…well…there are many reasons. This is the prime reason for relationships failing. Your lives have to line up with one another, either naturally or because you’re willing to compromise.

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Dr. Nikhat Qureshi says that providing free health care is something that runs in her family.

Muslims usually get a bad rap for being unwelcoming to other religions, but many of that faith are working hard to overcome that stereotype. The Al-Shifa clinic, which you can read about here, is run by the physicians of the Muslim Community Center for Human Services, but it doesn’t ban patients from non-Abrahamic religions. Everyone is welcome.

After all, missionary and volunteer work is a part of Islam and most other religions.

It’s important for news stories like this to continue to be a part of our daily understanding of the world. Too often, only the bad stories are reported, leavings an ugly shade of light casted on our overall perception of religion. However, there is still a lot of great stuff happening in the world!

Welcome to the September Religion in Everyday Life blog carnival. Can you believe the summer is over already?!?! I’ve received quite a large number of great submission, and reading all of these various views on how we can find religion in every aspect of life is really interesting. Thanks to all who have submitted, and feel free to submit again for October!

I was a bit more selective this month - I’m including only the best entries from the over 25 submissions I received!

Only Three Notes presents Reforming Religions: Religious Rights vs Human Rights! posted at Only Three Notes.

FitBuff presents Out of Body Experiences: Medical Mysteries or Scientific Explanation? posted at FitBuff.com’s Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog.

Te-Erika presents I Let Him Go For God posted at Share My Dream.

Holly Ord presents The Prejudice of Atheism posted at Menstrual Poetry.

Eric Michael Johnson presents The Feeling of What Happens posted at The Primate Diaries.

Ched presents An slpime alipcatoin of a wrod tcrik to rdeanig bliabcl nratveirs posted at Says Simpleton.

Anmol Mehta presents How to Make a Baby the Right Way- With Illustrations! posted at Mastery of Meditation, Enlightenment & Kundalini Yoga.

Stephen Miracle presents Washing Dishes In God’s Presence | AltNoise.net posted at AltNoise.net.

therapydoc presents Yad Vashem posted at Everyone Needs Therapy.

Mitch Ross presents When should I stop casually lying to my kid? posted at MitchRoss.com - A Pastor’s Husband Blog.