'Smut for Smut': Atheist Students At Texas University Swap Bibles For Porn (VIDEO)

An atheist student organization at the University of Texas-San Antonio caused controversy on campus last week by holding their annual "Smut for Smut" event, a campaign in which students can exchange their Bibles for pornography, WOAI-TV reports.

Members of the campus group Atheist Agenda set up exchange booths on the northwest side of campus and held up signs reading "FREE PORN," the station reports. They also held discussions and answered questions from students about the campaign's message.

"[The purpose of the event] is to send a message that the stuff in the bible, and the Quran, and the Torah, and all that sort of thing is, in our case worse, in our opinion worse, than pornography," University of Texas-San Antonio student Kyle Bush told WOAI-TV.

In a blog post the group published ahead of a previous "Smut for Smut" event in 2010, organizers said they got the idea for the campaign from a University of Texas-Austin group called the The Knighthood of Buh, which held a similar event several years ago.

"It’s a clever reversal of the projects some religious groups have in which they collect porn and distribute bibles, and we owe the idea to the Knights," the group explained in the blog post. "It’s symbolic. Pornography is vilified by the religious community, but in reality the values espoused by religious doctrine are far more reprehensible. So, in effect, it’s trading something appalling for something less appalling."

One student unaffiliated with the organization told WOAI-TV that she believes "God can definitely use [the campaign] for a greater purpose" and explained that it has brought lots of Christian organization groups together to "stand up for their faith."

But "Smut for Smut" has faced its fair share of criticism at well -- even among fellow atheists.

Hemant Mehta, a writer who blogs about atheism and other topics on his site "The Friendly Atheist," has said that though he understands what the group is trying to do, there may be more effective ways to deliver the message than the "Smut for Smut" campaign.

In his post "'Smut for Smut' Is A Bad Idea," Mehta wrote:

I get the point. The Bible has smut and violence and that needs to be pointed out. It’s not all rainbows, flowers, and Jesus.

But if the group’s goal is to get people to consider atheism as a reasonable way of looking at the world, it’s the wrong way to go about it.

I can’t imagine anyone changing their mind over such a campaign. If anything, they’ll just push atheists (and their ideas) further away.

Find out more about Atheist Agenda by visiting their Twitter account and check out "The Friendly Athiest" for Mehta's full response to the event.

Comments

[nickleus]

11:23 AM on 04/14/2012

i dont think these "guys" are trying to convert anybody, they're just making a statement using imagery, kind of like jesus did.

"If anything, they’ll just push atheists (and their ideas) further away."
i'm atheist and i'm not pushed away. i think this is a cool idea.

[Val0221]

01:39 PM on 04/07/2012

I think what they are doing, where they are doing it and why they are doing it is BRILLIANT!! Kudos to the Atheist Agenda and thank you for your time and effort!

[Brightening]

05:17 AM on 04/06/2012

Intolerant right wing students is all I can see from this article.

[LeftClique]

06:02 PM on 04/05/2012

Yeah, sure, you can catch more flies with sugar and all that, but there's a time and place for righteous indignation with a pinch of humor, so, you go, guys.

Stick it to the Fundies. Right where it hurts.

[SueZbell]

03:16 AM on 04/05/2012

They could have labeled their effort trash for trash? or garbage for garbage?

But better yet: fiction for fiction:

A better idea would have been to trade Aesop's fables for Bibles?

[DrJon]

01:25 AM on 04/05/2012

I wish that I'd been the to support your cause. Flush a Whole Book for me!

[JESUSWEPT 4us]

11:33 PM on 04/04/2012

you who reject, the words of the lord Jesus Christ, are indeed, worthy of the damnation's, that soon come to thee! GOD, DOES NOT NEED YOU ANY WAYS! he has the rocks,that will cry-out to him! but ye shall perish!

[Bill Lyons]

01:43 PM on 04/05/2012

"Ye" obviously forgot thy medication today.

[Val0221]

01:18 PM on 04/07/2012

Love the bible quoters. I think I know why religious people are so angry and dislike atheist so fiercely. It is because despite all the indoctrination (aka brainwashing), their brain cannot completely shut out reality. The realization that they have been lied to and that they are lying to themselves makes them angry and perhaps a little jealous at the only people on Earth who don't live with the burden of having imaginary things run their life.

Nothing happens when you die. You just die. You won't be disappointed though because you will be dead. It's nature. It's reality. Quit wasting your finite time on the beliefs of people who lived before the scientific explanations of natural phenomenon. Grow up and make the most of this life while you can. It's the only one you will ever have.

[Doug MacKenzie]

04:19 PM on 04/04/2012

Poor way to get the point across, kids. For starters, try acting like adults. Don't stoop to the kinds of levels you accuse the Sky Daddy worshippers of. Be bigger than that.

[alanrose]

08:08 PM on 04/04/2012

I completely disagree. Anybody can simply stand up and say "Bibles are as bad as pornography" but to go further than that, to stand up in public and say "I have pornography, you have a bible, let's physically make the exchange", is an excellent way to put that concept into action.

[Doug MacKenzie]

08:44 PM on 04/04/2012

Any public action that people take should be taken with a view toward how it will be received.

The message being sent here will, in all likelihood, be received in the most negative manner possible.

No atheist(s), anywhere, are going to either convert the faithful, or get fence-riders to listen to the point of the message, when the message is "my porn is as good as your bible", and that is most likely how it will be viewed.

Nobody is going to eliminate religion. Ever. The best we can hope for is to take out the claws and teeth of religion. I could care less what delusions people use to mollify their understanding of mortality, as long as they keep it to themselves and stop trying to force it down people's throats, and trying to run our government with it. If religion had no teeth and claws, it would just be a curiosity, not a threat.

Acts such as this endear the cause to no one.