Nudity in religion - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Abrahamic religions

The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all recount the legend of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

in the Garden of Eden

Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...

found in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

, who are not aware that they are naked until they eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

In the Book of Genesis, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the tree of knowledge was a tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. . God directly forbade Adam to eat the fruit of this tree...

. When they discover their nudity, they are ashamed and cover themselves with fig leaves. Each of these religions have their own unique understanding of what is meant to be taught with the recounting of the story of Adam and Eve and the use of nudity in the Hebrew Bible. In Christianity, nudity is associated with original sin

Original sin

Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...

, an integral aspect to their doctrine of redemption and salvation. In Islam, it is to show that women and men should be covered in clothing, for nudity has the stigma of shame attached it. In Judaism, nudity in and of itself is not sinful, being that it is a natural part of God's divine creation. And, many of the references to nudity or "nakedness" in the Hebrew Bible is understood as a polite euphemism for intimate behavior. For example, in the legend of Noah we experience the hesitancy of two of Noah

Noah

Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...

's sons when they have to cover their father's nakedness, averting their eyes, after Noah's youngest son "saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside" what he had done to his father.

Judaism

In general, Judaism has a rather clothes-on attitude towards nudity in most social and familial situations, except when it is impractical to do so (for example, when taking a shower) or when it's necessary to be naked for ritual purposes (for example, while performing ritual tevilah in a mikveh) or while engaged in sexual intimacy. Within Jewish cultural and religious tradition, the determination on how much one can appropriately show of one's body privately and publicly is made by a community's interpretation of Halakha

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

, Jewish law. And, these interpretations vary noticeably between the different movements within Judaism. In the more strict (orthodox) communities, nudity is very carefully regulated in an effort to limit viewing by others, to include even one's spouse. In more liberal Jewish communities, viewing the body in its nude state is not socially condoned, but is left more up to the view, beliefs, and personal lifestyles of the individual. The Jewish requirement that one be clothed for Tzniut

Tzniut

Tzniut is a term used within Judaism and has its greatest influence as a concept within Orthodox Judaism...

(sake of modesty) "is not a result of any of the prohibitions in the Torah

Torah

Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...

. Rather, it is ... dependent upon what it is that makes one ashamed when standing before people." With the exception of the Haredi

Haredi Judaism

Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....

community, Jewish communities generally tend to dress and, likewise, undress according to the standards of the society that is around them.

Full nudity is permitted, and according to many, encouraged, during sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

. There are opinions that it must be done in the dark, at night, and in private, but most of these issues revolve around partners' respective feelings of embarrassment or insecurity, and possible concern that partners may sometimes not fairly judge their partners' respective physical attractiveness. Practices currently vary among Orthodox Jews.

Conservative

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...

and Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

generally do not follow the Jewish law. Attitudes toward modesty and sexual intercourse vary widely, though both movements emphasize strong partnerships and intimacy while discouraging promiscuity, as the Orthodox.

See also Tzniut
Tzniut
Tzniut is a term used within Judaism and has its greatest influence as a concept within Orthodox Judaism...

for the Jewish rules on modesty, especially regarding female clothing.

Christianity

The early Christian Church reflected contemporary attitudes towards nudity, where it was considered acceptable in some contexts such as working outdoors. For example Gospel of John

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

21:7 describes that Simon Peter is naked while fishing from a boat, but then gets dressed in order to meet Christ.

The first recorded liturgy

Liturgy

Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...

of baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

, written down by Saint Hippolytus of Rome in his 'Apostolic Tradition', required men, women and children to remove all clothing, including all foreign objects such as jewellery and hair fastenings.
This practice is reflected in early Christian art depicting baptism.

Later Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

attitudes to nudity

Nudity

Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...

became more restricted, and baptisms were segregated by sex and then later were usually performed with clothed participants. Some of the Eastern Orthodox churches today maintain the early church's liturgical use of baptismal nudity, particularly for infants but also for adults.

One may also note the comments of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

in this matter: "The human body can remain nude and uncovered and preserve intact its splendour and its beauty... Nakedness as such is not to be equated with physical shamelessness... Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value of the person...The human body is not in itself shameful... Shamelessness (just like shame and modesty) is a function of the interior of a person."

Christian tradition does not usually teach that nudity is inherently wrong, but many Christians believe that it is only acceptable between marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

partners, and between children, or children and their parents.

Early Christian art included depictions of nudity in baptism. When artistic endeavours revived following the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, the Catholic Church was a major sponsor of art bearing a religious theme, many of which included subjects in various states of dress and including full nudity. Painters sponsored by the Church included Caravaggio

Caravaggio

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...

and Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...

, but there were many other. Many of these paintings and statues were and continue to be displayed in churches, some of which were painted as murals, the most famous of which are at the Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...

painted by Michelangelo.

Movements within Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

have arisen from time to time that have viewed nudity in a more positive light. For example, to the Adamites

Adamites

The Adamites, or Adamians, were adherents of an Early Christian sect that flourished in North Africa in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries, but knew later revivals.-Ancient Adamites:...

and the Doukhobor

Doukhobor

The Doukhobors or Dukhobors , earlierDukhobortsy are a group of Russian origin.The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a "way of life" - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. The origin of the Doukhobors is...

sect social nudity was an integral part of their practices. Today, Christian naturists maintain that social nudity

Naturism

Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....

is a normal part of Christianity and acceptable. A common thread that runs through these groups is the belief the human body is God's greatest creation, and that Christ's death replaced the blood sacrifice in making animal skins after Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden

Garden of Eden

. Furthermore, it had been Adam and Eve's own decision to cover up what they had done by using fig leaves

Fig Leaves

Fig Leaves is a 1926 silent comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, released by Fox Film Corporation, and starring George O'Brien. The film had one sequence, a fashion show, filmed in Technicolor...

, which proved to be inadequate.

Islam

In Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

the area of the body not meant to be exposed in public is called the awrah

Awrah

Awrah or Awrat is a term used within Islam which denotes the intimate parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...

, and while referred to in the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

, is addressed in more detail in hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

For men, the awrah is from the navel to knees, which means that Muslim men have to cover themselves at least from the navel down to the knees in front of other men or women. However, in most Islamic cultures (if not all), a man is frowned upon should he walk around in public without covering the upper half of his body.

For women, the awrah
Awrah
Awrah or Awrat is a term used within Islam which denotes the intimate parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...

is from chest to knees in front of other women. In front of men, it is the whole body, apart from the hands and the face. Salafi
Salafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...

Muslims who wear the niqab
Niqab
A niqab is a cloth which covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of sartorial hijāb...

, believe that a woman’s awrah
Awrah
Awrah or Awrat is a term used within Islam which denotes the intimate parts of the body, for both men and women, which must be covered with clothing. Exposing the awrah is unlawful in Islam and is regarded as sin...

in front of unrelated men is her entire body including her face and hands A woman's clothing is required to be loose and opaque, and she is encouraged to wear trousers under her loose garment.

South Asian religions

In ancient South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

n cultures, there was a tradition of extreme ascetism (obviously minoritarian) that included full nudity. This tradition continued from the gymnosophists

Gymnosophists

Gymnosophists is the name given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought ....

(philosophers in Antiquity) to certain holy men (who may however cover themselves with ashes) in present day Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

devotion and in Jainism

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

Hinduism

Among the Hindu deities

Deity

A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....

, only the Goddess Mahakali

Mahakali

Mahakali , literally translated as Great Kali, is a Hindu Goddess, considered to be the consort of Shiva the God of consciousness, and as the basis of Reality and existence...

and/or Kali

Kali

' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...

is depicted as sky-clad, wearing the limbs around her waist and human skulls as garland in her neck.

Among the Hindu religious sect only sect known as Naga sadhu can be seen nude. These Sadhu

Sadhu

In Hinduism, sādhu denotes an ascetic, wandering monk. Although the vast majority of sādhus are yogīs, not all yogīs are sādhus. The sādhu is solely dedicated to achieving mokṣa , the fourth and final aśrama , through meditation and contemplation of brahman...

s usually remain sky-clad or some wear a loin-cloth around their waist. They usually remain in their Akhara

Akhara

In Hinduism, Akhara is an organization of the different sects of Sadhus Vairaghis yogis or Hindu Renunciates....

or deep forest or isolation and come out in public only once every four years during Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela

Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river.The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain,...

. They have very long history and are warrior monks, who usually also Talwar

Talwar

The talwar is a type of curved sword or sabre from India and modern-day Pakistan...

, Trishul

Trishula

A trishula is a type of Indian trident but also found in Southeast Asia. It is commonly used as a Hindu-Buddhist religious symbol. The word means "three spear" in Sanskrit and Pali....

, Bhala

Javelin

A Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...

or such weapons and in medieval times have fought many wars to protect Hindu Temples & shrines.

Similarly Aghori

Aghori

The Aghori or Aghora are a Hindu sect believed to have split off from the Kapalika order in the fourteenth century AD. Many mainstream Hindus condemn them as non-Hindu because of their taboo violation of orthodox practices...

, followers of mystic Tantric

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

rituals, usually done in isolated places or cremation grounds can be found nude. But, neither they come in public usually nor do generally public go to meet them. Sightings of Aghori

Aghori

in public palace is very rare.

Jainism

In Jain religion there is major sect of Digambar Jain, whose monks remain nude.

New religious movements

Wicca

In many modern NeoPagan

Neopaganism

Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...

religions, such as Wicca

Wicca

Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...

, social and ritual nudity are (relatively) commonplace. In Wicca

Wicca

, the term skyclad is used to denote ritual nudity as opposed to social nudity.