Trading Bibles for porn

Christians are outraged on the campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio, after an atheist group held an event encouraging students to trade in their Bibles, Korans, and other religious texts for pornography. Members of the group, Atheist Agenda, say their "Smut for Smut" campaign aims to call attention to violence and "misogyny" in the holy books. "You are better off having porn, which isn't nearly as smutty," one member said. Is this a harmless PR stunt, or a blatantly offensive cheap shot at religion? (Watch an AP report about the Bibles for porn campaign)

These punks are just smearing other religions: Atheist Agenda is trying "shock" people, not enlighten them, says Shannon Bell at Right Pundits. Why not just offer cash for religious texts? Swapping porn for Bibles is a gimmick that degrades Christianity and stokes "flames of intolerance and ignorance."

"Atheist Agenda: Bible for Porn swap in Texas"

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The atheists have a point, and it's a good one: There really is some appalling stuff in the Bible, says Ed Brayton in Dispatches from the Culture Wars at Scienceblogs. In Playboy, the worst you're going to read is that Miss July gets turned off "waiting for her hair dye to set. That's a damn sight better than learning that God wants you to kill gay people."

"Trading Bibles for porn"

Come on, you can start a debate about God without trashing the Bible: "I'm all about being a little controversial to spark conversation," says Ashley Tedesco in Jewcy, "but equating the Book of Psalms with Hustler" is a bit of a stretch. You don't have to "believe in the legitimacy of the Bible" to recognize that the text has value. "Reducing the Bible to porn" just gives liberal academics a bad name.

"Smut for Smut: College students trading Bibles for porn"