There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people–religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin. Okay, so maybe those aren't my three things, but I actually do hesitate to approach the topic of religion. It's a particularly sensitive topic, considering how close it is to some people's hearts.
Whether someone believes in a higher power or stands wildly against the idea, they're bound to get a little militant with their opinions. As we have this conversation, I encourage you to read one another's comments with an open mind. So without further ado, I have to ask… do you believe that there's a God? If not, what do you (if anything) believe in?
This question came to mind after seeing the trailer for Dillon Buck and Dean Monroe's upcoming scene entitled "Priest". It's unfortunately been taken down, but you can probably guess the premise from the title alone. That leaves me with one last question. Regardless of what you do or don't believe, is porn that contains religious themes okay? Or is it completely offensive?
UPDATE: The Sword managed to get their hands on the trailer for "Priest". Click through to check it out!
– Dewitt
Photo credit: James Loy
To watch Dean Monroe and Dillon Buck's trailer, follow the JUMP:
Well religion in itself is a mockery. What gets shown in religious themed porn is only using the on “stories” and twisting it a lil. I myself (even though I am not religious) find the Priest Robes very erotic for some sick twisted reason.
What is more offensive is that religion who preaches about love and forgiveness shuns the very people that Their own God Created. According to many religions that believe in a Defined God, we will all be forgiven if we ask for forgiveness. At that point any shunning or degradation of homosexuals and our lifestyle choices should be left at the steps of the Pearly White Gates!
If it is against Gods will… then it is Gods choice to punish us… The Church is the Mouth of God. Not the hands…
Yes I do believe in God. But I also think there is something else out there. The idea of God was brough to us by men from gazillions of years ago by another man saying his father is the Almighty. Thats all find and dandy but the intrepetation has lost its meaning as the generations went on. If the message of the lord was positive and uplifting, then why is there so much religious hate in this world, and they use the bible to back up their beliefs. I have my own religion with its one member (me). I take all the positive things from all religions out there. Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Budhism, well you get the point. I execute them in a way I seek fit for my life. Its called A***ism (its basically my name with ism at the end).
All religions in the worlds are contrary to themselves and to each other. ITs all basically the same story told in many different ways. Just as science tries to explain the big bang that lead to our creation. Religion is doing the same thing.
If you take religion too seriously you wont be able to enjoy Dean Monroe’s awesome ass. It should be okay. I mean to me its whatever but i see why others get offended by…thats when you offer drinks and see where it leads lol
I believe that there is a God. This God has a greater plan for each of us and wants us to be happy. If religious-themed porn excites you, go for it! It may be offensive or distasteful to some, but life is too short to worry about what somebody else thinks. What you do in your private life, is your business.
i am 100% athiest.
I do believe in God. I was raised as a Mormon/Christian, and my entire family is still very actively involved with that church. I myself do not attend because of the obvious issues of the organization standing so firmly against gay marriage, among other things. That being said, I certainly don’t fault anyone (religious or not) for believing what they choose to believe. As long as they don’t use their beliefs to spread hatred, violence, disrespect or intentional misinformation they can believe anything they want.
My family is opposed to gay marriage, but they do love me and haven’t treated me at all differently just for being gay. I think this is BECAUSE of their belief in a loving and caring God.
As far as my own personal beliefs, I believe in God as a loving and caring being who doesn’t make mistakes, and he made ALL of us, gay, straight or somewhere in between, so we are NOT mistakes. It’s our own personal choices that can turn out to be mistakes.
I do still pray and live by the example that Jesus left us, through his actions. He left no one abandoned and no one feeling unworthy of his love or guidance. He loved everyone and treated everyone with dignity and respect. I admit that I often don’t live up to that example, but I do my best.
Oh, and as far as religious themed porn? It’s not my thing, but if it turns you on, go for it. I just think that it needs to be careful not to intentionally offend, i.e. using actual religious symbols or practices/ceremonies with sexual intent. That, to me, is disrespectful.
i do think its offensive…im not really religious.. but i do believe in god.. or something higher..
but religion and porn shouldnt mix.
100% atheist, since about 12 or something.
i don’t buy the crap that religions are trying to sell.
i don’t have particular respect that are born into a religion and then claim that they are of that particular religion without ever knowing anything about other religions and being convinced that their religion is the one.
the fact that there are thousands of religions out there is enough to laugh someone into oblivious when they claim that theirs is the true one.
usa still lives in the stone age in terms of religion and it’s such a taboo subject for u there.
on the opposite, the better developed western europe doesn’t have issues like that. it’s quite unusual to meet somebody who believes in god unlike in the usa.
it’s really time to get rid of that. that’s one of the reasons i would never want to live in the states. the other one is gun ownership. cowboy times are gone. gun crimes in america are sick.
e.g. 80 ppl were killed with guns in the uk in 2005. the figure was 10000+ for the usa in the same year.
and u still have issues with gay marriage unlike the number better developed european states.
reasons for that = religion.
it’s the root of all evil.
Yes, I believe in God and am a church-goer. I am a very spiritual and religious person. Also, I think that homosexual love is a testament to God’s love. I believe that the central tenements of Christianity are the virtues of Faith, Love, Hope, and Charity, not the dogmas of hate and misunderstanding often associated with so much of the Christian religion.
As for religious themed porn, the first (sort of) gay porn movie I owned was one starring Paul Morgan as a priest who was spanking bad boys. I got a lot of pleasure out of that film, but I can’t find the name of it now. Anyway, no problem with religious themed porn as long as they are tasteful. A few years ago the Folsom Street Fair had a poster depicting the leather community as Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” I found that distasteful.
Faith is belief that is based on personal revelation or subjective conclusions that cannot be objectively tested and, further, which are exempt from doubt.
Because there is no test for the existence of God, neither science nor any kind of philosophic discourse can either prove or disprove the existence of God.
Since the existence of God is necessarily a metaphysical issue, conclusions about God’s existence must always — and I emphasize always — be a matter of Faith.
In this way, atheism is just as much a Faith as any theism.
I believe in a higher power for sure!! Being a recovering alcoholic and cocaine addict made me feel much closer to a higher power. I am not much of a fan of organized religion however and I could fill a book with reasons why! Lets just say the Catholic organized religion is a mess, not the catholic worshipers but the organized religion!
I don’t know about the porn idea, if its a priest and a nun, perhaps.
What I think gives religion a bad name are certain “followers” than the religion itself. Christianity is about love at the core, but there are “Christians” that are anything but. Using the word of the bible to look down upon people and exist in their own world where they are the righteous. Nope. I don’t think someone should mock believing either, it’s a personal choice. Since the start of time man has worshipped god/gods. Don’t be so quick to judge ALL believers.
the trailer for Priest is available on gaytube.com
I believe that there is a strong force that controls the universe. Whatever controls that is my concept of God. Whatever set off this chain of events has to be so much more intelligent. People can’t conceptualize something that big, so we create cultural icons to represent it.
Churches do a lot of good vs. a lot of the bad as they’re represented as. But that message has been long lost.
As for the priest/nun porn…It’s just man, in his natural state. The clothes don’t make the man.
@ scott b: That’s a bit of a flawed argument you are using there. You use the word God with a capital G, so I must assume you are talking about the Judeochristian God. In such a case there are definetly tests for proving or disproving his existence. For example, if God is all loving and all powerful, then why does he allow evil to exist. One might argue that the existence of evil disproves the notion of an all-loving God.
I don’t think any atheist would argue about the possiblity of their being a creator of some form responsible for the universe, it is merely the fallacies in the character of the Judeochristian God (amongst other god’s) that he has problems with.
I am very Religious ( not a Church going BIBLE thumper ) but I find talking 2 GOD can be very uplifting & enjoyable although I ( must admit ) I 2 get very discourage at time & wounder if GOD loves me as much as I LOVE him. Dewitt 2 answer your question I do not think it is appropriate 2 show some guy taken it up the behind while reading the Bible . In my humble opinion it is offensive !!! BTW Nex N Americans R free 2 practice & worship as they chose . All throughout American history we have never had a war over religion with all of our ills ( guns & all ) there is no PLACE else N the World where I would rather live !!!
I currently define myself as an agnostic Taoist leaning towards atheism. There is no way to either prove or disprove deity, though we can disprove some specific claims of/for deity. Frankly, if there is deity, I think the Taoists are the closest to describing its potential reality.
I, too, was raised mormon, but my family wasn’t very strict about it. I studied most of the major religions out there. Christianity is a farce. At last count, there were over 23,000 sects of that religion alone. I know of dozens of sects of Islam and Buddhism, multiple sects of Judaism, Shintoism, Hinduism, Taoism, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. If there is a deity out there, you’d think it would be able to get its act together and let the universe know what, if anything, it wants out of us.
As for the religion in porn question, I can imagine scenarios that would be very hot, and others that are in bad taste and/or completely inappropriate/gross.
yes i believe in God. i was raised a Christian and think it really has helped me throughout my life. alot of people seem to be totally against religion or to pick and choose what parts of the actual religion to believe…
religion is about how you treat people, treat yourself and live your life. if you’re nasty to others, abuse your body and doing reckless things then obviously you’re not pleasing God.
God knows we’re human and that we will fall short of his glory at times, but you have to learn and do better once you know that what you’re doing isn’t right.
churches are full of gay men; ushers, choir directors, kitchen staff, etc. have you not seen “holiday heart”? holiday found a way to balance his career, sexuality and his devout religious beliefs.
I definitely believe in God. I’ve felt His love and His power. Leo, I agree. It’s not the Christian faith that is at fault, it’s the people that claim it. And, there is a lot more good than there is bad. It’s just that the bad gets more press. That’s the case with anything in this world.
There’s plenty of proof. But the best proof is knowing He lives in your heart. No one can argue that!
As far as porn in a religious setting, I think it’s Blaspheme. I wouldn’t touch it.
BlackJackHammer, I agree! There’s no better place to live than the US. That’s why there are so many trying to get in!
I really can’t believe that there are so many differing views and no one has become mad! Wow! I’m impressed!
I grew up as a pentecostal christian which is quite extreme. As an adult I had so much fear and anxiety because of that religion that I had to get therapy. The religion I grew up in used fear to keep us in line. Oddly enough, one of our ministers raped a woman in the congregation but he didn’t repent for doing it, not to her or the church. So it’s do as I say not as I do.
That was a long time ago and I no longer believe in a personal god or god as a person. There are some horrible things in this world & I can’t believe that a god-person created it. If he did, then he screwed up.
We don’t need someone on-high to tell us how to be. If we look inside ourselves there’s a whole universe there. If we look outside ourselves it is there too. It has to be in both places. I believe in the moment, that’s all we’ve got.
If the video is about 2 adult priests gettin’ it on then that’s fine. Just leave the kids alone (and yes, I’m talkin’ to YOU, Catholic church).
Living with religion my whole life, i have been subject to its practice and teachings of the bible. I do not believe in a god and have never once felt a god. I respect alot of the teachings of the bible. Morals are constant forefront of the Bible. The evidence of a this interpretation is construted by politics, media and the people that consider themselves christians.
I suggest read and understand the bible then see what you have to say. until then, what grounds do you have to argue either point?
Well, I’m currently on page 388 of the Bible, and it’s already the worst-written, most appalling book I’ve ever read.
I believe that other people believe in God, and /or follow a given faith, but I’ve never had the drive and interest in religion. I’d consider myself atheist, simply because I cannot explain nor fathom the belief of a higher power.
That being said, I think that if you don’t like the idea of porn having a religious based theme, then don’t watch it. If your faith is so weak that you get offended at the drop of a hat, then your faith is fragile.
i’m firmly agnostic, though I’m fairly spiritual about it. I’m also very strongly opposed to organized religion. I think there’s something out there, and I think all of the major religions have some of the concepts right, but the details wrong…leaving us with senseless bloodshed over details.
As our weapon technology advances, organized religion is becoming increasingly dangerous for our planet.
to answer the question about porn and religion? go for it. i agree with above statement – “if you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” simple.
as far as the other discussions go concerning religion and god. religion is not my thing. it is a man made organization subject to all the flaws (and then some) that come with man made organizations. as far as the existence of god? i used to be a very loud atheist. i was never raised in religion, never told to believe one thing or another so my free choice was to basically see all religion and spirituality as fake. not that the details matter but i have to agree up there about the experience of “god” being subjective – because after what i have experienced and don’t really know how to explain to other people, i can no longer claim atheism. i will not run out and put a costume on “god” and say this is what it is or isn’t, but something happened and it changed me. and because of that it did not necessarily give me the conviction to run around spreading my “truth,” what it allowed me to do was take a step back and allow others to have theirs and not judge or condemn them for it.
that comment about religion being the root of all evil. i have to say that is just extremist garbage indicating lack of thought and even some very basic understandings about the nature of man. man is gonna find a way to be a bastard with or without the aid of religion. i know i did.
In my opinion, religion is responsible for well over 75% of the problems in the world, from the Muslim extremists who don’t want you to see a depiction of their prophet (what DOES Mohammad look like, anyway?) to the lowlife Westboro Baptists who think their God is a vengeful one instead of a loving one. For centuries, religion has been used as a crutch and a tool to instill fear in the minds of weak willed individuals, and worse, as a way to indoctrinate the young before they have a chance to develop their own opinions and beliefs. Personally, I’d rather blaze my own trail than follow someone else’s. In closing, I suggest everyone take a listen once more to John Lennon’s Imagine.
I’ve listened to John Lennon’s Imagine. That’s his opinion. What I’ve noticed in every thread is that it’s the people that claim the religion, not the religion itself that causes the problem. For the most part. The Islamic “bible”, the Quran, promotes killing of those who don’t believe. But the Christian Bible does not. It IS a believe built upon LOVE. It speaks of it many times. It is the extremists that have perverted the religion. Not the religion itself.
Jeremy, I’d love to know how you came up with your number of 75 percent!
Forgive me for posting again. I’ve seen several on here say “If there was a loving God, why is there evil on the planet?” That very statement first of all acknowledges there is good and evil. God is the very Image of good. Satan is the very image of Evil. Both exist. God allows it. He does not create it. That’s Satan’s doing. The world was perfect when God created it. Satan messed that up, not God.
Again, I’ve felt His power. I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for Him. That’s fact. Nothing or no one can take that away from me.
@tam
The Bible DOES promote the killing of those who don’t believe. It’s emphatically and repeatedly commanded by the god of Abraham, beginning in Leviticus, perhaps earlier.
Tam, 75% is merely an estimate. I could have said 100%, but I like to believe that not everyone in the world is so narrow-minded in their views they can’t respect others without wanting to kill someone because of a cartoon show (South Park) or observe the solemnity of a funeral without disrupting it in order to promote their misguided agenda. If John Lennon doesn’t work for you, how about a simple four-word phrase that if everyone were to adopt, the world would be a better place to reside in: “Live and let live.”
Tam, RE: the existence of good and evil. In many cases, both use the same means to achieve their ends. It may sound trite, but I would remind you of a Star Trek episode (original series) where an alien race pits Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and Sarek against notorious evil-doers from history, in an experiment to discover the nature of “good” and “evil”. It boiled down to a question of motivation.
What is the motivation of a religion, or even a certain sect of a religion? If it works for the betterment of others, I would generally consider it “good”. If it works to the detriment of others, I would generally consider it “evil”. They use the same tools in most cases. What’s your take on it? From what I’ve seen and studied, religion is neutral for the most part; it’s the followers who make it evil or good.
I don’t believe there is a “god”, if anything this god doesnt know about “us” or “you” and he certainly doesnt know about earth and it seems correct to say he has no plan (if he existed). to get into the theological aspect of it. its obviously clear that the “god” of the books doesnt exist and he doesnt intervene in our lives or history. i think history has been full of charismatic nut cases that got away with their actions before modern society had a chance to diagnose them, whats sad about it is the fact we are still letting them get away with it.
I also think its horrible to have religious faith, when someone declairs their faith for a religion what they’re actually saying is “they can believe in the unbelievable without evidence” which given the implications of that belief, means that they are willing to spend their lives trying to live up to the impossible usually in fear of going to hell. I also think the idea of heaven and hell is a horrid idea, both options sound equally horrible in my opinion, hell doesnt sound all too appealing although all the interesting people will be there lol… most of us will (if the place exist) but heaven just as bad, there is something that doesnt sit right in my stomach when someone discribes heaven, a place to spend all eternity praising god…for his lack of appearence, i also think living forever gives no meaning to life and no reason to enjoy it if all the fun begins after you die. over all the god that the religous talk about, this omnibelevolent omniscience omnipotent god seems to over and over again lack these traits, ( i would say all the time). the worst thing about the 3 religions is the 10 commandments which are a rather faulty set of rules which people over and over again will fall short on. if god exist he’s clearly a universal dictater who doesnt live up to his word, a go who doesnt live up to his word shouldnt be called a “god”.
I believe in science, i believe when your loved one is sick you take him or her to a doctor and not a priest, i believe when a child is born its perfect they way it is meaning there’s no need to mutilate its genetalia, i believe having a job which permits you to lie and abuse children is a horrible job, teling children that they will go to hell for whatever reason is not to be respected. i believe that throwing your sins or responsibility on someone else is immoral(e.g jesus). i believe our lovers, our friends and our family have done more for us than any “god”, i believe its time we all start realizing that. most importantly i believe in love ( as corny as it sounds) though i cannot prove it exist, atleast i can demonstrate the traits of love take a photograph of love, i can encapsulate love in person, where as with a god its not possible.
and honestly, why would god create so many of us just to send us to hell. The whole thing seems completely man made. why doesnt anyone admit the truth of that.