Today we are interviewing our friend Chris, aka Mudwalker.
Question: Can you briefly tell us how you got into naturism?
Answer: Around 2010-2011, I got really serious about conventional modesty. As a teenager of 15-16 years old, I was struggling with the usual surges and urges that come with adolescence, and I felt like some of it was the fault of the young women in my youth group. They just weren’t covering up enough! So, in 2012, I decided to load up on biblical ammunition to lob at them to force them to cover up… but there wasn’t any. That drove me to look outside the Bible for the best way to live with clothes, and the evidence spoke for itself… so, I became a naturist!
Question: What does the name Mudwalker mean to you?
Answer: It means I walk where others daren’t tread… even though what I’m doing isn’t actually a big deal! It’s a symbol of my willingness to explore things that are taboo and assumed to be bad but actually turn out to be harmless or even healthy in the end. When I get interested in a subject, I study it as extensively as I know how and reach an informed conclusion. Then, if it seems fine, I start dabbling. That’s what happened with going barefoot in the woods and also with naturism.
It’s also a symbol of our natural place on the Earth, directly interfacing with the environment instead of divorcing ourselves from it.
Question: Have your beliefs created any problems for you? If so, how did you navigate them?
Answer: My acceptance of naturism definitely threw some sparks up with my parents. It almost ended my dating relationship with the woman who would become my wife. But we all worked through it together, and here we are. My relationships with my parents and my wife are all amazing now, and they all agree now that naturism is at least not harmful or immoral.
My family and I moved to a new church recently to get away from an aging, declining, toxic church environment, and I met with the new church’s staff to let them know that number one, I’m an outspoken naturist, number two, given time, I will bring this up to people in the church, and number three, this may spark some controversy. I told the pastors that I wanted them to make an informed decision on our membership, and they did. We are now members. I didn’t know how it would go, but in the end, they were very welcoming!
Question: What would you want non-naturists to know about this practice?
Answer: I’d say that it’s nothing like the mainstream secular or evangelical cultures think. Contrary to the conventional assumptions (and they are assumptions), humans of all ages (yes, even Americans) can tolerate social nudity without losing their minds or their sexual purity. The first time I went to a naturist resort, I saw a beautiful woman across the way, and her body was everything the conventional view of modesty had taught me to fear. But she was just a person to me in that moment, and I went back to reading my book. I was shocked how normal it all was, how easy it is to adjust to a nude environment, and how safe a resort visit is for women and children.
Question: What’s on your naturist bucket list?
Answer: I haven’t written it out before, so this probably isn’t a comprehensive list, but here are some of the big ones!
I want to visit Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park and Sunsport Gardens because I hear such wonderful things about their policies, cultures and facilities.
I want to hunt naked. I feel like making a clean kill naked would be a really spiritual experience.
I want to debate a prominent Christian in a public, moderated debate someday when I have the credentials to attract the big fish. Naturism doesn’t get the attention it deserves on the debate stage – I intend to change that.
I want to participate in (or start!) a World Naked Bike Ride in Baton Rouge.
I want to start putting on nude events in the Baton Rouge area for young people, featuring activities like Ultimate Frisbee, barbeque, swimming, volleyball, and party games. I love my local nudist campground, but I want games! I want to move. (And I also don’t want to drive 1.5 hours to get my kit off. Lol!)
I want to facilitate a naked cold plunge event.
I want to go on a naked camping jaunt into the wilderness with just a canoe and a backpack and no clothes.
Things I’ve crossed off my list: visiting Cypress Cove and participating in a World Naked Bike Ride.
Mudwalker’s Extra Bit!
If you’d like to connect with me on social media, I have two Facebook groups! One is “Young Naturists Baton Rouge.” Once we get enough local naturists connected, we can start doing fun in-person events. The other is “Mudwalkers,” which is focused on the rewilding aspect of Mudwalkers. The two groups are specialized: Young Naturists Baton Rouge” is naturist-focused, and Mudwalkers is focused on rewilding.
Bonus: Chris also has a youtube channel with great content. Check out Mudwalkers on youtube. Here’s one example:
Aching for Eden 
I find it interesting the stories of people who come to the place of accepting naturism from the opposite perspective. I’m a firm believer in the authority of scripture. When we read the Bible, we need to lay aside every tradition that we hold. We need to allow the Bible to speak for itself. Then we can go to the pile of traditions and pick up what the Bible allows us to pick up.
LikeLike
The idea of a debate is a noble one, but I don’t believe any prominent Christian with a functioning intellect would take you up on it, Chris. After my initial round of research on the phenomenon of human nakedness biblically, historically, theologically, psycho-socially and in the realm of art, I was ready to debate anyone on body acceptance vs. body shame. For one thing, I knew that any opponent, as far as research, wouldn’t have a substantial leg to stand on, since most hold their strong opinions without having done any real homework. For another, I once personally held all the opposing arguments from Scripture and can expose them now as poor or mistaken interpretations of God’s Word.
This might have been why James Dobson neither accepted Jim Cunningham’s invitation to a television debate on “Is Nudity God’s Will?” nor send a debate team from Focus on the Family staff, which was Jim’s alternative request. Jim finally arranged the debate with 3 not-so-prominent Christians against himself, a lady nudist and a nudist Catholic priest. However, I was not as impressed with Jim’s debate video as I was with watching your YouTube post linked above.
But, since I am what might be called a “body-acceptance textile,” I wouldn’t want to debate nudism vs. non-nudism. Nudists, while philosophically well fortified to defend body acceptance, are only one group among many others in social history that view(ed) the body in a non-sexualized way. Also, I see no “philosophical” nudists in the Bible. Adam and Eve didn’t even know what “naked” meant, and Isaiah was only being obedient. Yet non-sexualized body acceptance was everywhere in the ancient world, Bible times included.
I do have my own argument in favor of nudism as a moral movement. I believe it was a prophetic voice used by God when the church failed to be His voice in calling Christian leaders and society to repentance for sexually objectifying the body. Nudists—conscientiously choosing by their lifestyle to resist society’s growing sex-focus—were God’s warning sign of where body shame’s objectification would take the world. Nudism called for a radical return to sanity about the body. But, instead of heeding that call, the church and society drove away nudism’s prophetic voice through religious persecution and legal marginalization. Into the void came the “Sexual Revolution” of the 1960s, and since that time the church has gradually lost its voice in speaking with any credibility to slow down society’s rapid moral descent into sexual immorality and confusion. Silencing prophets never stays the fulfilment of their predictions.
I’m glad to see a younger voice with evident pluck take up traditional nudism’s prophetic mantle….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for taking the time to articulate these thoughts with us!
LikeLike