One man's smut is actually just smut.

It's funny; February felt like the longest month this year. The snow, the cold, the days seemed to never end. But it's March now--no snow, sunshine--and even my homework and other stressors couldn't get me down this week.

A short segment on the news almost did. (Read the story here.) A group called Atheist Agenda ran its annual event, Smut for Smut, on the University of Texas-San Antonio campus on Monday. Hand in a religious text, get free porn. I'm not here to debate the existence of God or to complain about atheism. I believe in God and some people don't, but what really saddens me about this event is the misguided, uneducated air about it.

Even for atheists the Bible (along with the Qur'an, Torah, etc.) is not smut--it's a historical document, a cultural artifact, a literary text.On the other hand, even for atheists, porn is smut. I'll be the first to admit there are certainly racy passages in the Bible, but they aren't pornography. And again--a lot of atheists don't appreciate or support porn. I'm not sure what the point is. This isn't like trading your Pepsi for a Coke. It's like trading your bowl of chocolate pudding for a bowl of manure.

Atheists hoping this somehow gives them credibility or brings about some sort of awareness should know that they are offending believers of all creeds along with any self-respecting atheist. If they just wanted attention (even negative attention is attention) and confusion, well they got it.