Walk through the forests in Berlin and you are very likely to encounter enthusiasts of the “free body culture” who populate its campgrounds free from the restrictions of any clothing. My brother told me about that. He has been living in Berlin since 2011. According to FKK-Karte.de and other German websites, you can find over 650 “FKK” (free body culture) and naturism locations in Germany at swimming lakes, gravel pits, saunas, campgrounds, clubs, and thermal spas. Other European countries with significant “free body culture” locations relative to their population sizes include Croatia, Denmark, Austria, Czechia, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. According to the Guardian (2025), “the seeds were planted in late 19th‑century Germany as a social-health movement in response to dehumanizing industrialization.”
The number of “naturist” locations in some of the Western and Northern countries of Europe dwarfs those in the United States, which may only have around 100 locations for its 340 million residents. Clothing restrictions and public indecency laws are much more common.
But are these “clothing optional” trends healthy and good for society? Or should we retain our restrictions on public indecency? Ever since the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, we have a natural inclination to modesty, so when we see someone who has lost those inhibitions strutting around naked, we tend to be uncomfortable. According to my brother, the FKK areas he has happened upon in Germany tend to be populated not by the beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, but by the wrinkly and washed up – people who tend to linger a little too long while bending over to pick something up. Thankfully, full nudity is still stigmatized and criminalized in some parts of Europe and most parts of the United States.
Western society has degraded over the past couple of hundred years. We live in a culture immersed in nudity, violence, sexual promiscuity, low birth rates, and death. Clearly, Satan has his grimy thumb on the societies where these are the most permitted and most prevalent. Recall the demoniac in the Gospels – naked and full of chaos.
Which other trends do we find in some of the European countries with the fewest restrictions on naturism? Consider fertility rates, prostitution, induced abortions, and euthanasia. According to the World Bank and the Center for Disease Control in the United States, almost all European countries and America have fertility rates well below replacement rates of 2.1. The rates in France (1.66), Germany (1.39), Italy (1.2). the United States (1.62), and the United Kingdom (1.56) are historically low and very troubling. Many countries with low birth rates have been bringing in foreign populations to avert population decline, but many of those who come in choose not to integrate within their cultures. See Tommy Robinson’s work for further information about that.
Laws concerning prostitution in Europe vary. According to LegalClarity.com, “Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland treat it as a regulated profession with licensing, tax obligations, and health requirements. Belgium became the first European country to fully decriminalize sex work in 2022, granting workers formal employment contracts. Meanwhile, Sweden, France, Norway, and Ireland take the opposite approach, criminalizing the purchase of sex while treating the person selling it as a victim. The rest of the continent falls somewhere in between, with many Eastern European nations leaving prostitution technically legal but entirely unregulated.” In other words, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland have taken measures to ensure the government makes money off the sex trade. In contrast, prostitution is illegal in all but Nevada in the United States. In Nevada, a few rural areas have legal brothels.
The Netherlands has some of the world’s least restrictive laws on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicides. Euthanasia occurs when a physician assists in killing a patient, usually by injection, while physician-assisted suicides occur when the physician prescribes or supplies a lethal medication. In the Netherlands and Belgium, terminal illness is not necessarily a requirement and minors may qualify under certain circumstances.
According to governmental websites (Statistisches Bundesamt, the French Ministry of Health, the Ministerio de Sanidad, GOV.UK, the Dutch Government, and the Center for Disease Control in the U.S.), induced abortion rates per 1,000 women of reproductive age are 6.2 in Germany; 17.3 in France; 12.36 in Spain, 23 in England and Wales; 9.5 in the Netherlands; and 11.2 in the United States. Some estimates indicate that around 2 billion babies have been slaughtered via induced abortions since 1990 alone. In the United States, well over 63 million babies have been killed since legalization in 1973. That is around the size of the population of the entire country of Italy!
When we live in cultures immersed in debauchery, we should expect to find people who fail to follow the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” In 2004, a group of academics published the GLOBE study of 62 societies (House et al., 2004). They asked thousands of respondents to indicate prevalent values in their cultures, along with how their cultures ought to be. Consider their findings on humane orientation. Societies with high levels of humane orientation value fairness, altruism, kindness, generosity, charity, and concern for others. Every society in the GLOBE study responded that the current practices in their society were lower than they ought to be. Of all societies, Germany ranked the lowest in humane orientation, followed by Spain, Greece, Hungary, and France. Zambia ranked the highest, followed by the Philippines, Ireland, Malaysia, and Thailand. What do the cultures with the lowest rates have in common? Consider their relatively low levels of Christianity.
What can we do to increase humane orientation and other loving virtues in societies where modesty, humility, love, peace, and life abound and are celebrated? We should consider the Christian values that have guided the West and our rules, laws, and regulations for hundreds of years. And we should share the Good News of Jesus with our neighbors. He is our North Star of moral guidance, truth, and how we should live.
Sadly, Christianity has been declining in the West since World War II. According to Pew Research (2020), the percentage of people who identify as Christians has declined between 2010 and 2020 in Austria (down 12.2% to 68.2%); Belgium (down 10.1% to 51%); France (down 10.6% to 46.5%); Germany (down 6% to 56.2%); Ireland (down 10.7% to 81.2%); Italy (down 8% to 80.5%); the Netherlands (down 7.6% to 35.1%); Norway (down 7.4% to 71.4%); Poland (down 6.1% to 91.2%); Russia (down 7.1% to 69.8%); Spain (down 9.2% to 69.5%); Sweden (down 12% to 60.8%); and the United Kingdom (down 13% to 49.4%). The 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study of the United States indicated that 62% are Christians, including 40% Protestants, 19% Catholics, and 1% Orthodox.
If we want to know how we should live, we can go to the Bible for an answer. Jesus, the “Prince of Peace,” (Isaiah 9:6) commanded us to love the Lord above all else and love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-20). We should dress modestly (1 Timothy 2:9-10); be sexually pure (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4); and be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). We should follow the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21). In summary, we should love in consistency with the fact we are God’s image bearers – made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). “So whether you eat, drink, or whatever you do, do it all in the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Christianity has been declining in the West because we let it decline, through our apathy to Satan’s imprint all around us. But we know the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Christianity is the kingdom that has no end.
SJ Thomason is a Christian wife, mother, and university professor and administrator of business. For a video version of this blog, click here: https://www.youtube.com/live/33N7mfyAwYI?si=uO9oVr_ttFp9MzeP
References
Anonymous (2025). Provence laid bare: ‘I shed my clothes and found freedom on a beautiful French island.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/jul/12/provence-france-island-holiday-naturism-ile-du-levant?
Anonymous (2020). Religion in Europe. Pew Research. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/religion-in-europe/?
Anonymous (2026). Legal Prostitution in Europe: Models and country laws. Legal Clarity. https://legalclarity.org/legal-prostitution-in-europe-models-and-country-laws/?
House, R.J., et al., (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: the GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Smith, G., Cooperman, A., Alper, B., Mohamed, B., Rotolo, C., Tevington, C., Nortey, J., Kallo, A., Diamant, J., & Fahmy, D. (2025). Decline of Christianity in the U.S. has slowed, may have leveled off. Pew Research Center. doi: 10.58094/4kqq-3112. https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/
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