Pornography is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States. Each year, more money will be made in the sale of pornography than the revenues of the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA combined. In short, porn is America’s pasttime and porn is mainstream. It can not only be found on the internet, in DVD’s and in magazines, but it shaping modern day sexuality at every level. If you don’t think so, just head to the mall (you know, that place where your teenager spends their time and your money) and take a look the style of undergarments being sold to elementary age girls, and the funny t-shirts being hocked to your teenagers that read “Future porn star” and “Future porn director”. Nice.
The church however is called to be a light to the world for the sake of the world, which means being a voice in the midst of the world’s junk. One group is using this call to tackle our addiction to porn. XXXChurch.com was founded by Craig Gross with the goals both reaching out to the porn industry with the redemptive message of Jesus and educating Jesus’ church in the problem of porn.
Gross recently headed to Yale University to take part in a debate with Ron Jeremy - an icon of the sex industry - about the pros and cons of porn. ABC’s Nightline was the host.
The debate is well worth a look. Click HERE to check it out.
My thoughts on the debate? I think the pro-porn argument actually “won.” I’m not saying that Jeremy’s argument was correct, but that it was more winsome. In a postmodern world, where individuality is king, Jeremy resonated best with the current cultural mindset that says an individual is free do whatever he or she feels so long as all parties involved are consenting and no one gets harmed. Therefore porn is - in general - not a problem.
Gross fell short in attempting to argue that porn is not part of God’s design. While true, this isn’t going to win hearts and minds in a secular, post modern public. Gross would have done better, in my view, to argue that porn is harmful - not to individuals (who, current culture argues, are responsible for their own choices) - but to society as a whole. In other words, what “good” does pornography deliver to society? Do these “goods” outweigh the harms? Is this best for cultivating a compassionate, loving world where all people are valued and body, soul, and mind? Think about it - in a world where ‘environmentalism’ is the new religion and works on the same argument - this might just be a better way to debate the evil of porn.
What are your thoughts?
March 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
It is really not that surprising that the pro-porn argument would win in such a debate. With so many people watching and so many addicted to the stuff it is really easy for someone to say, “Who is it hurting?” Yes, the actors are responsible for their own actions and yes they are making a conscious decision to take part in these activities but take a look at how many have died in the porn industry because of what it leads to. Countless porn stars have been taken by STD’s, drug overdoses, drug or alcohol-related car crashes, murder, assault, and yes…suicide. Many of the people involved in porn would love to tell you that they love what they do and they love making money from it but many of them are broken people. People from broken homes, abusive relationships, troubled childhoods, homeless teens and those who feel they have no other way to make it in life.
As for those outside the industry that are hurt…husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends who get caught with porn that they thought they kept well-hidden, marriages destroyed because husbands and wives held their spouse up to some unrealistic ideal that the other could not deliver. As long as there are people to watch it, someone will be there to make it. I cannot argue that and I cannot argue with people who want to watch it of their own free will. But to say that it hurts no one is ridiculous. This stuff hurts people. It may not hurt everyone but it is not harmless.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Yep. The destruction of the lives of these young people who are pulled into the porn industry is more shocking than the sexual acts they depict. The people who make the porn are as responsible as the people who are in the videos, but so are the people who buy it and watch it.
It is also destructive culturally. People who indulge in porn are not able to view the people they meet in their day to day life in a proper light. They begin to see everything through the lens of sexual degradation. They mentally undress the people they are around. Many times they carry it in their expression, their eyes, their soul. How many times have you met someone and thought, “They spend too much time in front of a computer without their pants.”