From Ground Zero to the Family

posted on 8:18 AM | permalink

First, kudos to Utah Governor Huntsman who earlier this declared February as White Ribbon Against Pornography Month. Our friends at Communities for Decency deserve a lot of credit for seeing this through. Other Utah mayors followed suit. Mayor Mike Daniels of Pleasant Grove recently noted: "Pornography can and will destroy a nation, a state, a city, a neighborhood, a family and an individual if we do not fight it".


Ground Zero

On the other side of the coin, college campuses in North Carolina and Virginia cleared a path for an annual Sex Workers Show. Deemed "art shows" these porn-ivals provide little sanctuary or hope for impressionable college students who are already saturated with promiscuity on campuses. The campus is truly "ground zero" for this growing threat.

Fortunately, some campus leader get it and are working to help students cope with the addictions. The University of Wisconsin recently hosted a forum that many thought was a pro-porn rally. Instead, the audience heard from Michael Leahy, a recovered sex addict. Kudos Michael!


That First Amendment Thing

Of course, reasonable people can object about the intersection of pornography and first amendment (we have the specious and spineless rulings from the Supreme Court to thanks for that). But the evidence of a darker side to pornography is mounting. We take heart to note that younger generations of Christians recognize the issue of Internet pornography as a top priority.

Recently, Spanish experts have concluded that pornography plays a prominent role in the psyche of pedophiles. As we've noted elsewhere, not all porn addicts are rapists and pedophiles but all rapists and pedophiles are porn addicts.

Elsewhere, lawmakers are grappling with various legislative initiatives to thwart these issues. Lawmakers in Florida are considering bills that deal with a "pole" tax, adding a dollar or so to state coffers for live sex shows. Texas just implemented a $5 tax on strip clubs. Utah has added a tax on escort services. Colorado is going down the similar road and a bill in Pennsylvania would tax all pornography.

We believe these are interesting pursuits but there is one HUGE side effect. It legitimizes all of these enterprises. I suppose the pragmatic side of the porn challenge requires us to DO something but we feel that the recent trends to ELIMINATE strip clubs are better in the long run.


Child Pornography

Fortunately, child pornography is something that almost everyone can agree to fight. Flint Waters, a special agent of the Wyoming Internet Crimes Task Force recently used state-of-the-art technology to produce a map for a county in Great Britain showing the breadth of child porn trafficking in their area. We expect the same procedures to become commonplace here in the states. Indeed, many states are making inroads strengthening existing child pornography laws while other groups lobby Congress for funding to battle this epidemic. We also expect higher education panels such as this one to address the problem.


Impact on Families

The impact on families is no less dramatic. One pastor notes the "cheap love" effect in our culture. It's not just "second-hand" pornography at libraries (a great phrase by the way) but the violence that pornography breeds. Our kids our literally the "idols" in this plague which makes raising kids that much harder.

As families turn to professional help the psychiatric field continues to address with the problem in unfortunate ways. Indeed, many professionals still do not recognize the problem. Meanwhile, our entertainment turns more aberrant, industry decisions are deeply influenced by the porn world, and innocent teenage communications turn ugly. The side effects are divorce, debt, and debauchery.

At the Lighted Candle Society, we intend to fight this battle in a two unique ways:

1. By funding scientific research into the effects of pornography and
2. By helping to bring civil litigation against producers and distributors of pornography

We've been pretty mum on our approach and our efforts but this will change shortly. Stay tuned!

Other news:

• Excellent overview of the online pornography problem
• Federal and state agencies are taking a closer look at employee computer habits after a slate of porn problems on computers.
• More pedophiles appeal to the Supreme Court. We'll be following this one closely.
• Thank you France for this innovation.
• AU Teacher keeps job after encouraging students to research pornography.