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Should online pornography be banned? Most libertarians say no, because it would be an affront to free speech. Many conservatives say yes, since not to do so would be an affront to the common good. Both positions are compelling but medical research has established that pornography is a detriment to the individual and society. There are more than 40 studies showing the addictive nature of pornography and how viewers quickly go from comparatively mild to more extreme content.

The porn debate should not be framed as libertarian versus conservative but rather as Big Porn versus science, a public-health crisis fueled by a global porn industry making billions of dollars from millions of mostly male consumers.

In order to combat the porn industry the public must be educated to the medical research that has documented the negative consequences related to pornography, followed by a dogged public health campaign, and then targeted political action. That’s exactly how Big Tobacco lost because it was denying science at a huge social cost. Since the release of surgeon general’s report in 1964 cigarette consumption among adults declined by 70 percent.

No one is exempt from the temptation of viewing pornography. Josh McDowell is an internationally known speaker, author, and traveling representative for Campus Crusade for Christ. He recently shared a series of scientific studies in which a lot of money had been invested. The results: 87% of teens think it is okay to watch pornography, 77% of men between the ages of 18 and 26 regularly watch pornography, 66% of divorced Christians attribute their separation to pornography, 60% of Christian men and 40% of Christian women are addicted to pornography and 55% of pastors are addicted. You would think that the immorality of its harmful effect on society ought to be enough to make people reconsider, but it rarely does.

The millennials are the first generation that grew up with unlimited online porn. A growing number of young men are convinced that their sexual responses have been sabotaged because their brains were virtually marinated in porn when they were adolescents.

Porn trains your brain to need everything associated with porn to get aroused, consequently it becomes impossible to have a loving sexual relationship with your spouse. Ironically the constant use of porn has led to a vast amount of sexual dysfunction among young males. Porn literally makes men impotent.

We have the technology to take the most lurid fantasies of the human mind and project them on to a computer or smartphone for a child or adult to see. As a result we have become a profane people with few restraints on behavior and language in a world of anything goes.

Every day 116,000 internet queries are related to child pornography, and each year 300,000 children in the U.S are forced into the commercial sex trade. It’s an odious enterprise. One in which women are play things, men are aggressors, teens are lusted after, children sexually abused, and perversions that dehumanize. The internet is like a 24-hour all you can eat buffet restaurant that serves every type of sex snack.

The shame around a compulsive porn habit makes asking for help difficult, even though it can happen to anyone. The mainstream acceptance of porn has become a social fact. Pornography is a gross violation to the natural laws that were given to us by our creator to govern our sexuality. It is God’s word that provides a moral code for the world as well as the necessary guidelines for healthy living. Porn can never satisfy the human heart because it represents a false idol.

God heals in many ways and if you are addicted to porn through His mercy He can heal you. He may use an individual like Professor Gary Wilson who wrote a powerful book Your Brain on Porn: Internet pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction to help you understand your addiction and seek help. His website yourbrainonporn.com is clearing house for information which outlines the link between heavy adolescent use and sexual dysfunction. Also there is a website called No Fap a secular, science based, non-political, sex positive for those seeking, support in giving up porn. It’s ludicrous that the porn industry is busy commissioning its own sex research and promising “ethical porn” what is that?

Bill Sarnak

Harding