The Paul Edwards Program | August 7, 2019

RNS: Conservative Christians have a porn problem, studies show, but not the one you think

• GOSPEL COALITION: When We Coddle Porn
• CT: Waging a Smarter War on Porn
• THE NEW YORKER: A Sociologist of Religion on Protestants, Porn, and the “Purity Industrial Complex”
  • “[Pornography] seems to be uniquely harmful to conservative Protestants’ mental health, their sense of self, their own identities—certainly their intimate relationships—in ways that don’t tend to be as harmful for people who don’t have that kind of moral problem with it.”
  • “…it’s not necessarily that porn makes you depressed. It’s watching porn when you’ve already said that that’s an immoral thing and you don’t want to do it. That can lead to guilt and shame that makes you feel crappy about yourself, that you are immoral, that you’re violating something that’s deeply held and sacred.”
  • “…if we find ourselves engaging in behavior that we believe violates our values, we can do one of two things: we can stop the behavior or change our values. And oftentimes, when conservative Christians keep on struggling with this temptation in their lives, it’s just easier for them to say, “You know what? Maybe I don’t believe this so much. Maybe I could just keep doing this and not think the religious part of it is so important.”