Every young person is familiar with obscene graffiti written on washroom walls. We have become accustomed to seeing obscene words scribbled on public buildings and underground passageways in public parks. However, obscenity is no longer limited to washrooms and tunnels; our society is experiencing a new attitude toward freedom that tends to permit almost any word or action. Four letter words, nudity, sexuality, erotic films-all are vying for public acceptance.
Pornography has become a word to describe just another form of literature. The sex act is described freely in books and magazines, and obscene language is common on the theater stage and in movies. Words and acts that do not shock your sensitivity are considered dull and not saleable. What was once spoken and practiced in secret is now blazed across the public media without blinking an eye.
There is a great amount of profit in pornography. Shrewd businessmen are producing millions of dollars worth of films and magazines-erotica of all sorts that is distributed throughout the United States and globally. The American public, which is hardly puritanical, seems to be enjoying this stuff with reckless abandon. It is estimated that the pornography business grosses billions of dollars yearly.
Even though many respectable people are disturbed about the increased availability of pornography and obscenity, there seems to be little that can be done to stop it. Community standards no longer serve as moral guidelines that can be used to enforce laws against obscenity. Our highest courts have failed to spell out precise definitions of obscenity and pornography and attempts to enforce adequate legislation suffer from such a handicap. Many argue that it is a constitutional right to produce and read pornographic literature and that no laws should discriminate against it. As a result, hard-core pornography is sweeping the country, bringing immense profits to its distributors, while the average citizen, who is disturbed about it, can do little to change the situation. Pornography is a loveless, degrading influence on a child and reduces man to the level of an animal.
Public morality, respect for human growth, and respect for family love are strong standards deeply rooted in our culture. A recent Gallop poll indicated that eighty-five out of one hundred adults favored stricter obscenity laws. Our moral consciousness should be concerned about the problem of pornography because we are aware of the effects of pornography on people's attitudes and actions. Current society seems to say that pornography is okay for adults, but not for children. Young people are caught in between. Films labeled “adults only” and X-rated movies are considered acceptable for adults, but not suitable for young people under eighteen. The regulation is not based on whether something is right or wrong, but whether or not the audience can take it. The restrictions placed on adult movies are not based upon the rightness or wrongness of what is portrayed, but upon some concept of “maturity”.
Our moral consciousness should argue that wrong is wrong no matter how old you are. We should see a horrible inconsistency in the values that the world places on “sexual honesty” and “freedom”. We need to be aware that the present trends toward moral laxity and looser laws will make it easier for the peddlers of obscene material to make it available to more and more people, including young people and even children. Young people are going to have to face inevitable trends toward more explicitness in films, more freedom in magazines, and more perverted sex on television.
“They say they are wise, but they are fools; instead of worshipping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Because men are fools, God has given them over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised for ever! Amen. Because of what men do, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts. In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other. Men do shameful things with each other, and as a result they receive in themselves the punishment they deserve for their wrongdoing.”
(Romans 1:22-27)
What will your reaction be to the current obscenity and pornography so prevalent in today's society? Will you simply become so hardened to it and merely accept as the standards of today? Will you refrain from protest for fear you might be considered a prude? Are you going to permit yourself to become inundated by portrayals of life that you loose yourself?
