When opportunity opens, stick your foot in the door. We can each have a role in impacting culture, or we can sit by and let it impact us.
Earlier last month, I received a special invitation to a White House briefing that addressed a number of issues regarding mental health, drug use, and issues facing our nation. Our host was Dr. Tim Clinton, the Secretary for the President’s (POTUS) Faith Advisory Board Executive Council and the president of the American Association of Christian Counselors.
Tim had assembled more than 30 people that are among the who’s who list of Christian counselors, psychologists, therapists, and thought leaders. Dr. James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family and hosts Family Talk Radio, was the most recognizable of the people attending. But there were several people in attendance who have spent their lives helping people escape compulsive pornography use, such as Dr. Mark Laaser, Founder of Faithful and True, and Steve Arterburn, author of the famed book Every Man’s Battle.
The guest list was intentional because Dr. Clinton recognizes that pornography is harming people and their relationships, and Dr. Clinton introduced us to the President’s closest advisers. We are committed to ongoing work with the men and women who attended this Washington meeting, because I believe we stand at an opportune time to change culture.
Pictured: Left–Dr. James Dobson and Covenant Eyes President Ron DeHaas, Right–Sam Black and Ron DeHaas from Covenant Eyes
Both in secular and Christian culture, more and more people are realizing the negative impact that pornography is having on marriage, on personal interactions, on psychological health, and our social environments. For example, experts point to pornography in explaining why child-on-child sexual assaults have nearly doubled in the last four years in the UK. Divorce rates double when people consume porn compared to their non-porn consuming peers, according to a study presented at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting last year. You can learn more by downloading our e-book, Pornography Statistics.
This White House meeting was another step in our efforts at Covenant Eyes and that of our partners to bring awareness to the fact that pornography has become a public health crisis. The legislative bodies in Utah, Arkansas, Tennessee, and South Dakota have passed resolutions calling pornography a public health crisis, and Virginia passed a resolution saying that pornography leads to “individual and societal harms.”
My good friend Dr. Jay Dennis stated it well to the Baptist Press.
“The fact that states are beginning to recognize pornography as a public health hazard, underscores what the Bible has been clear upon—sexual sin is destructive not only spiritually, but also emotionally and physically,” said Dennis, who recently retired as pastor of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, Florida. “Identifying pornography as a public health hazard presents factual information to those outside of Christianity that this is not just a spiritual battle, it is a health issue facing every person.”
We are standing at a precipice in time when culture is under enormous impact from the Internet and our interactions online. In our Christian heritage, you could compare this time to other key moments in history when events had a radical impact on history. Just as the Nicene Council or the Guttenberg Press were epic turning points in time for Christianity, so is the cultural influence of the Internet. When people look back 1,000 years from now, God willing, they will point to the invention of the Internet as a major crossroads in history.
Will Christians fall prey to the impact of Internet pornography? Or, will the Church and our greater culture be awakened and recognize they have been duped? We stand at a time of opportunity and serve a redemptive Father. Please join the team at Covenant Eyes, like-minded organizations, and everyday people to create a revival in our culture.
3 Steps You Can Take Today Toward a Porn-Free Culture
There are three steps you can take now:
- Guard your own life from pornography
- Protect your home and guide your greater family to fight against pornography
- Join a growing voice of people to fight pornography publicly.
Regarding the third step, here is what you can do now. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is your voice in Washington, in legislatures across the United States, and in leading a broad discussion on the dangers of pornography. Its members are from every walk of life, from religious to non-religious, from academics to those who have escaped sex-trafficking. I serve on its board, and I encourage you to visit the Center’s website and join in our stand to take back the dignity of human sexuality where it is not sold online. We believe that we should love people and use things, which is the opposite of what pornography teaches.
NCOSE has had many major successes in recent years. It led the campaign that secured the resolutions passed by five states and other states are reviewing similar legislation. They helped convince Google to no longer sell advertising to pornography websites and to remove pornography apps from the Play Store. Through their efforts multiple hotel chains have removed pay-per-view pornography from their rooms, including Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and others. Now 1.6 million hotel rooms no longer sell pay-per-view pornography in their rooms.
Here is what you can do to help create change in our culture and support the efforts of NCOSE:
- Subscribe to the NCOSE e-mail updates.
- Take part in the Dirty Dozen list campaign, which convinces companies to not profit from or facilitate sexual exploitation.
- Help NCOSE do its work by supporting it financially.
When opportunity opens, stick your foot in the door. We can each have a role in impacting culture, or we can sit by and let it impact us. One thousand years from now, when they talk about this time as the most significant turning point in history, we actually have the opportunity today to influence what they will say.
Will you join in our effort to confront our pornified culture? Will you fight for your home, your family, your relationships? I am committed to helping people redeem relationships, and I truly believe we can change our culture. Take action today.
