Posted on 03/21/2007 9:14:58 AM PDT by Frank Sheed
A friend recently quipped to me that if Americans were as good at the “war on terror” as we are in our “war on common sense,” the world would be a much safer place. He was talking about our country’s increasingly confused attitudes toward sex.
Last week offered a good example. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, said that “I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United States is well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.”
Note that Pace did not say that, “homosexual persons are evil.” He said that homosexual acts are wrong. And of course he’s right. We might question the general’s choice to comment in the context he did, but not his content. He simply stated the Western moral tradition. We should respect his courage for saying it. Every human being has an inalienable dignity as an image of God. But as part of that dignity, we also have free will, and our choices — our behaviors — create wholeness or havoc around us, depending on their moral content.
Our sexual behavior is never merely a “private” matter. Human sexuality is deeply linked to issues of identity, fertility and new life. Our sexual behavior always has social implications because it directly or indirectly impacts others. Therefore it helps shape the wider culture. This is not a uniquely Christian point of view. Most Americans clearly agree with Gen. Pace. The only thing strange about his remarks was the theatrical wave of shock they generated from critics. In fact, with the good exception of Sen. Sam Brownback and some others, many members of Congress scrambled to criticize Gen. Pace — despite the moral beliefs of the people who elected them.
The bickering over Gen. Pace is just an icon of wider problems. The sexual confusion at the top of U.S. society now has an echo in every corner of American life. Sexually transmitted disease, child sexual abuse, adult Internet predators, divorce, cohabitation and nearly every other indicator of a dysfunctional society stand at epidemic levels. But very few people want to name the biggest single environmental crisis we face: a multi-billion dollar pornography industry that pours garbage into our homes every day through the Web and other media.
Forty years ago, when steel mills pumped hundreds of tons of toxic waste each week into the Great Lakes — literally “killing” Lake Erie and damaging the health of tens of thousands of families — citizens got organized. They forced the mills to clean up or shut down. We need to do the same today. Citizens need to stop the pornography industry now — not out of some kind of Victorian prudery, but because pornography poisons the human heart, imagination and soul just as those steel mills once poisoned our air and water, only worse.
Pornography is never “innocent entertainment,” no matter how private it might seem. It turns human beings into objects. It coarsens our appetites. It darkens our ability to see real human beauty. It creates impossible expectations about sexual intimacy. It kills enduring romance and friendship between the sexes. And ultimately it’s a lie and a cheat. Pornography is a cheap, quick, empty copy of the real thing — the real joy of sexual intimacy shared by a man and woman who have joined their lives in a loving marriage.
In recent months, two Catholic bishops have begun some extraordinary work against pornography in their Midwest dioceses: Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan.
Bishop Finn’s excellent pastoral letter, “Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: The Dignity of the Human Person and the Dangers of Pornography,” has a wealth of good information about the scope of pornography, the damage it does and many practical tips to fighting it in our homes. Archbishop Naumann’s anti-pornography initiative, “As for Me and My House, We Will Serve the Lord,” includes a DVD and workbook with valuable resources for fighting pornography, teaching chastity and wholesome sexuality, and helping others who have been hurt by pornography addiction.
We can’t do much to fix the sexual confusion at the top of our society, beyond writing to our elected officials and demanding candidates who will advance our convictions when the time comes to vote. But we can do a lot about the poison in our homes and local communities. Pornography is poison. It should be controlled like any other toxic waste. And don’t be fooled. This isn’t “censorship.” It’s a matter of public health and common sense.
Bishop Finn’s pastoral letter can be found online at www.diocese-kcsj.org; click on “Bishop,” then on the pastoral letter. For information on Archbishop Naumann’s anti-pornography initiative, contact the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan., at 913-721-1097.
No it doesn't; not at all. Unless you've walked the proverbial mile in the proverbial shoes yourself, you can presume to know the experience, but that's all it is---a presumption. You don't know it truly. You simply cannot get the full nature of the experience of something merely by reading about it in a book, or hearing others talk about it. You may think you can, but you're fooling yourself, and deep in your heart you know it to be true.
My father and brother have been to war; I haven't, though I've probably read more books about war than either my brother or father, and I know a hell of a lot of veterans. Should I presume I know more about war than my brother or my father does? Of course not. The same is true vis-a-vis priests and marriage.
But of course he couldn't know a thing about it, since he'd never been there . . .
Ike was an unbelievable "big picture" guy, not a blood-and-guts guy. Nice try, though.
Nope, that was game, set, match. You picked a really bad analogy, and you can't wiggle out by putting qualifiers in after the fact.
What qualifiers? From the one fact that Ike was Supreme Allied Commander, do you assume he walked around telling everyone in the US Army what it felt like to be in a tank under fire, or in a foxhole with dead soldiers all around him, or squaring off against an enemy machine gun?
"No it doesn't; not at all. Unless you've walked the proverbial mile in the proverbial shoes yourself, you can presume to know the experience, but that's all it is---a presumption. You don't know it truly."
I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this one. While you may not have an understanding of the particulars of a given situation, I have to believe that all people are capable of understanding most any situation. To believe different allows for such things as prejudice and segregation. All people are people and all people are capable of having an understanding of anything that another person has gone though. It may not be exact or perfect, but it is an understanding.
Please reread my post. I said "habitual porn users"
have spiritual problems which they manifest thru abuse of their sexuality. I did not say all sexual urges come from Satan,
I am not a theologian but I would say sexual urges are in general a good thing because we they propagate the human race but they have to be put to their proper use but they can be most definitely perverted. Strength in a man is an excellent thing, but the man commits evil with his strength if he beats and robs people.
If you don't understand all of the particulars of a given situation, how in the world can you understand it truly? To understand something truly, you must understand all of the particulars of a given situation.
Just Thank Kinsey with all his Fabricated Lies... and such an open APA to Homsexuality Pornography and the like... he was the guy that got pornography across states lines for Playboy who funded his trash..
Pretty inarticulate, my friend . . .
the thread's about dead anyway but even if it weren't, there's no point---the things you claim I said, i plainly did not
Blue haired Baptist ladies would certainly not think a picture of woman wearing shorts is porn!!! We have sense enough to know the difference! I am not blue haired, but Baptist raised makes me know that isn't true! Hopefully you were joking. Porn is not impossible to define!
Read Kinsey's Biography and it is all there.. he with the Playboy funding started his infamous Institute.. of Lies!
We must ban ALL nakedness in this world!
In the birthing room, we must instantly apply clothing to the newborn! We all must learn to bathe and shower with clothing on, the devil is watching!
No thought must be given to any genetalia, male or female and God forbid any of one sex even dare to ever, ever EVER think of the genetalia of the same sex!
I propose we ban all curtains, and window coverings so that we know FOR SURE that this ban on nudity is kept sacred in our neighborhoods!
As for sex, well it better produce a baby or we will investigate! Breast feeding? NEVER! If a baby sees a nipple he or she may become a deviant!
Say Amen!
One thing that all people can do is start costing the stores business. If they sell soft porn aka playboy tell them that you will not shop there. If this is a hard core porn store make sure they have complied with all the local laws concerning where they can have a store. If they are in a neighbor hood that has no other businesses just the corner shop so to say have the zoning laws changed. Organize a boycott signing in your areas, have people sing it stating that they will not spend their money in their store if they continue to sell the stuff. When they start to feel it in the bottom line they will change, just like when people said they would not shop walmart if they said happy holidays it cost them and they changed their tune.
But it's better than nothing....
L
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