Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Focus on the Family

    Strengthening families through biblical principles.

    Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.

  • Guest, Join Papa Zoom today for some uplifting biblical encouragement! --> Daily Verses
  • The Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Heard of "The Gospel"? Want to know more?

    There is salvation in no other, for there is not another name under heaven having been given among men, by which it behooves us to be saved."

Winning the War Against Pornography

2024 Website Hosting Fees

Total amount
$905.00
Goal
$1,038.00
W

wsfortenberry

Guest
Did you know that pornography is against the law? There are five different federal laws banning the sale and distribution of pornography within the United States as well as several state laws. Many of these laws were passed over ten years ago, but the media and liberal democrats have purposely ignored them. It is extremely difficult to find any reference to these laws online and even harder to learn how to report violations of these laws. Most of the agencies entrusted by Congress with the enforcement of these laws have adopted a solely informative role instead. They are very willing to present statistics and recommend filters, but none of them want to admit that they can investigate and prosecute based on citizen complaints. Because of this reticence, I have compiled a list of resources that we can use to stop this blight on the character of our country.

Federal Laws Against Pornography

The federal government has passed into law six different statements prohibiting the distribution of obscenity (the legal term for pornography) within the United States. One of those laws is currently suspended while the courts determine its constitutionality, but the others have all been upheld by the Supreme Court. The five laws currently upheld are:

The Communications Decency Act
- Law requiring age verification for pornographic websites
- http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/223.html paragraph (d)
- Class E Felony
- Two years imprisonment
- $250,000 fine for individuals
- $500,000 fine for organizations

Title 18 Section 1462
- Law against the transportation of obscene material (also applies to the internet)
- http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1462.html
- Class E Felony
- Five years imprisonment
- $250,000 fine for individuals
- $500,000 fine for organizations

Title 18 Section 1465
- Law against the production of obscene material
- http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1465.html
- Class E Felony
- Five years imprisonment
- $250,000 fine for individuals
- $500,000 fine for organizations

Title 18 Section 1468
- Law against distributing obscenity by cable or subscription services
- http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/u ... -000-.html
- Class E Felony
- Two years imprisonment
- $250,000 fine for individuals
- $500,000 fine for organizations

Title 18 Section 2252
- Law banning the use of misleading domain names by pornographic sites
- http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/ ... B000-.html
- Class E Felony
- Two years imprisonment
- $250,000 fine for individuals
- $500,000 fine for organizations

Federal Racketeering Laws
- Law against dealing in pornography across state lines (also applies to the internet)
- http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/u ... -000-.html
- http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/u ... -000-.html
- Class C Felony
- Twenty years of imprisonment
- Forfeiture of all property used in racketeering activities
- Fined double the amount of profit gained through racketeering activities

What The Courts Define As Obscenity

The Supreme Court has established a three part definition of obscenity which is banned by the laws mentioned above. Material is considered obscene if:
1. When taken as a whole, it appeals to the prurient interest in sex; and
2. Depicts or describes hardcore sexual content in a patently offensive manner; and
3. When taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/g ... 3&invol=15

State Laws Against Pornography

Most states also have laws against obscenity. For a listing of the laws in your state, go to http://www.moralityinmedia.org/nolc/ind ... sIndex.htm. For example, North Carolina has passed the following laws against obscenity:

General Statute 14-190.1
- Law against disseminating obscenity (also applies to the internet)
- Class I Felony

General Statute 14-190.15
- Law against disseminating harmful materials to minors (also applies to the internet)
- Class 1 misdemeanor

NC Law on the Protection of Minors from Harmful Materials

NC Racketeering Laws
- Law against dealing in pornography (also applies to the internet)
- Forfeiture of all earnings and property associated with crime.

Reporting Illegal Pornography

We cannot expect the wicked to enforce these laws voluntarily, nor can we expect the laws to enforce themselves, and like the judge in scripture, our bureaucracy often moves only at great importunity. To provide the government with the proper impetus, a letter referencing these laws and providing information on violations of these laws can be sent to the appropriate government agencies. The more of these letters that are sent, the more likely they will be to produce the desired results.

This enemy must be attacked on all fronts, from the magazine in the checkout line to the adult content on TV as well as the large-scale pornographic publishers in America. Distributing pornography across state lines is a federal offense, so most of the magazines found in the checkout line can be reported to federal as well as state authorities.

It is important that you inform those against whom you will be filing a complaint. Most gas station attendants and supermarket managers simply do not know that the material displayed on their shelves is illegal. Informing them of your intentions to file a complaint will often be the only action necessary to have the offensive material removed.

Federal Addresses For Complaints

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

U.S. Department of Justice
10th & Constitution Ave., NW
Criminal Division, (Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section)
John C. Keeney Building, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20530

U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS)
1400 New York Avenue, 6th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20530

Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

U.S. Department of Justice
Organized Crime and Racketeering Section
1301 New York Avenue, NW - Suite 700
Washington, DC 2005

State Addresses For Complaints

Your state’s attorney general
Your district attorney
Your state’s bureau of investigation

Sample Letter

The format below may be used to report obscenity crimes to federal agencies. For state agencies, you will need to substitute the applicable state laws in place of the federal laws. For your complaint to be properly filed, you should send a separate letter for each report, but multiple letters can be included in the same envelope. I also recommend that you send a copy of all letters to the Morality in Media organization. This will let each agency know that your complaint is being properly and publicly documented. The names and addresses of adult entertainment companies can be found at the Hoovers website. It is not necessary for you to actually view any pornographic material before making a complaint.

(Date)

(Your Address)
(Your Phone Number)

(Recipient’s Address)

Dear Sir:

I would like to thank you for all of the hard work that you have been willing to invest in service to the citizens of this country. Let me assure you that your efforts are greatly appreciated by those who benefit from them. I would like to assist you in this great task by requesting that your office investigate and prosecute Playboy Enterprises Inc. (680 N. Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, IL 60611) for the following offenses:

1. This company is in direct violation of the Communications Decency Act in that they use an interactive computer service to display in a manner available to a person under 18 years of age, obscene material including ultimate sexual acts and lewd exhibition of the genitals.

2. This company is in direct violation of Title 18 section 1462 of the United States Code in that they knowingly use an interactive computer service for carriage in interstate commerce of obscene, lewd, lascivious, and filthy publications of ultimate sexual acts and lewd exhibition of the genitals.

3. This company is in direct violation of Title 18 section 1465 of the United States Code in that they knowingly produce obscene, lewd, lascivious and filthy publications of ultimate sexual acts and lewd exhibition of the genitals with the intent to distribute these publications in interstate commerce, or use an interactive computer service affecting such commerce.

4. This company is in direct violation of the racketeering laws set forth in Title 18 Chapter 96 of the United States Code in that they have used income gained from a pattern of racketeering activity in the operation of an enterprise which is engaged in interstate or foreign commerce. The income thus used has been gained through actions which are indictable under sections 1462 and 1465 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

Thank you once again for your hard work in this area. Please acknowledge receipt of this complaint and keep me informed of your progress in these investigations. I look forward to hearing of your successful prosecution of this company that seeks to bring harm to our communities.


Sincerely,


(Your Name)


CC: Morality in Media, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115

Sample Letter 2

(Date)

(Your Address)
(Your Phone Number)

(Recipient’s Address)

Dear Sir:

I would like to thank you for all of the hard work that you have been willing to invest in service to the citizens of this state. Let me assure you that your efforts are greatly appreciated by those who benefit from them.

According to NC General Statute 14-190.15, it is unlawful in North Carolina to sell, furnish, present, or distribute to a minor material that is harmful to minors. The North Carolina Law on the Protection of Minors from Harmful Materials defines material harmful to minors as any picture, photograph, drawing, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse; and which

a. Predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful or morbid interest of minors,
b. Is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable materials for minors, and
c. Is utterly without redeeming social importance for minors.

Nudity is further defined by this law as the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the showing of the female breast with less than a full opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.

Sexual conduct is also further defined as acts of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, breast.

In accordance with the North Carolina Law on the Protection of Minors from Harmful Materials, I am seeking adjudication that the following material is harmful to minors and a permanent injunction against any respondent prohibiting him from selling, commercially distributing, or disseminating in any manner such material to minors.

Please find attached to this letter a photograph of the cover of the February, 2009 issue of the Cosmopolitan magazine which is sold and displayed in gas stations, supermarkets, and grocery stores throughout North Carolina including Wal-mart, Food Lion, Ingles, and Bi-Lo. According to the laws referenced above, the cover of this magazine is harmful to minors in that it displays nudity by showing the female breast with less than a full opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple.

Please proceed in accordance with the public policy of this State which requires that all proceedings prescribed in the North Carolina Law on the Protection of Minors from Harmful Materials shall be examined, heard and disposed of with the maximum promptness and dispatch.

Thank you once again for your hard work in this area. Please acknowledge receipt of this complaint and keep me informed of your progress in these investigations. I look forward to hearing of your successful prosecution of those who seek to bring harm to our communities.


Sincerely,


(Your Name)


CC: Morality in Media, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115


Conclusion

Pornography is against the law. We have been given the weapons to successfully combat this danger to our communities. All that remains is for us to take up our weapons and wield them. Please use the information that I have presented to send as many letters of complaint as you can and encourage your friends to do the same.
 
wow, you've been very thorough with your research... thanks for posting that. wouldn't it be great if we could stop the sale / production of this awful stuff altogether? i'm not sure what the laws are here (in Australia) but i know only some stuff is illegal, like there are a whole bunch of things they can do to sell unwholesome stuff "legally" like... loopholes or something.
 
You should do some research on it yourself. While researching the laws in America, I came across several pages on obscenity laws in Australia. Unfortunately, I did not read them to any great length, but I can assure you that the information is out there.
 
I don't see what's so awful about pornography that it should be illegal. :shrug
I personally find porn, along with sexuality in general, disgusting. But to each their own. I'm not going to stop others from enjoying it.
I understand that in Christianity lust is a sin, so that's probably why Christians don't like it.
But religion is not supposed to affect government, there should be non-religious reasons for it to be illegal.
If anyone here can name such reasons, please do. I'm curious as to the reasons people want it to be illegal.
 
Reido said:
I don't see what's so aweful about pornography that it should be illegal. :shrug
I personally find porn, along with sexuality in general, disgusting. But to each their own. I'm not going to stop others from enjoying it.
I understand that in Christianity lust is a sin, so that's probably why Christians don't like it.
But religion is not supposed to affect government, there should be non-religious reasons for it to be illegal.
If anyone here can name such reasons, please do. I'm curious as to the reasons people want it to be illegal.


there are plenty of non-faith reasons why it is bad and should be illegal, like how prevelant it is and how easy for an innocent child to fall upon it... or how it ruins marriages and other relationships etc... just to name a few :sad
 
Amielou said:
there are plenty of non-faith reasons why it is bad and should be illegal, like how prevelant it is and how easy for an innocent child to fall upon it... or how it ruins marriages and other relationships etc... just to name a few :sad

Have you thought about how stupid making pornography illegal would be? - How impossible to regulate, to apply consistency, to legislate, to remain objective. Censorship is not the new black, it's a denial of freedom and of the right to screw your life up if you choose. God gives us this right so why don't we give it to those around us?

Pornography addiction is crippling to relationships and the mind, but making pornography illegal is not a clever idea, even for a right-wing moralist.
 
MISFIT said:
Ahh, and thanks for reminding me of this, excellent resource and example.

There's a few other organisations similar that I have links to that I'd be happy to point people to if they were after resources or support too.
 
ahh but if its done for religious reasons it breaks the "mix church and state" thing

In canada-the government really can't mix christianity and politics as there are a LOT more non christians here (I think-don't quote me on this lol)
also the way our politics works, blah blah blah (its boring)
I mean they try (with things like abortion and same sex marriage) but it didn't work at all, and the right wingers are not doing so well (which is nice!)
 
crabby said:
MISFIT said:
Ahh, and thanks for reminding me of this, excellent resource and example.

There's a few other organisations similar that I have links to that I'd be happy to point people to if they were after resources or support too.


They are great, we had them at our church for Porn Sunday last year it was a real eye opener.
 
I will never understand pornography. I think it is discusting and i would think it would be degrading to the people who do it. My boyfriend was addicted to it as well as going to the strip shows before we met but as soon as we moved in i had made him get rid of everything that i knew of but he never told me the complete truth and that he still had some discusting posters and other things that while he was gone to work one day i went into the trunk he had it in and tore all the posters and ripped, broke everything he had that was discusting in my eyes(i did tell him that i did that after he got home from work) his brother lived with us for a couple of months and had his own room and he knew the rules of having no pornography or anything else that is gross well he never listened to it and hid magazines, movies, he even had books on girl on girl, boy on boy and even instest in the family hidden under our couch which i ripped up and tossed it in our firepit that we had(also went into the room he was staying in and looked around to see if he had anything else. I know i shouldnt of gone into his private stuff but he was living in our home and we told him straight out the rules of our home and he decided not to listen) as we do have small children visiting and that is the last thing we need them to see. But every now and then i will find either a dvd or magazine while my boyfriend says its not his and that it is his brothers why would his brother leave all the stuff here when he moved out last year.
 
VicB, I'd challenge what you are doing as not being useful.
Addiction, if that is what you have on your hands, is not ended with "rules" and by destroying the material without permission.
Addiction is destroyed by bringing it to the light.
Be careful your actions aren't just deepening the darkness.
 
I rarely come into the Parenting and Marriage Forum mostly because I'm not married and I'm not a parent. I was just clearing out old unread threads and found this one. This, like the subject of smoking weed, has been an interest of mine. I've struggled with both in the past and I'm not sure passing laws is the right approach. Hey, marijuana is illegal and I still smoked it. Porn is a sin, Christian or not and it took a very patient God to break the cycle, so laws wouldn't have been a deterrent.

Jesus is the answer, as He is with any problem we may incur. :amen

Victoria, your reaction was normal and typical, but probably not the right approach. It is a physiological addiction and needs to be dealt with accordingly. Some of us eventually will give it up to God and let Him deal with it because it's something no one can deal with on their own. There are those, unfortunately, who don't have God in their lives, but nonetheless, need to deal with this problem. People with delve into porn usually do so for deep-seeded reasons and breaking the cycle means getting down to the root cause of the addiction.

xxxchurch.com... interesting. While I don't agree with a watered down approach (The Message as the Bible of choice?) they are doing the right thing by taking their cause straight to the source. They are approaching the issue of porn and the industry head on. This issue can't be sidestepped and people who are in denial aren't going to come them. So, they must go to them with their mission. I give them a lot of credit; they are dealing with a very profitable industry.
 
(Not married or a parent, but I did do a 10 page research paper on it last semester and found some interesting stuff out.)

I didn't research the legal issues with pornography. My paper was about it's effects on children, and there is nothing good about pornography. It's like a huge cycle. (This is not always the case, but here's a hypothetical example [based on the little research I did])

Children these days usually have access to the internet at young ages, and they're pretty darn good at using it. Well, unless the adults running the house (whether it's parents, friends' parents, uncles, grandparents...) don't have their internet protection set on "Threatcon Delta" there's a chance the kids will find it. (I'm not going to give examples of the ease of access because I don't want to cause anyone who may struggle with pornography to stumble.)

They don't know how to react to what they see, and they usually don't understand that pornography and sex (the way God intended) are two opposite sides of the board. They see it as a guide to real life...as a learning tool...and (My own hypothesis) they probably can't wait to try it out. (back to research :biggrin)This leads to younger ages of engaged oral sex and intercourse. Normally, the child grows out of their thinking, but usually when it's too late.

Also, some sex offenders claimed that they use pornography to ease their conscience before they planned to abuse a child...but the effects of that can get lengthy.

(I feel really bad that I can't site all of this, haha!)

This example isn't always the case, and I'm not saying that any parent who lets their child use the internet is a bad parent (because I'm not experienced in parenting at ALL). What I AM saying is that pornography isn't something that we should just leave to someone else to bother with, or let other people "enjoy." It's something that really should be completely done away with (heh, a dream of mine). I don't know too much about government, so I won't comment on that, but nothing good EVER comes out of pornography. (As far as I know)


haha, sorry if that was a little rant-ish and long winded. :biggrin
 
Yes, lets use this resurrected thread for some good. Go ahead and cite whatever you can. Maybe start with the damage done by Alfred Kinsey and later on, Hugh Hefner. :angry2
 
Sorry, I should've said that I couldn't cite it because my professor kept the paper to show his future classes. And the only reason I posted the word cite under my original post was because I noticed I spelled it wrong, and I hate when I do that. I was frustrated at myself; I wasn't telling other people to cite stuff. I apologized for not citing what I was talking about because I didn't want to seem like some kid who thought she knew everything in the world.

The only reason I posted in this old forum is because I hate pornography with a passion. I don't hate it because I'm some sheltered little girl, but because other people's addiction to pornography ruined my life. Sorry if I sounded harsh; I didn't mean to.
 
Lizz said:
(Not married or a parent, but I did do a 10 page research paper on it last semester and found some interesting stuff out.)

I didn't research the legal issues with pornography. My paper was about it's effects on children, and there is nothing good about pornography. It's like a huge cycle. (This is not always the case, but here's a hypothetical example [based on the little research I did])

Children these days usually have access to the internet at young ages, and they're pretty darn good at using it. Well, unless the adults running the house (whether it's parents, friends' parents, uncles, grandparents...) don't have their internet protection set on "Threatcon Delta" there's a chance the kids will find it. (I'm not going to give examples of the ease of access because I don't want to cause anyone who may struggle with pornography to stumble.)

They don't know how to react to what they see, and they usually don't understand that pornography and sex (the way God intended) are two opposite sides of the board. They see it as a guide to real life...as a learning tool...and (My own hypothesis) they probably can't wait to try it out. (back to research :biggrin)This leads to younger ages of engaged oral sex and intercourse. Normally, the child grows out of their thinking, but usually when it's too late.

Also, some sex offenders claimed that they use pornography to ease their conscience before they planned to abuse a child...but the effects of that can get lengthy.

(I feel really bad that I can't site all of this, haha!)

This example isn't always the case, and I'm not saying that any parent who lets their child use the internet is a bad parent (because I'm not experienced in parenting at ALL). What I AM saying is that pornography isn't something that we should just leave to someone else to bother with, or let other people "enjoy." It's something that really should be completely done away with (heh, a dream of mine). I don't know too much about government, so I won't comment on that, but nothing good EVER comes out of pornography. (As far as I know)


haha, sorry if that was a little rant-ish and long winded. :biggrin

pray for me my problem with porn started with in my youth, teens and later earlier adult.

jason
 
:pray I will pray for you Jason and for all those who are silently dealing with this problem. Over the last several weeks, it has become very apparent how widespread this issue is within the Christian community.
 
Back
Top