Curated by It’s That Part™ — Originally published by Faith and Proverbs on .
Last week, The New York Times published an exposé that, in any morally serious culture, would have been met with a wave of bipartisan outrage and urgent congressional action. Instead, it was largely met with a blasé silence. The article, which detailed how Pornhub’s own internal documents reveal years of knowingly hosting—and profiting from—videos of children suffering nonconsensual acts, isn’t a revelation. It’s confirmation of the evil at work here.
We now have irrefutable evidence of what has long been plain to any honest observer: The commercial pornography industry is predatory, lawless, and deeply dependent on abuse. And yet it continues to operate in broad daylight, shielded by an outdated moral indifference and a confused understanding of free speech.
As a Southern Baptist and an evangelical Christian, I hold convictions shaped by Scripture, which teaches the inherent dignity of every human being and the God-ordained purpose of sexuality. Accordingly, pornography’s very existence degrades human dignity and distorts God’s good design for sexuality.
Even those who don’t share our convictions, however, should consider what the facts now demand. Pornography isn’t merely immoral. It’s exploitative. It’s violent. It’s corrosive to relationships, harmful to children, and toxic to a culture that claims to value consent, freedom, and human dignity. It degrades the soul. How much longer will we stand idly by as this industry preys on us?
Pornography’s very existence degrades human dignity and distorts God’s good design for sexuality.
Moral Emergency
Pornography’s deleterious effect on marriages, families, and the next generation is staggering.
If nothing else, we must act on behalf of our children. In an age of smartphones and social media, it isn’t a question of if a child will encounter pornography—but a question of when, and how often. No child is prepared to process what he or she will see when first exposed to such content at the average age of 11.
Pornographers know this. And they bank on it, aiming to make their material as addictive as possible.
Predators know this too. And they use pornographic material as both bait and blueprint as they groom their victims. The platforms that host this dehumanizing content often lack meaningful age verification, protections, or effective moderation, making them ideal hunting grounds for those seeking to abuse children in the most egregious way possible.
This isn’t a side issue. It’s a moral emergency.
Some will respond, as they always do, with appeals to free speech. But our First Amendment has never meant freedom to traffic in human misery. Moreover, no constitutional right is without some limitation, especially when it endangers lives. We restrict defamation, incitement, obscenity, and child pornography—all inherently harmful forms of speech. Commercial pornography also belongs in that category.
Stand for Abolition
Our freedoms require moral boundaries. The question isn’t whether we can restrict pornography. The question is whether we have the courage to do so. Though we may begin with urgent reforms to protect children and prosecute abuse, these are steps toward a larger aim: the complete dismantling of the pornography industry.
This includes
- enacting robust age-verification laws for all pornographic platforms;
- rendering illegal the hosting or monetization of nonconsensual, trafficked, or abusive material;
- removing legal protections for companies that knowingly profit from exploitation;
- classifying commercial pornography as a threat to public health; and
- ultimately, moving toward the total elimination—not just regulation—of the commercial pornography industry.
Let me be clear: These incremental steps are necessary because the political will to abolish pornography outright likely doesn’t yet exist. For instance, just this month, Utah senator Mike Lee introduced a measure that would redefine obscenity, paving the way for a nationwide prohibition on pornography. It’s not the first time Lee has initiated this process. He attempted it in both 2022 and 2024, but it has yet to gain traction in the Senate.
Any legal structure that normalizes pornography is ultimately incompatible with human flourishing. But every step toward being rid of it societally is a move in the right direction. There’s no First Amendment defense for rape. There’s no civil liberty that justifies monetized abuse. There’s no technological innovation that makes human degradation acceptable.
Any legal structure that normalizes pornography is ultimately incompatible with human flourishing.
We’re long past the point where this issue can be dismissed as a moral panic. This isn’t about nostalgia for a bygone era or imposing religious rules on secular society. This is about whether we’ll defend the vulnerable, preserve the dignity of the human person, and build a culture worthy of our children.
We cannot claim to care about women while tolerating an industry that degrades them. We cannot say we value children while giving predators free rein. We cannot speak of freedom while sanctioning enslavement.
Criminal Industry
Pornography’s defenders often appeal to “consent” as their moral shield. But the Pornhub documents show what many victims have testified to for years: In case after case, that consent was coerced, fabricated, or absent altogether. A morally sane society would recognize that an industry profiting from sexual abuse and the exploitation of minors has no place in civil society.
More than a decade ago, the financial sector began distancing itself from Pornhub following revelations of the site hosting child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual content. Payment processors walked away. Politicians issued statements. But structurally, nothing changed. The industry rebranded, restructured—and continued. That’s why legislation is so critical.
This isn’t just about one company. It’s about an entire ecosystem. The modern pornography industry isn’t built on free expression but on the illegal commodification of human beings. It relies on anonymity, impunity, and a legal vacuum in which abuse thrives.
For decades, pornography’s critics have been dismissed as moral scolds or out-of-touch traditionalists. But the culture is catching up to reality. Feminist scholars, secular psychologists, and former industry insiders are increasingly willing to say what used to be taboo in “polite” society: Pornography isn’t empowering. It isn’t harmless. Real victims are behind the images.
This is nothing less than a public health crisis.
Time to Act
An extensive body of research links pornography consumption to higher rates of sexual aggression, decreased relational satisfaction, and increased rates of depression and anxiety. Studies suggest that young men in particular—often first exposed to explicit material years before puberty—are forming their most basic assumptions about women, sex, power, and intimacy not from parents, schools, or houses of worship but from algorithmically sorted filth. And young women? They grow up thinking that what pornography portrays is normal.
It isn’t. It must stop.
Now is the time to act for the sake of our children, our culture, and our souls.
No version of this industry can be baptized, cleaned up, or redeemed. It mustn’t be tolerated, accommodated, or reformed—it must be dismantled. Our convictions, our witness, and our love for neighbor demand no less.
It’s time to ban pornography.
For truth in every fact, visit itsthatpart.com.
Originally sourced via trusted media partner. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/outlaw-pornography-now/
