The US state of Utah has become the first to declare pornography a public health hazard.
The bill, signed by Republican Governor Gary Herbert, does not prohibit pornography but calls for greater "efforts to prevent pornography exposure and addiction".
It recognises that porn "perpetuates a sexually toxic environment", and "is contributing to the hypersexualisation of teens, and even prepubescent children, in our society".
The bill also allows IT technicians who find child pornography on a computer to report it to the police.
'Volume of pornography is staggering'
Governor Gary Herbert said, "I want to protect our families and our young people," remarking that the volume of pornography is "staggering".
A 2009 study by Harvard Business School showed that Utah was the state with the highest percentage of online porn subscribers in the US, although several other states showed similar figures.
The bill has declared porn "a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms."
It states that further steps must be taken to change "education, prevention, research, and policy change at the community and societal level".
Christian Concern’s Chief Executive Andrea Williams has welcomed Utah’s bill in the hope that this will lead to other states and nations following suit.
'Civilizational calamity'
Earlier this month, Denny Burk published a piece, ‘The Darkness of Porn and the Hope of the Gospel’, which emphasises the need to view and discuss the issue of pornography in moral terms, rather than only highlighting its physiological effects.
Burk writes: "I am not being hyperbolic when I call porn use a civilizational calamity. The sexual revolution promised us more sex and more pleasure.
"It has actually delivered to us a generation of men who think of women as objects to be used and abused for their sexual pleasure. It has not given us men who know what virtue and honor are. It doesn’t teach men to pursue their joy in self-sacrificially loving and being sexually faithful to one woman for life.
"It teaches young men to use women for sex and then to discard them when they become unwilling or uninteresting. This means that it has given us a generation of young men completely unprepared for marriage and for fatherhood."
Burk goes on to say that this is an issue that is greatly affecting Christians, though he did not mention that the problem is increasing amongst women as well as men.
"As a Christian and as a pastor, I feel the weight of all of this. I know that porn use is the pastoral challenge that defines our generation."
Stark reality of porn
Accountability group CovenantEyes has compiled statistics to provide a stark picture of the reality of pornography.
The resource details the abuse suffered by its participants, the detrimental effect of pornography on marriages and families, and its frequent use by members of the church.
It highlights the findings of a 2014 Barna group survey, which showed that in the US, 64% of self-identified Christian men and 15% of self-identified Christian women view pornography at least once a month.
In a survey conducted in 2000 by Christianity Today, 33% of clergy said they have visited a sexually explicit website.
'We need to bring this out into the open'
Andrea Williams emphasised the need for churches and families to address this issue and bring it into the open.
"Pornography is significantly contributing to the breakdown of marriages and families. It is trapping those who participate in it in a lifestyle of abuse, and those who view it in a cycle of addiction," she said.
"This issue, sadly, is one that many are struggling with within the church, but it remains a secret because individuals feel ashamed to admit that they need help.
"We believe the blood of Christ is the power to break every chain of addiction – and pornography addiction will only fester so long as it remains in the dark. We need to bring this out into the open. We need to talk about this in our family homes, in our churches and in our youth groups, so that we can expose darkness with the light of the gospel."
If you or somebody you know is struggling with pornography or some other kind of sex addiction, you may find this resource useful, from the website of relationship counsellor and Christian Legal Centre client Gary McFarlane.
Related Links:
The Darkness of Porn and the Hope of the Gospel (Denny Burk)
Pornography Statistics: Annual Report 2015 (CovenantEyes)
Gary McFarlane Counselling (Gary McFarlane)