Move aside drugs and alcohol, porn is taking over.

According to a church run mission out of Pasadena, California, porn is the new plague, calling it “the most destructive force in our culture.” Sorry guys, but it is not morally wrong to view pornography and it is not a problem merely because it exists.

That being said, pornography can be problematic when used in excess, when viewed at inappropriate times or at places where porn really shouldn’t be watched. Gaining some exposure to this issue is good for all of us — even if it’s via a church group.

Healing people of their porn addictions and other related issues is xxxchurch.com’s mission. Thank goodness the church is saving people once again. Hallelujah! Let’s pray the porn away.

I came across this intriguing website on social media and couldn’t help but question the issue of pornography in our culture. Moreover, I was interested in understanding how xxxchurch.com saw pornography as a destructive force.

The website itself is filled with statistics from numerous studies (mostly about the United States) that validate the idea that porn is a serious problem. When I say “porn,” I’m referring to visual images that explicitly display sexual organs or activities that take place between consenting adults.

The mission claims that xxxchurch.com does what they do because people matter:

“Every woman who poses for the camera? That’s a person Jesus loves. Every man who degrades himself on tape? That’s a person Jesus loves. Every child who has their innocence robbed? That’s a person Jesus loves. Every person chained to the addictive sin of pornography? That’s a person Jesus loves.”

In truth, the individuals who do their part for the porn industry really are just people in the end. And according to xxxchurch.com, these people “are so valued that Jesus gave up his life for them.”

Thanks Jesus, you rule.

So it can be said that because people matter to Jesus, they matter to xxxchurch.com. That’s why their mission exists in the first place. Although I’m wary of pretty much any cause that has  strong religious affiliations, I do see validity in the issue xxxchurch.com attempts to expose.

Honestly, I was initially really critical of this website and the mission’s cause, but as I look at their statistics (and other statistics from studies conducted in the United States and Canada) there’s a definite reason for issues tied to pornograpy to be exposed. However, I would never refer to watching porngraphy as an “addicitive sin.”

Like I said, watching porn can be problematic when done in excess — just like everything else — but it’s not automatically bad because it exists. Notably, a study conducted by the Huffington Post states that “Porn sites get more visitors each month than Netfilx, Amazon and Twitter combined.”

Looking at the numbers on the mission’s website highlights the significant role porn plays in the 21st century.

“Sex is the number one topic searched on the Internet,” xxxchurch.com states. Big surprise, right? The website claims further that “25 per cent of all search engine requests are pornography-related,” and that “The average age of first internet exposure to pornography is 11-years-old.”

Again, I’m really not surprised by these numbers. I vaguely recall being around the age of 10 when all of my friends did a google search for “boobs.” Sex and sexuality are fascinating aspects of the human condition; it’s only natural that we’re all using the wonderful World Wide Web to help us figure out how it all works.

And in case you were thinking that porn was only something that men watched because of their perpetual desire to jerk off, you’re most certainly incorrect! Even xxxchurch.com acknowldges that “9.3 million women access adult websites each month.” Good for you, ladies.

But two out of three people who view pornography on the Internet are men. According to the stats on the mission’s webpage, “70 per cent of 18-to-24-year-old men visit pornographic sites in a typical month,” while “66 per cent of men in their 20s and 30s also report being regular users of pornography.” xxxchurch.com does not offer information regarding older demographics on their websites. I guess they’ve already saved the older crowd.

That all being said, apparently a lot of porn viewing on the Internet happens by chance. “The most common ways people have accidentally reached pornographic content on the web are pop-up windows (55 per cent), misrepresented links (52 per cent), misspelled URLs (48 per cent) and auto links within emails (23 per cent).”

So I guess sometimes porn watching just happens. I do wonder, however, how many of those pop-up windows showing pornography happen while one is already watching porn to begin with. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

While watching porn at home isn’t a problem on the surface, if this behaviour begins to take place at work, I’d say it’s probably an issue. xxxchurch.com says that “20 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women admitted to accessing pornography at work.” Yikes!

If you find yourself using your coffee time to watch some kinky BDSM or some vanilla missionary all in an effort to take a masturbation break, you might want to check yourself. You might not need Jesus — and if you do, that’s okay, too — but some reorganization of priorities might be a good idea. Therapy is always an option too if you really can’t stop on your own.

If we’ve learned anything from Tiger Woods, it’s that a sex addiction is a real thing. The same can be said for anyone who’s obsessed with porn.

Interestingly, “half of all hotel guests order pornographic movies [and] these films comprise 80 per cent of in-room entertainment revenue and 70 per cent of total in-room revenue” at hotels in the U.S. Whoah! I certainly hope those hotel sheets get washed with bleach.

Perhaps the biggest and most problematic aspect to viewing porn is that it could, in theory, raise one’s expectations of how their partner should look and behave in bed.

Yes, issues surrounding pornography should be exposed. We should talk about the dangers of it and when it’s appropriate to watch. Although xxxchurch.com tries to help those who do suffer from porn addicitons, their mission — or at least some of their language — seems to give an overly negative connation to viewing pornography in general, even though the mission operates with what I’m sure are the best of intentions.

Personally, I will never pray the porn away — just as I will never pray the gay away — but I think we all should recognize that pornography can be just as addictive as drug or alcohol use.