Analysis
The U.S. may be undergoing social distancing, but evangelical leaders aren’t taking a break from their obsession over porn. One Christian minister claims viewing porn during the coronavirus pandemic is the most destructive event in history.
“Porn is by far the greatest cancer ever to the church,” author Josh McDowell told the Christian Post. “It is right at this moment destroying more churches, more pastors, more marriages, more people’s lives, more relationships than any one thing has ever done simultaneously in history.”
This is questionable at best. World War II led to at least 70 million deaths, including over 17 million in the Holocaust alone. Approximately 12.5 million Africans were forced into chattel slavery during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and devastated African cultures’ socioeconomic conditions. In recent months, COVID-19 alone has a death toll over 200,000, with over 2.9 million confirmed infections. But sure, porn is the most devastating phenomenon to grace the planet.
McDowell went on to suggest porn addiction causes “three to four years to break its grip” because it “rewires the brain,” as the Post paraphrases. In 2017, he made similar claims, comparing porn to cocaine and heroin and warning parents to tell their kids about watching too much smut on the internet. “By five years old,” he said, “you’d better have your child prepared.”
The term “porn addiction” has come under fire as more scientists revisit the topic. One 2015 study proved compulsive porn users “do not appear to have the same relationship to porn as a substance addict.” Some therapists prefer looking at porn from a neutral standpoint by instead analyzing its role in individual patients’ lives.
Anti-porn rhetoric has long walked hand-in-hand with conservatism. Lauren Parker argues popular anti-porn nonprofit Fight The New Drug uses Christian-esque rhetoric to target “insecure, queer, alternative” children in conservative communities. In the past year alone, the American right has increased pressure on the adult industry, including a new campaign against Pornhub. Sex workers and sex workers’ rights activists have criticized the move, pointing out how religious-backed organizations are twisting real problems with Pornhub to carry out a much larger moral panic on porn.
In the meantime, McDowell seems hellbent on getting Christians to stop watching porn during the coronavirus pandemic. “I put it this way: When it comes to porn and most things in your life, you need more than Jesus,” he told the Post.
The Daily Dot reached out to McDowell for comment.
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