The Barna Group has released . Some of the findings are truly eye-opening and disturbing. For example, 55% of practicing Christians reportedly believe that one can view porn and be sexually healthy. How did we get here, and what can we do about it? Sean and Scott discuss this new study and then give suggestions for how we move forward in our lives and relationships.



Episode Transcript

Scott: What does the most recent data say about attitudes toward pornography, especially by Christians? How can the majority of Christians say that looking at porn can be sexually healthy? How can the church speak into this issue with relevance and with sensitivity? To answer these questions and more, Sean and I discuss a new Barna research study entitled Beyond the Porn Phenomenon. I'm your host, Scott Rae.

Sean: I'm your co-host, Sean McDowell.

Scott: This is Think Biblically from Talbot School of Theology at 91. Sean, this is quite an interesting study with some really alarming conclusions. And you had a chance to participate as one of the panelists in this for how the church should respond to this. So I mean, you've got sort of first-hand exposure to the data that they've uncovered here. But what exactly is the significance of this new study by Barna?

Sean: So in 2016, my father's ministry, the Josh McDowell Ministry, commissioned and sponsored a study with the Barna Research Group. It was called The Porn Phenomenon. And they uncovered some pretty surprising findings. Of course, some things are not, but some things that are. For example, among Gen Z at that time, people were far more likely, I think in the 50s versus the 30s, to say that not recycling is more immoral than looking at pornography. That was an interesting metric that came out around 2015-2016. So, Pure Desire Ministries now partnered with the Barna Group to do an 8-10 year later in-depth study in light of—think of all the changes that have taken place with the #MeToo movement, with, even, continued growth of social media, of course, artificial intelligence—what has now changed in the church and in the culture in terms of what we believe and how we practice as a society when it comes to pornography. And I think you're right. I try to not use words like stunning and alarming, because everything is stunning and alarming today to get clicks. This is when there are a few things that I have a hard time believing are true. I'm not saying I doubt the data. I'm just saying, I can't believe…this is so jarring. We need to wake up and respond to this.

Scott: So, if you would just really help for our viewers and listeners here who may not have time to read this or wade through all the details, at the high level here, what do you think is the main takeaway from this?

Sean: By the way, I do hope people will get a copy and read it. It's very readable. It's not that long. I think every pastor needs to read it. I think every youth pastor needs to read it.

Scott: Absolutely.

Sean: I think there's that level of data. And some of the 30,000 foot takeaway is, basically, from eight years ago, in every demographic, whether it's racially or age, whatever it is, as a whole, things have not gotten better as it comes to pornography. In fact, they've gotten worse. That's a 30,000 foot reality. And so, I think the bottom line is, most churches are still not talking about this. Now, about three quarters of people said they want their churches to talk about it. And about 10% said their church is addressing it in a significant way. Like, 10%.

Scott: Not very much.

Sean: And so, I think this study shows that many people who at least identify as Christians have been shaped far more in their view of sexuality from the culture as a whole, and arguably pornography, than from the Scriptures and a biblical view of sex.

Scott: How do you account for the, you know…I take it when you say it's getting worse, that means the increase in number of viewers and maybe the increase in the, sort of, off the beaten path type of content that they're being exposed to? I take it that's what you mean by it's getting worse?

Sean: Yes. So, I guess I can say it's getting—

Scott: Both the frequency and the content.

Sean: Yes. And some of that is because things like social media have become a new means by which people are at least accessing soft pornography and beyond in a way that maybe wasn't as prevalent 10 years ago. But I think with things like virtual reality and artificial intelligence—now, the study didn't get into depth on artificial intelligence because it's really emerging right now—I think the content is radically shifting as well. And here's one of the things just to keep in mind. And we talked about this when we had Christopher Lind on a while ago. There's a difference between in the past…if somebody wanted to go find pornography, they could find it. If you could imagine some kind of pornographic scene, whatever that may be, you search it, somebody has already made it. Now, with artificial intelligence, people can just think it, plug it in, and it's created in ways that it's now difficult to distinguish what's true and what's not. So numbers and quality, for lack of a better term, have both, I think, arguably gotten worse.

Scott: We're coining new terms for some of the things that are coming out now.

Sean: That's right.

Scott: Sextortion, for example, is the newest form of extortion. So who knew that we would have deep fakes that would be putting people's faces on sexual images with the kind of frequency that's happening now?

Sean: That's right. Yeah.

Scott: Are there any positive takeaways from this?

Sean: So, that's an interesting question. I would say, positive takeaway is that there's at least a number of Christians who want churches to address this. That's positive. That's at least some people saying we need help. It's the elephant in the room that we're not addressing. We're also seeing, on positive takeaways…let me see if I can find this right here. Related to Gen Z, a really interesting potential shift that's here. The study says, “Gen Z are slightly more inclined to perceive porn as bad for society, with half expressing the sentiment in contrast to 40%, two in five, of millennials.” That's a 10% jump. So they said, “It could be that we are gathering momentum for a pendulum swing back to a more critical stance.” That could be the case. We now have a generation that's been raised in such a sexualized culture that there's an awakening, at least among a not insignificant percentage of Gen Zers. That's one of the positive things.

Scott: Anything else in here that just caught you off guard?

Sean: Oh my goodness. Some of the specific examples that we'll get to, I mean, in some ways it's hard to imagine that it's really true. I had to read it a few times. Now the study makes a distinction between, like, self-identifying Christians, practicing Christians…so, like, somebody from Latter-day Saints would say that they're Christian, but a practicing Christian would be a more evangelical community. So one of the studies, one in three, I'm sorry, “Three in five Christians tell Barna they agree a person can regularly view pornography and live a sexually healthy life.” Now, those are self-identified Christians, but 62%. I mean, that is incredible to me, that that many don't see a tension between viewing pornography and living out the Christian life.

Scott: I wonder if they just see a tension between viewing pornography and their spiritual formation as opposed to viewing pornography and their sex life. Is that a possibility?

Sean: So, this study doesn't probe down into…and I would like to know why there's that bifurcation that's there.

Scott: Because that's the question that just sort of screams out at you.

Sean: I think it's possible that they're able to just separate and say, well, you know, as long as there's not actually a third party who is here, and I'm just viewing it, it can enhance my life. I'm sure there's some ways that people would say, "Is this still sex with my wife?" But still, I'm going, where are we getting this ethic from?

Scott: Yeah.

Sean: And I think there could be other things that are contributing to it as well. Like, we've just become so desensitized in such a pornified society, that even Christians don't see that many times.

Scott: All right. So let's, for our viewers and listeners, let's see if we can get a handle on how many people, Christians and non-Christians, view porn, and how significant is the porn industry?

Sean: So here's, I mean, this is a new stat I'm going to be using. Or, it's not really a stat. It just says, “In the U.S. alone, the top three porn sites [which they don't mention, thank you] receive more web traffic annually than Netflix, Amazon, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok combined.” Now, just TikTok is so ubiquitous. If it was as much or more than that, it should be alarming. But you've got Amazon, Netflix, Pinterest, and you're talking about web traffic, and it's more than all of them combined. I think it is far larger and more prevalent than we remotely understand in the church and outside of the church. So I mean, it's fair to say that I think it is still a multi-billion dollar industry.

Sean: Oh my goodness.

Scott: That dwarfs a lot of other industries.

Sean: In the U.S. alone. Now here's one thing that might help. They said “All generations of witnesses significantly increased in daily engagement over the past decade since the 2015 research. Overall, over half of practicing Christians,” so these aren't self-identifying Christians, “report viewing pornography compared to two in three non-Christians.” Now, how often they view it, you know, once a month versus daily, that's where it breaks down. But at least with some regularity, over half of Christians who otherwise practice their faith are viewing pornography.

Scott: So Sean, do you think this is just a case where, you know, the average Christian thinks this is a no harm, no foul type of thing?

Sean: I think it's a few things. I think Christians in their heart of hearts know that they shouldn't be looking at pornography. But what's true for probably all of us—and I have to watch this in myself—is rather than comparing myself to God's biblical standard, I compare myself to somebody else. I'm not as bad as that guy. And then I feel justified in it. And so, pornography is easy to say, "I don't look at it that much. I don't look at as bad of pornography as others. I'm not hurting anybody." My guess is, that's the most common response. And so, I think that's driving it. It's a comparison. Like, this is a reality, it's so prevalent. And then voices can come in and can say, you know, "I deserve this because my husband or my wife." Like, I think that's probably…most Christians just have a sense of a defeated life, and don't really have the tools and sense of urgency to conquer it.

Scott: All right. So let's contest the no harm, no foul idea. What does the data tell us about how porn affects people?

Sean: Oh, so there's a ton of data in this that walks through how it affects people.

Scott: There's a whole chapter on that particular part, if I recall.

Sean: There's big chapters on this. And the report talks about how it affects not only our soul, like our minds and how we think, but it also affects our body. In fact, they interviewed some medical doctors to talk about how it rewires the brain and the synapses when you look at pornography that affects the way that, when you translate to a real person who doesn't match up with the images, I’ve biologically wired myself and desensitized myself to not respond to the person in the flesh. That's one thing that they talk about. Here's one example they gave. They said “In 2015, a strong majority, 79%, defined an image depicting sexual intercourse as definitely pornography. Now this has weakened to 67% holding this view.” So in one sense, it's like, wait a minute, 79% used to think that was pornographic. Now it's two thirds. So from four out of 10 to two out of three. Well, what's happened? We've become desensitized as a culture. That's an example of how it affects us. And they go on and on here. I mean, I marked up all these pages about how it affects us, here, negatively. I think the data is out. I think it's really hard for somebody to argue that pornography does not affect relationships, it does not affect our brains, it doesn't affect our view of others. I don't think there's any way somebody can make that case in light of the data, that there is not empirically deducible. Let me give you one more if I can find it right here. Oh, here it is. So here's what they write. They said, “Many men view their partner's use of porn as sexually stimulating or the marker of a partner's high libido in general.”

Scott: Interesting.

Sean: So, men view their partner's porn use differently than women do. It could also be that some of the women who regularly use porn do so for their partner's benefit. “Women are 10% more likely to say they view porn to set the mood with a spouse or romantic partner, whatever the reason. The fact that men tend to view their partner's porn use as positive while women overwhelmingly view it as negative can undoubtedly contribute to misunderstanding and relational breakdown.” So, looking at pornography shapes men to think, oh, women enjoy it. They want this. It affects their thinking, affects their relationship, affects how they treat somebody without really realizing it, because they've been pornified, in a sense, by what they see. I mean, this book goes on and on and on in empirical studies that affect the way we treat each other, we see the world, brain development, consistently for the negative.

Scott: From what you've been able to ascertain, is this data on the way it affects the way it rewires the brain, is that something new, or is that something we've known about for a while?

Sean: I guess it depends on what you mean by for a while. I mean, I've been talking about this for a couple of decades, and probably people before me have been talking about it. But as you go back, as I understand it, there were beliefs that the brain was a little bit more solidified in adolescence and didn't really change. And we've learned that the brain's not really fully formed until the mid or upper 20s.

Scott: Lots of plasticity to it.

Sean: And still has plasticity over time that we can adapt. And so, yeah, we'll leave it at that.

Scott: Okay, all right. I think what I want our viewers and listeners to be aware of is just how overwhelming the data is on this. And there's just not much room to contest this on the analytics part of it, because the harm is becoming really clear in ways that it hasn't before, at the same time when the prevalence of it is increased and the attitudes toward it have shifted, I think, pretty dramatically. I think a generation ago, I'm not sure you would have found that 55% of Christians think that you can be sexually healthy and view porn regularly. That's a huge generational shift. And I don't think a generation ago you would have found that almost half of practicing Christians say they're comfortable with their current use of porn. I mean, in my experience, everybody who viewed porn was uncomfortable with it.

Sean: That's correct. Non-Christians, going back. That's right.

Scott: And today has become…I just don't know what, besides the ubiquity of it and our desensitization to it, what has changed that would cause people to ignore the biblical teaching on lust, and on sexual fantasy, on committing adultery in the mind, all those things that have changed so much that this number, this kind of percentage of people say they're comfortable with any use of it, much less their current use.

Sean: This is one of the things that stunned me, and I honestly don't know exactly what to do with it. When it says 49% of practicing Christians who are porn users are comfortable with it, at first, in one sense, if somebody said to me, "Are you comfortable with your porn use?" I'd say, "sure," because I don't look at it, so I'm comfortable. [laughs] So I thought, well, maybe this is just all Christians, whether they use it or not. This is specifically Christians who view pornography.

Scott: Who are users, yeah.

Sean: So that tells me one thing that shifted a little bit. I said in their heart of hearts, a lot of Christians know that it's wrong. But they're comfortable, like, they're not motivated to change it. I think maybe I need to ramp up a little bit so people really understand. Do you know how damaging pornography is to the spirit, to the soul, to society, to relationships? Do you know how much it violates God's design for sex? It's important we don't do so in a way that shames people, because I think a lot of the reason people are living defeated lives is they feel like, if this is the worst sin ever, then I can't talk about it. So I don't want to shame people. But as I read this, one of my takeaways was, I need to ramp up the sense of urgency. half of practicing Christians are comfortable looking at pornography? Holy cow, that's devastating. We need to light a fire in them and help them have the tools and understanding of how just, I think, cancerous this is to the body and soul.

Scott: Well, I think what it does reveal is that we've bifurcated parts of our private life out from under the lordship of Christ. And the fact that our churches are not addressing it, I