https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/05/04/watching-porn-is-bad-for-conservative-christians-because-they-feel-more-shame

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/q-and-a/a-sociologist-of-religion-on-protestants-porn-and-the-purity-industrial-complex


"Pornography is becoming more widespread, more prevalent. More people are viewing it than ever, and it’s becoming more mainstream than ever. And so there’s this big debate about whether or not pornography has consequences in people’s lives: whether it can be addicting and whether it can affect us in negative ways; make you chronically impotent or make you a sex monster. What I found is that, whatever we think pornography is doing, those effects tend to be amplified when we’re talking about conservative Protestants. It seems to be uniquely harmful to conservative Protestants’ mental health, their sense of self, their own identities—certainly their intimate relationships—in ways that don’t tend to be as harmful for people who don’t have that kind of moral problem with it.

The effects of pornography aren’t just about watching images on a computer screen but what that activity means to your community. It’s what that activity means to you. And so, with conservative Protestants, you have this fascinating paradox of a group of people who hate pornography morally. They want to eradicate it from the world. And yet, statistically, they will view it slightly less often than your average American. And so you have this paradoxical situation of a group of people who collectively hate it, and yet, as individuals, they semi-regularly watch it. Especially the men. What are the consequences of that kind of incongruence in their lives?"

"Well, in terms of individual consequences, what we find is that, more often, there’s a connection between viewing pornography and experiencing depression. But we found it’s really only for men who are violating their own moral beliefs when they’re viewing it. In other words, it’s not necessarily that porn makes you depressed. It’s watching porn when you’ve already said that that’s an immoral thing and you don’t want to do it. That can lead to guilt and shame that makes you feel crappy about yourself, that you are immoral, that you’re violating something that’s deeply held and sacred."

Someone else could research the same issue and come up with opposite results.

Better to think things through using our own senses and intellect than to depend on impersonal studies.

If you do research or an experiment and you keep coming up with the same results, then you have to modify your previous views and accept the results.

That's how science works.

Evidence, Cheryl, or are we just going with our gut on these things?

Yet you offer no evidence and base your quip entirely on your unproven assumption that the research is wrong.

You say you are “talking about evidence” but insist on using “our own senses and intellect.” Which is it?

That a one-sided slanted study doesn't prove a point.

That wouldn't work in court. That wouldn't work for buying a home. It wouldn't work for deciding on a career or for making other life saving or life changing decisions. Better to look for real empirical evidence from more than one side and use our senses when issues are vital. If they're not, so be it.

I know you'd like me to prove this idea. But no. If someone doesn't want to take the time or use their god given time and talents that's their decision.

I don't want you to prove anything. Spend your god given time and talents any way you want.

There is a world of analysis out there that helps people make sense of things. Some of it is right and some of it is wrong; the truth is substantiated through critique and rebuttal. Unevidenced hunches, by contrast, are close to useless in determining truth.

But hey, some people are only interested in having their prejudices reaffirmed. "A testimony is found in the bearing of it."

It means some thinking has been done. Moreover if the analysis is conducted by someone with a good pedigree (U. Chicago Ph.D.), who has fifty peer-reviewed publications, and is getting this published by a reputable press (Oxford), then there is considerable thinking by serious people behind the conclusions.

Does this mean the article is correct? No. But the odds are high, far higher than is the case with undocumented opinion.

I would definitely re-butt porn studies.

I think they are confusing cause and effect, it's both factors, lets start campaign to do away with Conservative Christianity it's harmful to our mental health, relationships, and community.

The implication is clear, I'd think. If viewing porn only hurts conservative religionists (it probably is the same for Moslems), then the conservative religion is likely the primary--or a seriously exacerbating--cause of the emotional problems.

Causation
Correlation
Association

It appears as if worldview impacts how you feel about your actions. This is truly groundbreaking.

Anyone doing anything they believe is immoral is probably rough on their mental wellbeing.

When will be a study on the effects of viewing porn on normal people ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2019 08:17PM by Dave the Atheist.