The Elephant in the Room: The Intersection of Religion and Pornography Among Young Christian Men

Authors

Ryan Hewitt, Johnson University

Abstract

Pornography presents a unique paradox for young Christians —a culturally normative phenomenon among younger generations, yet one that most Christians morally oppose. These conflicting trends make pornography an “elephant in the room” among young Christians today—an ever-present reality, yet one often not discussed due to its sensitive nature. This work presents a recent quantitative study exploring pornography use patterns and its impact on Evangelical Christian men from both Christian academic institutions and other social and religious contexts. Results revealed high levels of religiosity and porn use, and significant correlations between religiosity, porn use, potentially problematic use, and perceived problems due to porn use, with emotional distress being most emphasized domain. The results highlight the phenomena of moral incongruence, as many young Christians hold high views of religion while engaging in some level of porn use, indicating a need for re-thinking of strategies to address the issue among Christian students.

Recommended Citation

Hewitt, Ryan (2024) "The Elephant in the Room: The Intersection of Religion and Pornography Among Young Christian Men," Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development: Vol. 23: No. 23, Article 2.
Available at: https://pillars.taylor.edu/acsd_growth/vol23/iss23/2