Don Wildmon

AFA/AFR founder

September 1994 – I received a letter from a pastor last month. He is a minister in one of the largest denominations in America. He was hurting because of the damage pornography was doing in his community. He wanted help to fight the filth.

We get letters like that regularly. What is amazing about it is that the pastor didn’t turn to his denomination for help. Why? Because his denomination had none to give him. Amazing, isn’t it? Here is one of the largest, most destructive social problems in America. It has been a growing problem for the past 30 years. And yet his denomination had no help to offer him.

I’m pretty familiar with most of the religious bodies in America. Truth is, to my knowledge, not a single denomination in America has a program to deal with the issue of pornography. Now most of them have, at some point in the past ten years, passed a resolution condemning pornography to some degree. But are any of them actively involved in fighting pornography and dealing with the hurts? Not to my knowledge.

The question is why? Why has not a single denomination in America made an effort to actively oppose a business which runs into the billions of dollars and takes thousands of victims each year?

One can only assume it is because the various denominations think there are more important issues to address. Many of the mainline denominations came together and invested thousands of dollars last year to support the Re-Imagining gathering in Minneapolis. One can only conclude that for those denominations involved, singing praise to the goddess Sophia is more important than helping those being hurt by pornography.

Closely allied with the problem of pornography is the problem of the filth on TV. Again, not a single denomination in America – to my knowledge – is making an effort to deal with this problem.

When it comes to dealing with the social and moral issues which are breaking down the moral fabric of our society, our churches – which should be leading the effort – have copped out. That is not to say that some individual churches are not addressing the issues. But it is to say as denominations we are doing precious little, if anything, to correct the moral decline and the family breakdown.

The True Love Waits campaign is an example of what a denomination can do. The Southern Baptist Convention is to be commended for this campaign encouraging sexual abstinence until marriage. It is hard to understand why every denomination has not joined in this effort or promoted a similar effort within their own churches.

The institutional church – of which most of us Christians are a product – is quickly losing its influence in our society. The institutional church, which not long ago served as leaven and salt in our society, is now being walked over by the entertainment industry.

Is the institutional church likely to change in the near future and begin to combat the moral decline in our society? I certainly hope so. And so do millions of others who are looking to the church for leadership in an area in which the church is supposed to have some expertise.

They simply want the church to be the church. And, in the final analysis, that is what God wants.