Recommendation against Pornography Lauded

The managing director of the Church’s Public Communications/Special Affairs Department, Richard P. Lindsay, has urged that the recommendations of the United States Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography be quickly implemented.

After hearings and study on the issues involved, the commission tentatively approved a draft report recommending a variety of approaches to fighting pornography in the U.S. These approaches ranged from seizure of the assets of businesses selling obscene materials to use of pandering and prostitution laws against producers and casts of X-rated films.

“Church leaders are encouraged by the measures proposed by the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography and are hopeful that the legislative and law enforcement branches of government will move swiftly to implement and enforce the needed reforms,” Brother Lindsay said.

Earlier, during the commission’s hearings, Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp testified, saying that “without national enforcement of obscenity laws, local efforts will be almost futile.” She expressed concern about the addictive effects of pornography, the desensitization of those who read it, and the evils pornography brings.