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 Hotels' in-room movie selections should not include porn, according to two religious scholars.
July 12th, 2012
11:03 AM ET
Strange religious bedfellows unite for letter against hotel pornBy Dan Merica, CNN (CNN) – A letter penned by two notable scholars - a Christian and a Muslim - and sent to a number of different hotel industry executives has asked those hotels to remove pornography from their company’s in-room movie selections. Robert P. George, a professor at Princeton University and the past chairman of the conservative National Organization for Marriage, and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, co-founder of Zaytuna College, a Muslim school, wrote the letter to urge hotels “to do what is right as a matter of conscience.” “We are, respectively, a Christian and a Muslim, but we appeal to you not on the basis of truths revealed in our scriptures but on the basis of a commitment that should be shared by all people of reason and goodwill: a commitment to human dignity and the common good,” reads the letter. The letter marks the joining of two unique men with two distinctly different faiths. Yusuf says they were able to put aside their disagreement on other issues because of their commitment to this cause. “We need to see that those things that are threatening our society today are much graver than anything that may divide us,” he told CNN. CNN's Belief Blog: the faith angles behind the big stories Reaction to the letter from some adult film stars - and even from some advocates for removing porn from hotels - was negative. Craig Gross, a pastor and the founder of XXXchurch.com, says the letter is an empty gesture with no power behind it. “It has got to be one of the dumbest letters I have ever read,” Gross said. “It is like asking the Internet to stop selling porn. It sounds good and all, but it isn’t going to happen.” But the letter’s authors argue that the Internet and hotels are different, with hotel owners directly profiting off the temptation of porn. “We urge you to do away with pornography in your hotels because it is morally wrong to seek to profit from the suffering, degradation, or corruption of others,” states the letter. “You are placing temptation in their path - temptation for the sake of profit. That is unjust. Moreover, the fact that something is chosen freely does not make it right.” Yusuf continued to use this argument in an interview with CNN. “Just because we are able to do something doesn’t mean it is what we should be doing. And just because you can sell these things doesn’t mean it is something you should be selling,” he said. In Gross’ opinion, this logic is a slippery slope. When planes offer access to WiFi, is that placing temptation in the path of those who may view porn on the Web? When hotels offer room service, he asks, are they tempting dieters? Gross has a long history of helping those with porn addictions, and his website is dedicated to getting people help. According to him, removing porn from hotels is a futile endeavor because of the "unfettered availability of porn on the Web. “ According to a 2005 report on the state of the adult entertainment by Adult Video News, a trade journal on the adult-film industry, 55% of hotel movie rentals are porn movie rentals. The average revenue from movie rentals, according to LodgeNet, a company that provides in-room entertainment services, was $16.51 per room per month in 2008. In the third quarter of 2009, LodgeNet brought in $64.8 million. This, however, included more family-friendly options as well. A 2011 report by Robert Mandelbaum at Colliers PKF Hospitality Research found that from 2000 to 2009, movie rental revenue for hotels in general decreased 39%. Even with the reported slip, Gross and other critics acknowledged there is a demand for adult entertainment. “This is supply and demand,” Gross said. “We spin our wheels doing all the wrong things. The issue is not that it is available; the issue is that people buy it.” Prior to this letter, however, some hotels had already pledged to remove pornography from their programming or had removed it. In 2011, Marriott International - a company founded by a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that continues deep Mormon ties - pledged to phase out adult content from all hotel rooms. The move came after groups like Focus on the Family met with Marriott officials to urge them to remove adult movies. The church of porn and football “Adult content will be off the menu for virtually all of our newly built hotels,” read the Marriott statement. “Over the next few years, this will be the policy across our system.” Marriott is not the first hotel group to do this, though. Omni Hotels, a Dallas-based luxury hotel chain, removed all adult films from its in-room systems in 1999. According to other reports, adult-free programming is helping the Omni differentiate itself in the hotel market. Websites like cleanhotels.com look to help porn-free hotels by compiling a list of hotels that do not offer adult entertainment and leading people to them. Cleanhotels.com says it does so because its supporters want to know they are “supporting a facility that cares enough about the wellbeing of its customers not to make harmful pornographic movies available.” The American Hotel & Lodging Association, however, defends the right of hotels to choose what services to offer in their rooms. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter “In-room offerings such as this are made available based on market demand, are not offered in all hotels, and are subject to the same legal review all hotel operations are subject to,” read a statement from Kathryn Potter, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the association. Ron Jeremy, an adult-film star who has been in over 2,000 porn films, according to the Internet Adult Film Database, sees efforts to remove porn from hotels as attacks on freedom of speech. “What they have to understand is that freedom of speech works for all of us, not just for them,” Jeremy said about those who want to get porn out of hotel rooms. “This is a country that is secular; you have freedom from religion and freedom of religion. Give me a break.” While Jeremy said he is all for making sure kids in hotel rooms can’t get to porn - “I think that is marvelous” - he said he doesn’t see why adults shouldn’t watch “consenting adults have consenting sex.” "If a guy has a hard day at work or is at a convention and wants to sit down in his hotel room and puts on an adult film and plays spank the monkey, why can’t he do that?" soundoff (1,415 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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I'd rather they remove those irritating Gideon's Bibles form my hotel rooms.
Too bad for them there is money to made. Don't conservatives preach free market?
Do as I say… not as I do, is the conservative motto.
Conservative Religious view does not necessarily equate to Conservative Fiscal views. And vice versa.
Fair point. However a conservative is generally a conservative in all things. Exceptions don’t make the rules.
I don't like little boys but I don't go around trying to stop the catholic priests.
Dan if you know of a pedophile priest abusing kids in general i think that it is yours and my civic duty to REPORT IT!
So I can still FILM p o r n in the room....just not watch it?
"We don't like it so you shouldn't either!" ~every religion ever
Oh, my god. The Kardashians will go broke...
These two `scholars' want the hotels to remove it from the channels just because they can't control themselves.
Jon i HONESTLY was thinking the same thing while i iwas reading this article!
I'm sorry that Marriot and some others caved if they did it for these bible humpers. Every time they win an argument we never hear the end of it and they go for more.
WHAT ?
Religious types trying to control the “god given free will” of others?!
I’m shocked….SHOCKED!
Post was blocked ... oh my Tommie, your wrath is something, isn't it.
Television itself is a temptation to sloth. Why not peti.tion the hotels to remove them altogether.
BITE YOUR TONGUE!!!
O.K.!
This is where I most resent the sky-fairy believers. It is not enough that they don't want to watch theses channels, they want to prevent anybody from doing so, including Buddhist, atheist, Hindu, agnositc, whomever.
Keep you bulls.hit religion to yourselves, you superst.itious simpletons.
Well said.
They will be mocked. They will be ridiculed. And the critics are right, it will in all likelihood make no difference. But line up all those critics and ask them if they want their child to one day star in those movies and if most are honest they know they wouldn't. It's about that whole "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you" thing. And for one he is following his messiah's teachings and for another one of his prophet's teaching. Kudos to them for not being silent.
You really shouldn't take Thomas Paine's name as you bast*ardize it you moron!
If my child is raised so poorly that they end up in a film then it is my fault.... and not the governments job to regulate such things!
The thing is, it is the decision of the actors whether or not they want to be in those movies. No one forces them to be in adult films, and no one is forced to watch adult films. This has nothing to do with the golden rule.
My child is free to do whatever she chooses to do (free will remember?) I can only hope she is happy in what she does and it doesn’t harm anyone else. That’s all I need as a loving parent. Feel free to oppress and shame your own children… but leave mine alone you sick freak.
If my child grows up to work in such an industry, as long as they are safe and the industry treats them with respect, I'm all for it. S.e.x is beautiful.
The real Thomas Paine would be embarassed by you.
If only you all knew who you were writing to. lol.
Are you sure your name isn't PAIN.
Nobody said the truth isn't sometimes painful Ken. 😉
I'm sure we'd all be impressed.
You misunderstand Bert. I'm sure you wouldn't but there is only so much I will say on a public board like this. My point is that it is just ironic. Anyway, there is so much hostility on here. It is such a shame. Few have a sense of humor and everyone comments with great moral indignation, regardless of whether they are believers or not.
@ Tom Paine
It’s not ironic regardless of who you are. It’s irrelevant actually. We are responding to your comment. Get over yourself.
(laughing). Oh boy. You guys are fun.
I am still dumbfounded on what the big deal is with the s*ex thing? I mean really? Can anyone offer one good reasonable answer as to why people treat a natural process as something that is perverse? Don't bring god or religion into it as will make no sense.
Because people are insecure and possessive. They try to hide this by calling it ‘moral’.
A great example is the burka.. something scoffed at by most Americans.
Just more proof that there is little difference between NOM "christians" and muslims. Hey, teabaggers, afraid of Sharia law??? Better keep an eye on NOM and "Dr." Dobson and Ralph Reed.
This teabagger is an atheist.
@ gager
Exceptions don’t make the rules
Libertarian atheist here as well. What can I say? Conservative fiscal ideas trump liberal.
much ado about nothing. actually, much ado about rubbing one out. seriously, this is what religious leaders are up in arms about? not about the child molestation within their own ranks? ridiculous. m.asturbation is healthy.
SImple solution: TURN THE CHANNEL.
Is it really that hard?
That's the problem, they cant find the child pr0n so they can pretend to be like a catholic priest or moohmed.
It's even easier than that... you actually have to hit the "Movie" button on the menu, then scroll allllll the way down to "Adult" where you will find a disclaimer and only the names of the video, how long the video is, and the cost for said video.
I don't know about you, but it's waaaay easier to open a drawer and read that bible thing. I think they should make it harder to read the bible in a hotel personally.
If they don't like it then you can't have it either.
not hard enough.... a little more to the left, please....
I liked what the Drury chain offered: rather than paid skeeze, free drinks.
I’m shocked to read that Marriott was consulting with "Focus on the Family," a right-wing borderline hate group. I knew the Marriott founder is a Mormon and that didn’t bother me, but really, Focus on the Family? They’re not getting a dime from me again if that's who they concern themselves with. Which I won’t shed a tear over since most of their hotels have seen better days.
Wonder if the guy in the stock photo knows he's on an article like this, haha. "Yeah I got my first big time gig on a CNN article about hotel p0rn. It was pretty cool. No big deal."
Actually, the next photos show what happens when room service arrives!
"What's a brony?", hereon referred to as "it", is no better than a jihadist Taliban imam. "It" wants to force everyone to believe what "it" believes, and makes illogical arguments to anyone who contradicts "it"; the first step of the "convert or die philosophy". Personally, I don't care what "it" does in "its" own time, I just want "it" to leave me and other non-believers in secular fiction alone. But no, "it" can't follow the philosophy of live and let live. "It" has to worm "its" contradictory morals and rules into every facet of my life, from ruining scientific education, defacing my money, and corrupting my government. No wonder people fed "its" kind to lions thousands of years ago. If Jesus saw what most Christians have become today, he'd kill himself.
I always thought if Jesus saw what Christians had degraded into that he'd become Buddhist =)
Actually I think the problem is lack of morales by our government leaders is why our country is the way it is. Greed and lust being the greatest impacts on our government. Congressmen seeking to sefl-gradify over doing their job and being morally obligated to do what they are paid to do. Passing laws that invade all privacy of us.
And the religious nuts like the one in this article are in the same group, even Jesus would say that. Casting stones on others when they themself are not sinless. Trying to control others when God clearly wants everyone to choose their own direction in life, and wishes for everyone to follow his way.
Unitarian, Jesus was a Buddhist. Ask him when he return where is his lost year. The christians speculate it's either he was a carpenter or a fisher they can't make up their mind. Well the silk road is where he used to go to India and learn Buddhism. His nam was ISSA in India. WHen he returned to the middle east, he develop a big follower and the Roman got scared then they have to sacrifice him.
@ Mark
Morals are subjective and have never been completely agreed upon. Where you see immoral I see tolerance and freedom. Welcome to the founding principles.