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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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"...the fact that something is chosen freely does not make it right.”
The same can be said of religion.
Amen!
This is a joke, right? Maybe a trick question?
Here's an idea: Let's boot religious programming from TV, period.
As if you didn't have your wolves in sheep's clothing on those channels!
LET's Religiosity Law #10 – If you believe any of the christian ass-clowns on television are “helping” you get closer to Jesus and not doing it to get your money, but also have the capacity to be shocked when their misdeeds eventually come to light… well, you are an imbecile. This law is immutable.
Are they also supposed to put filters on their free internet so that people can't look it up on their laptops and mobile devices?
They have succeeded with TV – even most cable channels.
There are so many movies on so many channels that have the profanity or otherwise lewd words replaced.
The bibles ought to be removed from hotel rooms as well.
I agree!
I like to post unfounded declaratives. Everyone here likes me when I do that.
Stay out of my bedroom and my business! I thought we were free in America...
I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!
Automobile in America,
Chromium steel in America,
Wire-spoke wheel in America,
Very big deal in America!
Dear Religious Fundamentalists,
MIND YOUR OWN F*%#@&G BUSINESS!
Love,
America
While they are at it, they can take the Bibles and Korans out of the nightstands.
That would be a fair trade.
Prayer changes things .
prayer changes nothing
I agree... Prayer helps those blessed individuals activate their suicide vests... and when they do... it changes things...
Prayer does not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!::
Atheism is the default state for children and other living things. A religion is a learned concept, not an innate one. Your argument is invalid. Further you claim prayer changes things. Where is your fact-based evidence to support your claim? You don't have any. Your argument is invalid.
One pair of hands at work is worth more than a million pairs of hands clasped in prayer.
Religious scholars? Is that an oxy-moron?
Profound knowledge of fictional stories....hmmm.
I don't think it's an oxymoron, it's just the same as being a Harry Potter scholar or a Ulysses scholar (which would be far more impressive that being a religious scholar).
To be a scholar you have to be enlightened, creative and open to all types of posibilities. Atheism is way too close minded to entertain a spiritual world.
@TC C+ for effort, but that's because i'm overly generous to the deprived.
No, "religious scholar" is not an oxymoron.
Arguably its no different to being a scholar of Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur or Tolkien's fiction or Star Wars, but that doesn't mean religion cannot be studied.
Actually, there can be no more an oxymoron in the world than to be a religious scholar.
Yahooing "free po-rn" , 143,000,000 results. And they want to remove a few movie channels?
What does yahooing mean?
It's kind of like CompuServing, but better.
AoL Search
I only use Archie
P.orn has been a part of society since two men figured out how to draw a stick figure with bo.obs on it. P.orn will always be a part of our society, because we are s.e.xual creatures.
The amount of s.e.xual repression in this country is staggering. Collectively we need to loosen up. Don't like p.orn or have religious rules about it? Don't watch it. It really is pretty simple.
Now, that isn't to say that all p.orn is good and what have you. Yes, there are issues with degradation and there can be cases of people being pressured into performing. And yes, not everyone can handle their own self and can over-do or become addicted.
But that is true of many, many things that we don't try to regulate.
I am no longer Jebus I am Jebus Christ
I have an idead; how about DONT order the p_orn if it offends?
Taaaa-Daaaaaa!!!
And No, 'idead' is not the new Apple zombie, it's actually the misspelled, evil brother of 'idea'. Apologies.
Dag nabbit. I was just gonna go down to the Apple store to pre order the iDead.
lol
iDead. the new Apple zombie, very intuitive, one function EAT BRAINS
Good, for a moment there I was worried that Apple had bought the Grateful Dead catalog.
Maybe they'll play the story of Noah's ark instead. Because god mercilessly killing every living thing on the planet save for a few is much better for people to watch.
Or when Lot's daughters got him drunk and took turns with him.
ew
do they know that there's this new thing called the INTERNET? lol, this is funny
You've got a wrist, I presume...switch channels and don't WATCH it! I suppose "religious violence" is far superior entertainment...
"You've got a wrist"
Hence the need for p orn.
Of course, these same people have NO problem with movies showing violence, murder scenes, guns blazing, etc. Hypocrites, all of them.
I concur. They may as well ban all Earthling-activity. There's no way to avoid s ex, drugs, or violence when mentioning humans in the same breath. BTW.......... why does 's ex' always get lumped in with drugs and violence? Puritan spin, I guess.
Replace it with videos of people getting their heads chopped off?