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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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Let's keep the banter civil people. I've never clicked the Report abuse button so liberally.
shut up prude. nobody asked you.
Honor Killings ,Child-molesting and fraud (Think: Joel Ol$teen) are still O.K.
olsteen is a panty waiste liberal whimp.. he dosent have the guts to teach teach the true word of Jesus. he is just there to make people feel good about there sins
This article has been front page n€ ws far too long..move it along cnn...jeez
These cults who believe in mythical things I guess have the freedom to do what they want within the laws. But don't you dare push your insane beliefs on others. The irony is that behind closed doors most these guys are doing one thing and preaching the opposite. But that's OK because they can confess their sins and keep on sinning. It's a beautiful gig they got going one.
It is not insane to know that p© rn in hotels is just plain tr@shy.
R€ legion aside, it is degr@ding to women. If you need p© rn to get off than watch it at home.
Nosing into other people's bedrooms again.
As previously noted:
Googling "free po-rn". About 83,200,000 results. Yahooing "free po-rn" , 143,000,000 results. Binging "free po-rn", – 146,000,000 results. And they want to remove a few movie channels??????????????????
Ah, but through resisting temptation is a true bond with Jesus made. So do not smite the peddlers, for they provide the opportunity for the rightous to prove themselves. Plus the sinners can get off and get some sleep.
Religious scholars is a contradiction in terms. Any real scholar or truly learned person knows that religion is nothing more than myths.
Old mother Hubbard wrote some fiction and a lot of morons like Tom Cruise and Greta van Susteren believe it to be true.
As usual, the nutjobs who believe in some fairy tale are determined to inflict their version of 'right' and 'wrong' on everyone. Perhaps we need to clarify the Bill of Rights and add 'Freedom From Other People's Religion."
Is this a Government hotel cause I do not think that freedom from the creation of a State Religion deals with Best Westerns and Holiday Inns. 🙂
If people of alternative faiths have to suffer from moving the bible to put their clothes away and tolerate it, then religious fanatics should be able to tolerate that consenting adults can watch and read whatever they want. If they do not want to watch – they do not have to.
Maybe other people should start a movement to remove the bible unless all sacred texts from all religions are provided.
I always open the hotel bible, and p all over it. Its not even good enough to wipe my but with.
@Mickey1313,
and that helps in some way? makes you a better person?
Why not just leave it in the nightstand like any other work of fiction?
I like how they think that if they remove p0rn, that will keep people from diddlin their selves. I mean...never stopped me..
I have a better idea, why don't these two guys just stay out of hotels?
Prayer changes things .
People change things, not prayer. Or all the poor and starving just praying wrong?
It would be nice if you could communicate a complete thought bob. Sorry about you. God bless
If only my prayers would be answered and Just Sayin' would stop posting his spam and then commenting on it too!
I know this same guy just post the same "prayer changes things" everywhere just so he can make negative comments on it with a different account. They show up all day every day all over the religious blog. It must be a sad person behind that keyboard.
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!:
Hey fellas how does it feel when religion is knocking at your door. Nipping at your freedoms the way they do with women and they're bodies?
All religious leaders need to be rounded up, and exposed to sarin gas.
Wow.... killing folks who do not share your views in mass ..... is this the enlightenment some of you Atheist claim?
Boot Religious leaders molesting small boys!
It sounds like they don't have faith in their own faith. If they know it is wrong, they will choose not to purchase and watch. That is fine with me, but if I don't follow their beliefs, they should not try and force theirs on me. Can you imagine how boring life would be without temptations? Live involves making good and bad decisions. If there where no temptations at all, would any religion have a place? Religion is to avoid evil temptations. If there are none, how can the religion exist?
Forget p0rn (your wife can check hotel records anyway) go get a h00ker & pay cash, that's what preachers, priests, evangelists, pastors and parents have been doing for thousands of years. Now, let's get rid of hotel p0rn.
"Religous Scholars". Now there's an oxymoron. I say boot religious scholars.
Let me see here ... Women need to be hidden behind burkas because men can't control themselves, now eliminate movie options because men can't control themselves .. hmmm .. seems to be a common denominator here that men can't control themselves and men make the rules for how others need to live so they can control themselves????