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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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Sure, phase out the pr0n. But they're going to lose quite a bit of revenue to their "morals". But if it makes 'em happy, I'll just bring my own pr0n from home.
I'll never stay at another Marriot. What is one supposed to do on those business trips?
Oh grow up!! Don't the remotes have channel changer buttons in the hotels these dudes stay in? If you're worrying about your kid getting a biology lesson, try being a parent and pay attention to what your kid is doing. It's called parental responsibility. If YOUR sensitivities are getting bent, change the freaking channel...
I know when I go to a hotel with my kids , my heart stops when the Adult channel option screen pops up...my 3-year old could order an adult movie, its that easy. If they are to keep that option in hotels, simply add one of those spam fields, where the viewer has to add one of those 8 digit codes that they see on the screen...but taking the remote is easier I guess.
Or better yet… why don’t you take responsibility as a parent and watch your kid?
I do not know why the author considers these two as 'strange religious bedfellows'. Islam and Christianity agree on much ore than they disagree, particularly on what acts are considered as sin. You need to get out more.
Now a days dedicated folks from the industries jump on the net as soon as something is published. If you talk against gun control, people from gun industry will jump in. If you talk against P0rn, P0rn industry will jump in. Amazing, in today's world every thing is acceptable, So should be nothing wrong if the Men, Women, Congressmen, Teens and what the hell, bring in the kids too for se-x education too, if they all watch P0rn, nothing is wrong, yes, nothing...
While they're at it, remove the bibles from the hotels.
Love it.
..how many people were and are killed due to religion?!!!?! maybe we should start by removing religion...??!
Not so many as have been killed due to lack of religion. Hitler was an atheist and was Stalin and Chairman Mao. Try not to let your biases cloud your view of the world.
Hitler was a Christian, genius. Read Mein Kampf and his speeches instead of believing the BS your pastor spews out.
@ Cadiz
Yea! And the U.S.A. was founded as a Christian nation lol. You theist never fail to amaze me with your revisionist history.
thats the people not the religion
I see we are bring censored today.Always happens when they hire weekend replacements.
@jorge washinsen
You said, "I see we are bring censored today.Always happens when they hire weekend replacements."
CNN uses WordPress blogs for their opinion pieces, and they use automated censoring that looks for words, or fragments of words, that are considered offensive. If your post doesn't show up, it most likely had a forbidden word in it.
On the Belief Blog, repeat posts, even those that were previously censored and not displayed, will show a message stating that you posted it before.
The following words or word fragments will get your post censored (list is incomplete):
arse as in Arsenal
bastard
bitch
cock as in cockatiel
coon as in cocoon
cum as in circumstance
cunt
douche
effing
fag
ftw
fuck
homo as in homosexual
horny
jackass
jap
jism
kinky
kooch
nipple
orgy
pis
porn
poo as in spooked
prick
rape as in grape
sex as in homosexual
shit
slut
smut
snatch
spic as in despicable
tit as in constitution or title
twat
vag as in vague
whore
wtf
To circumvent the filters you can break up the words by putting an extra character in, like: consti.tution (breaking the oh so naughty "tit").
Or just dont be so brazen as to have an opinion that isnt sanctioned. My posts get culled regularly with no naughty words. its my naughty habit of thinking for myself that causes problems.
I did not realize Marriott was a religious organization. I travel on business and just cancelled my executive membership with them.
They are not a religous organization. As the article states the founder of the chain happens to be a member of a religion. If you are going to avoid all corporations founded by a member of a religion you are going to have a hard time doing business. Unless of course you are just avoiding members of this one religion?
It's ok to do it, ok to think about it, and ok to talk about it, but it's not ok to watch it. Why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNkV7QpdnZc&feature=plcp
Carnal, carnal, carnal,Carnal, carnal, carnal,carnal, carnal,Carnal, carnal, carnal, carmel, carmel, carmel, carmel,carmel, carmel, carmel,carmel, carmel, carmel
I am hungry now
Amen.
Hungry for a priest's c0.ck....
Once again religious zealots telling everyone what we can and cannot do! If they do not want to watch p0rn they can simply avoid purchasing that service or going to that channel. It is NONE of their business what others decide to watch. I do not care for p0rn in hotels but I do care about my freedom to watch it if so I desire! I do not believe in any religion and/or god... so why am I forced to be in a room with a bible?? I will start a movement, such as this ridiculous one, to remove the insulting bible from every hotel room as I am sure there are lots of people who do not believe or are of different religions so why should one belief be imposed over another?
I remove the book from every hotel roon I stay in...I have for many years. I rip ito pieces and throw it in the garbage....where it belongs
Churches again trying to tell us what we can and cannot do in our bedrooms, and they think that they are unjustly attacked.
Well, it's a shame you think they are "trying to tell you what to do". In fact, their intention is to benefit the person. I'll stop there because it's evident you wouldn't understand the concept.
Walt, they ARE attempting to control the options another person has. Yes they are doing it in the belief that they will help people. That does not change what they are doing. For example: It would probably be better for me if I ate less beef, but I certainly would not want Hindus to advocate the removal of beef dishes from restauraunts. Just because you believe that something is wrong does not mean that everyone necessarily agrees with you.
Really the line should be drawn at prohibiting acts that cause actual phisical harm to others. Things like stealing, killing, drunk driving, that kind of thing. There is no evidence that watching adult films causes people to go out and hurt others or significantly increases the risk of them doing so.
On the other hand, these are private businesses and it is their choice as to what products and services they will offer. So while I don't like that religious groups attempt to control what others do, so long as they aren't doing it in government (or directly infringing on others rights, which is generally against the law anyway) they are free to do as they feel is right.
THINKER
Why do you like going around and respondiing to posts days after they wreposted?
1: Boredom.
2: Because people still read posts days after they were posted. As you demonstrate.
3: Why on Earth do you care?
They want to get rid of it because they can't control themselves not to watch it at hotels. Must be tough to be a religious fanatic.
No matter how many times you repeat this lie, it remains a lie.
Yes, satan and his minions lie to all humanity. Then they go to the eternal flames where their own personal worm feeds off of them, is never quenched ... for eternity.
Valid point there, just normal person. I just feel sorry for the brainwashed bible thumpers, but it amusing you got such a righteous bite to the bait right off the bat. (Almost poetic person)
P o R n......P0RN.......P O R N. OK, continue you're discussions...
A Christian and a Muslim check into a Hotel together. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. (I thought sure this was going to be a bad joke).......
Funny how CNN makes articles about pr0n, but they still filter the word in the comments.
And just how is pr0n (when spelled correctly) a bad word?
Const i tution is a bad word because of its t i t
LMAO another group proving how far behind the times they are.
Yes, get rid of hotel pr0n, that way people can't watch it at hotels anymore. While you're at it, make the hotels get rid of their free wifi and ban people from bringing their laptops to their rooms.
Idi0ts.
If their letter is not a religious commitment, why did they emphasized their religions? Seems odd to me. They should have made their commitment request as scholars, but as I know, it's religious thing.
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.