Mormon Quotes

Pornography

Ezra Taft Benson
Judging by its demoralized works, atheism has now quit advancing in this country simply because it has arrived. Not just rhetorically but actually—our country is in an ungodly mess. City streets are terrorized by crime; our biggest and most expensive campuses are paralyzed by nihilism and anarchy; with special license from the Supreme Court, theaters are boldly featuring sex perversion and the newsstands are loaded with hard‑core pornography. Big‑name investigating commissions have told us all about riots, crime, progress, and poverty, but always in materialistic terms of money, housing, social service jobs, and birth control—without a word about the possibilities for personal moral self‑restraint.
Ezra Taft Benson, Godless Forces Threaten Us (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969 Semi‑Annual General Conference, Improvement Era)
Howard W. Hunter
Tenderness and respect—never selfishness—must be the guiding principles in the intimate relationship between husband and wife. Each partner must be considerate and sensitive to the other's needs and desires. Any domineering, indecent, or uncontrolled behavior in the intimate relationship between husband and wife is condemned by the Lord. Pornography and unwholesome fantasies erode one's character and strike at the foundation of a happy marriage.
Howard W. Hunter, The Prophet Howard W. Hunter, "Being a Righteous Husband and Father," Ensign, Nov. 1994, page 50
Mark E. Petersen
Overcoming masturbation: Never read pornographic material. Never read about your problem. Keep it out of your mind. Remember‑‑"first a thought, then an act." The thought pattern must be changed. You must not allow this problem to remain in your mind. When you accomplish that, you soon will be free of the act.
Mark E. Petersen, Overcoming Masturbation: A Guide to Self Control
First Presidency
The Church opposes pornography in any form. Indulgence in pornography damages individual lives, families, and society. Such indulgence drives away the Spirit of the Lord. Church members should avoid all forms of pornographic material and oppose its production, dissemination, and use. The booklet Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts provides counsel on how to avoid and overcome problems with pornography.
First Presidency, Church Handbook of Instructions, section 21.4.9
Connell O'Donovan
Under the oversight of his committee chairman, Dr. Thorne, McBride experimented on fourteen Gay male subjects to determine if using photographs of nude men and women from Playgirl‑ and Playboy‑type magazines was helpful in electric shock therapy. The 14 Gay BYU students in McBride's study were compared after being "treated" on an out‑patient basis during 22 sessions of shock therapy. Each of the 22 sessions lasted 50 minutes. 10 of those minutes were spent in "assertive training" and the remaining 40 minutes in "aversive conditioning." The average duration of treatment for the men was three months. The release form these men were required to sign informed them that "damage to tissue or organs may occur," that they would be looking at "sensitive materials" possibly contrary to their values [ie. pornography], and that BYU would be released from any responsibility for any damage done to them.
Connell O'Donovan, The Abominable and Detestable Crime Against Nature
Connell O'Donovan
Max Ford McBride's PhD dissertation, completed in August 1976 under the direction of BYU psychology professor D. Eugene Thorne (note that Dr. I. Reed Payne, of the "Payne Papers" infamy, was also on his dissertation committee), is an excellent example of clinical dehumanization practiced by Mormon "therapists". In the Mormon worldview, the end certainly justifies the means: heterosexuality must be attained and maintained AT ANY COST ‑ even if it means using pornography (which the Mormon Church is usually vehemently opposed to) and physical torture.
Connell O'Donovan, The Abominable and Detestable Crime Against Nature
Connell O'Donovan
In 1975, the BYU Psychology Department administrators organized a Board of Review for Psychotherapeutic Techniques to recommend "policies governing the use of sensitive treatment techniques" on campus. Within a year, the review board had assembled a list of eight therapies being used at BYU which "could conflict" with church teachings. However, most of the therapies were not stopped (including electric shock, vommiting aversion, and the use of pornographic materials).
Connell O'Donovan, The Abominable and Detestable Crime Against Nature
© 2011