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35% of Christian Families Have Been Harmed By Internet Material

By Terry Vanderheyden

NICEVILLE, Florida, February 1, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian internet filtering company is warning that many families are at risk of exposing their children to unsolicited pornography while on the internet.

American Family Online’s (AFO) Executive Director Steve Ensley told AmericanDecency.org in an interview that, “By all indications from both external and internal surveys, less than 35% of Christian families have Internet filtering of any kind.”

Ensley added that many filtering companies still allow soft porn, such as lingerie sellers and some magazines. “These sites and thousands like them are commercial sites that intentionally have erotic images and material on the sites. But the ‘popular’ filters will not filter these sites.” He also warned that homosexually explicit sites are often not blocked by filters.

Ensley reported about statistics conducted by the AFO. He revealed that 74% of 465 people surveyed had been disturbed by pornography while on the internet. A whopping 35% of respondents said they or someone in their household had been harmed by the internet. The type of harm was broken down into physical, emotional, and spiritual harm, with over half of respondents indicating that they or a family member had been harmed “emotionally” or “spiritually” by internet content. Twenty-one reported the harm as “major.”

“That percentage is higher than any other disease or morally destructive behavior in our culture today.” said Ensley. The greatest cause of harm was reported to be from pornography, at 30%. The research also revealed that almost 10% of those affected by the internet required outside help for the effects. “Equally telling, according to the survey, is the fact that two adults are harmed for every child that is harmed,” Ensley explained. “We tend to think of filtering as an issue for children. The truth is that the entire family needs protection and the survey confirms this fact.”

A large study conducted in 2002 found that pornography viewing results in a host of problems. One of the most common psychological problems is a deviant attitude towards intimate relationships such as perceptions of sexual dominance, submissiveness, sex role stereotyping or viewing persons as sexual objects. Behavioural problems include fetishes and excessive or ritualistic masturbation. Sexual aggressiveness, sexually hostile and violent behaviours are social problems as well as individual problems that are linked to pornography.

Only about half of the AFO survey respondents said that they have internet filtering software installed on their computers.

Learn more about American Family Online’s filtering services at:
http://www.afo.net

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Pornography Addiction Destroying Lives, US Senate Told
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04111909.html
Study Proves "Pornography Is Harmful"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/02031203.html

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