A Tuesday glimpse at the moral diversity of our culture

By Tom Quiner

“I’ve become more accepting of porn.”

This was the accomplishment of Pasadena College. They offered an entire class on porn. Students had to watch porn in the classroom. They had to watch it as part of their homework.

In one scene, which the kids watched in their classroom together, women were called “bitch,” “whore,” and worse.

A female student shared her experience:

“My view of pornography before taking this class was more the traditional view that it was not meant for me, as a woman… After, or in the midst of taking this class, I’ve become much more accepting of it and understanding of it.”

In another triumph of higher education, another student becomes desensitized to filth.

The degradation of women is common on college campuses, according to Nathan Harden, author of Sex and God at Yale: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad, as LifeSiteNews reported:

He exposed how Yale women are constantly degraded on campus. They are valued for their looks, bodies, and sexual prowess – not their minds. They are often required to watch hardcore porn in class and encouraged to participate in “porn star lookalike” contests during “Sex Week,” the biggest event of the year.

Taking a cue from college campuses, the Obama Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to lower decency standards even lower for prime time television. They want to allow more nudity and profanity on air at a time when children are watching.

Watch for full frontal female nudity and F-bombs. The pushback from parent groups opposing the FCC’s embrace of indecency is fierce. Are these parents fuddy duddies? Perhaps the FCC is merely grooming our youth to become good, solid consumers of porn at an even younger age.

Actor Jim Caviezel is adopting two special needs children from China

Actor Jim Caviezel is adopting two special needs children from China

Just when discouragement sets in over this sad state of affairs, along comes actor Jim Caviezel to give us renewed hope in humanity.

You remember Mr. Caviezel’s stunning performance in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” He earns his living in a culture that embraces human abortion, so-called same-sex marriage, and loose living.

He rises it above it.

He is a proud Catholic, and he is proudly pro-life. He puts his faith and pro-life credentials into action, too.

He and his wife, Kerri, have adopted two special needs children from China.

Both children, Bo and Lynn, had brain tumors. Although the Caviezels had been offered healthy babies, they took these five year old kids because they knew their odds of being adopted were slight.

Mr. Caviezel said he didn’t think he could love an adopted child as much as his own natural child. He was wrong:

“Even though they’re adopted, it’s as strong as any instinct. That’s what blew me away. I always thought if I adopted that I wouldn’t have the same feeling [as I would] if they were genetically my own children. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

In my little world, I know a ton of Jim Caviezels. Some may even be reading this post.

Not everyone is cut out to adopt, but I am witnessing on a daily basis good people doing good things. I see them do tiny, little things that add up. I see them changing the world one prayer and one smile at a time.

I have tremendous hope for the world when I realize how many Jim and Kerry Caviezels are walking around in our midst.

We simply need to get more of them working at our universities and the FCC.

14 Comments

  1. sally1137 on May 21, 2013 at 8:35 pm

    Thanks for that lovely story.



    • quinersdiner on May 21, 2013 at 8:41 pm

      Thank-you, Sally. (I trust you’re referring to the Jim Caviezel section of the story;-)



  2. Lisa Bourne on May 22, 2013 at 6:43 am

    The Jim Caviezel part of the story is beautiful. Light among the darkness.

    Don’t underestimate the power and pervasiveness of the evil described in the first part of Tom’s post. The reach is far and has taken a formidable stronghold.

    Some years ago students were asked about their attitudes toward sex and came back with some disturbing responses in terms of their willingness to partake is immoral behaviors and their lax approach to the dignity of the human body. Their justification for this was that the president (Clinton) didn’t think it (oral) was sex and that it was okay.

    Nice.

    As far as pervasiveness?

    Last night at my daughter’s 8th-grade band concert, before they were to take the stage my daughter had a classmate state to her that she had big knockers, perhaps as if she hadn’t noticed before, and told my daughter that she should change her dress to show them off more.

    Forget the colleges. They’ve been long gone for a long time.

    If you have any current experience with middle and high school, and how the children dress and act, you know it’s apparent the battle is largely lost there as well.

    You can see it creeping in and taking hold in elementary-age.

    Clearly we need to be looking at kindergarten and preschool as far as damming the floodgates.

    Sad thing is, I think most parents have either given up, or worse, jumped on the bandwagon and sacrificed their children to the culture.



    • quinersdiner on May 22, 2013 at 8:21 am

      What disrespect for the boy to say that. It is a reflection on the parents who have been conditioned (de-sensitized) by the culture.



      • Lisa Bourne on May 22, 2013 at 12:56 pm

        Tom, it was a girl who said it.



        • quinersdiner on May 22, 2013 at 1:05 pm

          You’re kidding. I don’t know which is worse. If a boy said it, it’s harassment. If a girl says it, it shows a lack of self-respect. I guess, all in all, I feel slightly better knowing a girl said it.



      • Lisa Bourne on May 23, 2013 at 1:54 pm

        I don’t feel at all better that it was a girl who said it. We’ve come to expect that from boys, as jaded as that sounds, and it in no way excuses it. But we’re not surprised hearing it from boys. Envisioning another 8th-grade girl sitting next to my daughter and uttering this, I received a chill before a wave of disgust. She’s already written herself off as a piece of meat to be exploited and probably used, and she most likely isn’t even aware of it. What’s worse she’s actively asking others to join her in the down-hill slide A casualty of the culture, and unless I’m wrong, parents who didn’t stand in the way to stop it.



      • quinersdiner on May 23, 2013 at 2:16 pm

        We taught our sons to treat girls with respect. We taught our daughter to demand respect from a boy, because she is worth it, or walk away.

        I remember hearing Teresa Tomeo speaking here in Des Moines at a Catholic Conference. You might have been there. When she went out on a date, her mom always told her, “remember, the Blessed Mother is always watching.” Works for me!



    • Shawn Pavlik on May 23, 2013 at 8:36 am

      I can attest to what you are saying. I teach high school and coach junior high kids, and you couldn’t even imagine the things I overhear every school day. We have had several teen pregnancies, which often results in the girl dropping out of school. In only one of the cases did I think the child even had a chance at a normal life (the daughter of a close friend of mine who goes to my church….it only takes one weak moment).

      I have two teenage sons, 15 and 13, and I try to talk to them frequently about the right way to treat a girl. One of the things I tell them is to imagine that this girl could be the mother of his children some day, and the dignity and respect that they deserve as that person. My 15 year old took a celibacy pledge to stay celibate until he is married. We are not Catholic, but strong Christians nonetheless, and we have an excellent youth program at our church that talks very frankly with the kids about these issues. I thank God for that church and the help they are providing. I think the problem with our country stems from a lack of faith in the almighty, and diminishing congregation sizes. And I think a big part of that is the problem of many mainline Protestant denominations, i.e. United Methodist, Episcopalean, etc., trying to “modernize” and becoming accepting of sinful behavior, such as homosexual marriage and abortion.

      I denounced my Methodist upbringing when I went to ask a pastor about abortion for an article I was writing for the college paper. He told me the Methodist Church took a pro-choice stand on abortion and that he himself had actually taken a girl to get an abortion. My response was “How can you call yourself a man of God?” and walked out of that church and never looked back.



      • quinersdiner on May 23, 2013 at 8:53 am

        “I can attest to what you are saying. I teach high school and coach junior high kids, and you couldn’t even imagine the things I overhear every school day.”

        Great response, Shawn. It is documented that those churches that are bending to the will of the culture are the ones losing the most members. I was raised in the Episcopal church. As you might imagine, it was only a matter of time before I would have to part ways with them, which I did 32 years ago. It is the Catholic Church and evangelical Christians that are remaining true to the Truth, even when it is unpopular, which the Truth often is. Thank-you for writing. It is always good to hear from you.



  3. Lori on May 22, 2013 at 7:35 am

    We are sinking lower and lower.
    I agree that there are lots of small stories that add up, but I fear about our society as a whole. The story of porn you mentioned makes me sick. How many parents know how hard they are working to send their children to these types of classes? Worse, how many wouldn’t care if they did know?
    It often feels like we are fighting a losing battle.



    • quinersdiner on May 22, 2013 at 8:22 am

      I look at how you’re raising your kids, and there is hope for the world. I am becoming a bigger fan of home schooling with each passing day.



      • Lori on May 25, 2013 at 7:12 am

        Tom, I think you would enjoy the book, “Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning” by Oliver and Rachel DeMille. I highly recommend it.



      • quinersdiner on May 25, 2013 at 10:13 am

        “Tom, I think you would enjoy the book, “Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning” by Oliver and Rachel DeMille. I highly recommend it.”

        Thanks for the tip.