In which I take on Pastor Tom whilst defending porn

A couple of evenings ago, a Christian group at Purdue University in Indiana held an anti-porn conference of sorts (ironically named “Porn and Popcorn”). Jen from Blag Hag decided to take one for the team (and a massive one at that) and attended, joined by a handful of other members of Purdue’s Society of Non-Theists, perhaps hoping it wouldn't be quite as bad as it was likely going to be.

If she had indeed thought so, then she was obviously proven wrong, as she writes in her own, pleasantly lengthy account of the evening. I can’t say too much about it; it’s not my place to, seeing as I wasn’t there, and she’s already mentioned most of anything that can be said about that travesty-of-an-event. But what’s even more interesting than how Christian student groups can hold such ridiculous, dishonest and frankly loathsome events (read about some of what they did and claimed and you’ll understand how my use of “loathsome” is more-than-justified here), is how other Christians will happily step up to defend their wild, inaccurate and unnerving claims.

Which brings us to Pastor Tom Estes from HardTruth. His latest ridiculous post refers to Jen’s dissection of the horrendous anti-porn event, and does so in such an exceedingly obvious manner that it becomes almost comical, if not irritating, that he didn’t “permit” himself to mention it or her by name, or post any links. Because, of course, doing so would be intellectually honest. Can’t have that, can he?

As usual, Pastor Tom begins with the absurdities straight from the top, making my job of find it quite a bit easier:

Atheists are an interesting group. As anyone who reads this blog knows, atheists spend a lot of their time bashing Christians for pretty much anything we do. They criticize our beliefs, traditions, revise our amazing history, you know, just attack us in any way they can.

Uh-huh. Though, as anyone who reads that blog and who also actually reads other blogs (you know, atheist ones?) will know, that is simply bullshit. Atheists (in general) do not attack Christians simply for being Christians, which is what Pastor Tom and his fellow ilk enjoy repeating so very often. We attack them whenever they say or do something stupid, hateful or that in any way merits an attack. (Although, I can’t say that the vice-versa – Christians not attacking atheists simply for their lack of faith – is true.)

And now, here comes the real stuff of interest …

But would you believe, with all the lies and hateful rhetoric used against us, they, for the most part, have no issue with pornography?

That's right, porn seems to be no problem for most atheists. I have come across several atheist blogs lately that are devoting entire posts to the defense of this remarkably wicked industry.

Right. But, of course, you’ll never actually explain why or how the porn industry is so vile, will you? (Though, obviously, it is so just because it dares to show women nude and having sex. Sex! On film! With other men! Whatever shall we do?)

The fact is, Tom, that as Jen said (or so I think she did): there is nothing wrong with porn, in itself. Yes, there are and will always be fringe elements to it, such as child porn, zoo porn (though the morality of that is debatable) and so forth. There are fringe elements to everything, but they do not make the core of the matter itself any more or less decent or horrible. Porn in general is, if anything, a very good thing for most. First, it’s a huge, multi-billion-dollar industry, which obviously will be quite a bit of help to our ailing economy. Second, it’s decent entertainment for anyone out of books to read, films to watch or Internets to browse; and finally (and perhaps most of all), it allows for men to release their pent-up sexual impulses and desires, which in turn assures that less and less women will be sought after in a sexual objectification sort of way.

I’ll go even further: it’s actually the tabooing and demonization of porn that's such a bad thing for this society and the people in it. People are told to hate it, to find it distasteful, and even fear it; men who enjoy it are often forced to hide it out of fear of being branded as pigs, and women, as sluts; porn actors/actresses (for lack of a better term to qualify them) are inherently vilified as whores, jocks and promiscuous assholes just for A) enjoying sex, B) holding a job (however “distasteful” it may seem to others) that pays, and C) not having qualms about being captured on film in sexual acts, when everyone in the fucking world knows what sex is, the very vast majority of whom have done it and enjoyed it, and have no problems with doing it just for the pleasure of it. But, seeing people do it on TV – that's bad.

And yet, this is exactly what Christians and pearl-clutchers like Tom claim: that porn leads to child molestation, prostitution, objectification of women (yeah, fundie Christians so obviously give a shit about women and their rights), failing morality, and the general decline of society. And yet … where is their evidence? Testimonials, statistics, polls, scientific studies research, anything of the sort? Why do they never bring any of that up to give their dumbass claims even a basic foundation?

I think we all know why: it doesn’t exist.

And now, back to vivisecting (heehee) Tom's silliness:

(because I don't subscribe to the language and advertising on the blogs that are defending pornography, I'm not going to give any links, and will not permit any to be posted on this blog.)

Right. You also can’t even mention any of them by name, without links, for fear that the bloggers in question would actually find your little diatribe and tear it down. My, Tom, you are endlessly boring.

Now, Tom brings forth two “reasons” why we atheists defend porn (no-one else enjoys porn, other than atheists, then? Bit of a broad statement to make, no?):

1. By citing statistics that somehow show that porn doesn't lead directly to violent crime. Whether or not watching this smut makes you want to go out force yourself on someone is completely irrelevant in this discussion. Is it really okay to watch vile people commit horrible acts just because it doesn't necessarily compel you to go out and mimic said actions? I think not.

So … it’s still wrong to watch it, even if it doesn’t lead to anything bad? Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

The second way this behavior is defended is by claiming the only reason that Christians believe porn is wrong is because we are opposed to physical intimacy between a man and a woman. That argument could very well be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

No, you mentioning this “argument” should be the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard, as it is simply ridiculous. What atheists actually say, is that Christians are told, by the Bible and pastors like Tom who preach it, that sex is a filthy thing that should only ever be undertaken A) with the person you love, and B) with the explicit intent to reproduce. It’s therefore natural and expected that Christians would take such a hard line against porn.

But then, just as we’re almost finished, he comes up with this honkin’ load of stupidity:

But let's give this a closer look. Atheists believe that teaching kids about the Bible is harmful, but pornography isn't?^[1] They believe that consenting adults should be left alone to engage in an behavior they choose, with the exception of going to church and believing in God?^[2] Why is it when people are fully-clothed, sitting in church pews, and singing Amazing Grace that atheists are offended, but if people video tape themselves denigrating each other, that's no problem at all?^[3]

Oh, dear God. I may have to become a fundie Christian just so I can yell “Oh God, oh Jesus Christ!” at the top of my voice and not pass for a nutjob*.

• ^[1] We’re all for teaching kids about the Bible; we’re not for teaching kids the Bible as truth or scientific fact about anything, as it rather obviously isn’t. Porn is only harmful if you get an STD (and, so you know, STD rates amongst porn “actors” are actually laughably low).


• ^[2] Where the hell does this even come from? Since when are atheists (or anyone else) against “consenting adults” going to Church and believing in God? Is Tom utterly insane, or just unbelievably disconnected from reality?


• ^[3] Again, we have no problems, whatsoever, with people attending Church (and, for the record, I actually like ‘Amazing Grace’, just so you know). And as far as “people denigrating each other” goes, again, that’s just your demonstrably screwed-up view of the matter.

It’s really amazing how someone like Pastor Tom Estes, who spends so much time and energy vilifying atheists and writing about how we’re evil and immoral and do nothing but vile things, can be so totally, completely and unequivocally clueless about the very individuals and beliefs (or lack of them) he claims to examine (which appears to be code for “rant against”). Truly, Tom, get a clue. Even a tiny little one. You seriously need it.

As a footnote of sorts, Jen herself just tweeted about how she posted a comment in Tom’s blog forums, identifying herself as “the Blogger” to whom he referred so obviously and hypocritically. So silly … of course it would be deleted within 5 minutes. (Three, actually.) Just more evidence to Tom being nothing more than a horrendously dishonest troll, a coward, and a generalized hypocrite.

Which, perhaps, explains why it’s so gratifying to take his idiotic writings apart. I just knew I hadn’t included him in my negative blog widget in the right sidebar (along with arrogant ass Vox Day and benignly ignorant buffoon Ray Comfort) for nothing. I dunno – maybe God told me to. ;-)

And, as a second footnote of sorts, Jen’s now written a new post openly exposing Tom as the hypocrite he is (that word’s beginning to suffer from overuse with Tom. I should begin looking for alternatives).

* Even though converting into a fundie Christian would, in itself, be evidence of being a nutjob.