Café Philos: an internet café

In a time of war, the very last thing you want young soldiers doing is looking at photos of naked women in the pages of Playboy and Penthouse. That, at least, seems to be the trenchant conclusion of the moral experts at the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

The upright band of bimbos at the ADF recently began lobbying the Department of Defense to ban Playboy and Penthouse from being sold on military bases.

According to Wikipedia, the ADF,

is a conservative Christian non-profit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF defines "Truth" according to a socially conservative Christian perspective. In practice ADF is opposed to all forms of abortion, same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, allowing LGBT persons to serve in the military, and sex education in schools that includes comprehensive education on contraception. ADF also works to establish public prayer in schools and government events, and to protect religious displays in government settings, like crosses and other religious monuments built on public lands.

In short, the ADF thinks Jesus Christ arrived on the scene 2000 years ago in order to limit human freedom -- except the freedom to be a socially conservative Christian. So, it is little wonder the moral experts at the ADF are passionately demanding that soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines give up their right to buy magazines containing photos of naked women.

Some years ago, Congress passed a law, called "The Military Honor and Decency Act", to prohibit sexually explicit material from being sold in military exchanges and elsewhere on Defense Department property.

Fortunately, Congress left it up to the military to define "sexually explicit material." In May of 2006, the Defense Department board tasked with defining "sexually explicit material" determined that Playboy and Penthouse were not "sexually explicit", thus allowing the magazines to be sold on bases.

A year later, the ADF launched it's campaign to reverse the board's decision:

Patrick A. Trueman, attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, said the members of the review board need to use “a little common sense” in determining which materials cannot be sold on Defense Department property.

“The law is not complicated in its definition of ‘sexually explicit,’ ” Trueman said. “The porn magazines that are allowed such as ‘Nude Playmates,’ ‘Playboy,’ ‘Penthouse,’ etc. are sexually explicit.”

Trueman also noted that Congress has the ability to limit troops’ First Amendment rights: “Military men and woman are not permitted to wear anti-war symbols and may be required to shave and wear their hair at a certain length, for example.” He said the intent of the Military Honor and Decency Act is clear.

“Congress was concerned about sexual harassment in the military and making military duty more accommodating to servicewomen,” he said. “It was also attempting to protect military families, particularly children, who frequent the exchanges and should not be exposed to porn.”

So, the ADF is all in favor of further limiting the First Amendment rights of military people, even to the point of banning the mild nudity found in the pages of Playboy and Penthouse.

Furthermore, the moral geniuses don't mind stretching the truth when it suits their agenda: There is little or no scientific evidence to draw a causal link between pornography and sex crimes, despite numerous studies on the subject. There is even less evidence that children who view the covers of Playboy and Penthouse in base exchanges grow up to become sex fiends. But who cares about the truth? After all, truth is only what socially conservative Christians believe is truth.

Moreover, the last time I saw a Playboy or Penthouse, the nudity was pretty mild. Admittedly, that was some years ago, but I doubt much has changed with those magazines.

I myself find it baffling that anyone would begrudge a man his Playboy or Penthouse when that man is prepared to risk his life in defense of others and their freedoms. But then, I'm not one of the moral experts at the Alliance Defense Fund.


References:

Wikipedia

Stars and Stripes: Military defends ruling on sales of adult material on DOD property

Pentagon Okays Sale of Certain Porn Magazines at Military Exchanges