The Obscenity Exception is Obscene

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   Free speech is a right protected under the First Amendment; however, there are several exceptions including (but not limited to) obscenity and child pornography. In the good old days, the law defined “obscenity” as “lewd materials” that are “utterly without socially-redeeming value.”

   But in 1973, a landmark decision made by the United States Supreme Court modified the definition of obscenity. No longer would obscene propaganda be defined as lewd materials with no socially-redeeming value; but rather, as materials which lack, “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

   In other words, if artwork, a book, text, film, or photograph (regardless of how graphic or lewd) could be used in a classroom setting as an educational tool — or be hung in a gallery and classified as “art” — then it should no longer be considered obscene (and therefore, unrestricted within the free speech clause of the First Amendment).

   However, just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder; likewise, so is obscenity. When you have a nation full of leaders, public servants, parents, and teachers guided by biblical principles and Judeo-Christian values, such exceptions would likely not be cause for alarm. But stick this tainted pearl within the setting of an overly sexualized society, polluted by postmodernism and populated by lovers of self, and you have a recipe for disaster. 

   Take for example, the book, “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health.” In 2019, several news stations across the United States reported that public schools were utilizing this book as a part of their 5th grade sex education curriculum. The news stations were, however, prohibited from showing the book on air because its contents were considered too graphic for prime time. 

   In other words, adults old enough to stay up until 10:00 PM to watch the news were shielded from the offensive contents of a book that the public school system is putting into the hands of our 10-year-olds. 

   This is a great real-world example of how the obscenity exception law is being (ab)used. And, in the spirit of “killing two birds with one stone,” I believe it proves two points:

   1). Anything the public school system chooses to use as curriculum, no matter how lewd, will be protected by the obscenity exception; because everything they label as “educational” will automatically fall under the exception and be approved. 

   2). Neil Postman, in his book, “Amusing Ourselves To Death,” claimed that the nightly “news” always was — and always will be — entertainment.  The fact that the obscenity exception did not apply to news stations wishing to show the book on air, proves Postman’s point perfectly — the nightly news is nothing but entertainment. (If the contents of the book were being shown for purpose of “educating” parents, broadcasters could have called upon the obscenity exception and shown the book on air). 

   We often speak as believers about the Messiah coming. We say things like, “Maranatha!” and we talk of justice and the end of the world. We compare America to Egypt, and we compare the current moral conditions in America to Babylon. But it’s all talk.  

   Talk.

   In the book of Exodus, as Moses is off tending sheep in Midian, the children of God are left in Egypt, slaving away — quite literally. Around this time, the king of Egypt dies, and Moses — their deliverer — has skipped town. It appears they will die there in amongst the Egyptians, surrounded by Egypt’s strange gods. They,  too, must have talked often about deliverance.

   But the difference between the children of God perishing in Egypt; and the children of God morally perishing in America today is that the Israelites did not merely talk about being delivered…

   “During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So, God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

   Brothers and sisters, it is time for us to collectively CRY OUT against this great perversion encompassing our country. The strange gods of Egypt have taken up residence in America. Where is our outcry?  We are sacrificing our children to Molech by allowing sex education into our grade schools, kindergartens, and preschools.  Pornographic “curriculum” is exposing the innocents to traumatic, premature sexual awakenings and perversions; and nurturing animalistic, insatiable lusts that will destroy their souls. The Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) curriculum being used was compiled and funded by Alfred Kinsey’s research, SEICUS, and Planned Parenthood... is this the holy “trinity” you want breathing its spirit into your children and grandchildren?

   “When may a revival be expected?   When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and distresses the Christian.”   -Billy Sunday

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