Pornography warning

EFFORTS to combat pornography require careful, well-reasoned strategies and fidelity to a comprehensive moral vision of the sacredness and dignity of human life, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago told participants at a ecumenical conference on pornography in the United States.
Calling for legal action against the "corruptive influences of obscenity, pornography and indecency in society," Cardinal Bernardin told the 300 religious leaders at the recent conference that it is necessary to proceed "with great care and deliberation" if effective solutions are to be reached.
"An uncritical approach runs the risk of grossly oversimplifying the problem and is inappropriate, given the importance of our primary concern: the worth and dignity of the human person," he said.
But at the same time, "fidelity to our mission means not isolating these problems from other life-threatening or lifediminishing issues in the sense of neglecting anything that threatens human life or diminishes human dignity."
Cardinal Bernardin added that the theological foundation On which opposition to pornography, obscenity and indecency rests is the sacredness of all life and the inherent dignity of the human person who is "the clearest reflection of the presence of God among us. To lay violent hands on the person is to come as close as we can to laying violent hands on God. To diminish the human person is to come as close as we can to diminishing God."