THE LIGHTED CANDLE SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

 

JANUARY 2006

 

BY JOHN L. HARMER, CHAIRMAN

 

In preparing this newsletter each month we struggle with the issue of maintaining a sense of dignity and propriety in our reporting of the latest developments in the courts and the media with regard to the erosion of our nation’s moral values, and at the same time to be able to awaken our readers to the continuing increase of moral decay in our society.  In this newsletter we will provide a brief, and we hope appropriate, summary of how the forces of moral degeneracy continue to exploit perversion for economic gain.  We will then turn to the more positive aspect of what The Lighted Candle Society is doing to protect our homes and our families from this tidal wave of filth.

  1. On December 20th, 2005, the Canadian Supreme Court legalized the establishment of sexually oriented businesses that operate as “group sex clubs.”  In so doing the court over-ruled two previous Quebec Court of Appeal decisions that had determined that these enterprises qualified as “bawdy houses.”  Canada had previously established the age of “consent” for sex at the pathetically low age of fourteen.  The practical effect of this decision will be that fourteen year old boys and girls will be solicited to come and “work” in such establishments.  Pornography addicts who are confirmed pedophiles will now be able to journey to Canada and obtain the services of fourteen year old “consenting adults” to satisfy their perversion.
  2. The television producers and broadcasters in the United States continue to expand their presentations of adultery, divorce, rape, child sex abuse, and incest.  In a December survey of programs presented on “mainstream” network channels their Christmas month presentations included the following:  the graphic depiction of a crime show’s serial rapist torturing his female victims; a vicious tale of children being prostituted for sex by their father; a defaced young male corpse; a variety of shows that emphasized showing a Cadaver; an endless diet of adultery; the presentation of a “qualified sexologist” explaining to teenagers how to engage in “safe sex.”  The list could go on and on.  All of these themes have the same purpose, to continue to desensitize our society until all form of restraint and dignity has been removed from what the TV. broadcasters can send into the living room.
  3. The content of “pay per view adult programming” has now abandoned any pretext of dignity or moral values.  During the past year The Lighted Candle Society has documented the content of programs that are carried nationwide via satellite transmission.  These programs have now far exceeded the most depraved depictions of sexual deviancy that once was the sole purview of the back alley pornography industry.  The “mainstream” networks are fighting to get back their lost audiences by presenting “reality” shows that are totally committed to illicit sex.

As these perversions continue to increase in number they are supported, defended, and financed by the same secret combination of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Motion Picture Producers Association, the giant corporate entities in the pornography industry, and the commentators presented by the American media as objective newscast reporters.  Increasingly the content of news programs and so called “documentaries” move more and more to the presentation of reports of deviant sexual conduct.  Nowhere in the program is there a voice of concern over the fact that these presumably shocking acts of sexual violence are the result of the program content of these same network broadcasters.

 

THE MOMENT OF DECISION HAS COME

Since 1964, as an attorney, an elected public official, and a father, I have watched the continued erosion of our moral legacy sink lower and lower.  Nearly forty years ago, on the floor of the California State Senate I was laughed at derisively by my colleagues when I predicted that if the present trend were allowed to continue we would soon have scenes of graphic sexual conduct being broadcast on television and seen in every motion picture theater around the country.  In a series of televised debates throughout the state of California I warned that we could not escape the harvest of broken families and ruined lives if we did not enact legislation that would protect the standards of decency in our communities.  My opponents in those debates were the same entities noted above, attorneys for the ACLU, the motion picture producers, the slick magazine publishers, and the television industry. 

Ever and always my predictions of a society being torn apart by the obsession with perversion and sexual depravity were contemptuously depicted as the railing of a “moral absolutist” who wanted to impose his own values on the rest of society.   My predictions did not even come close to the reality that is now present in our society.  The downward spiral and the desensitization have made the American people unwilling to take whatever steps are necessary to protect and preserve the cultural dignity that is so essential if we are to live as a free people under the rule of law.

Given the reality of what now is I offer the following proposals for your serious consideration:

  1. If you have children or teenagers in the home, unplug the TV. set.  Use the TV. monitor to show DVD and videotape entertainment that is suitable for your children.  If there is a television program that your children want to watch, then watch it with them.
  2. Be aware of the enormous financial benefit that comes to the pornography industry when you spend your money on their products.  I am referring to the motion pictures which are patronized so casually by people who ought to know better.  The content of these motion pictures is intended to create an appetite for more graphic more specific sexual conduct.  The producers of those motion pictures have as a primary objective getting you to accept adultery and sexual promiscuity as normal human conduct.
  3. Look carefully at the clothing that your children and teenagers are wearing.  Why is it necessary for them to mimic the fashions of men and women whose moral values come from back alleys and barnyards? 
  4. Be willing to speak out for standards and values that reflect the dignity and the virtue that are the historical legacy of the American people.  The perversions that we are seeing encroach upon our schools, the business establishments in our communities, and the media that is glaringly evident at every turn do not have to be passively accepted.  Stop being ashamed of what you really believe. 

 

Speaking from a perspective of forty years of involvement with these issues, I can only say that it is much later than you think.  If in your life and your home the time has not come to decide where you will take your stand, the probability is that it never will come.

 

THE LIGHTED CANDLE SOCIETY PRIORITIES

 

THURSDAY MARCH 30TH, 2006

The Lighted Candle Society will sponsor a symposium of nationally recognized experts on the subject of how to define and present in a court of law “community standards.”  This symposium is intended to respond to the mandate of the United States Supreme Court that a local prosecuting attorney must demonstrate that any matter which is the object of some legal sanction because of its sexual content must be proven by the prosecutor to be “…patently offensive to contemporary standards of the community involved.”  The presentations at the symposium will be transcribed, printed, and then distributed free of charge to District Attorneys, law enforcement officials, community leaders, and elected officials.

 

MONDAY APRIL 21ST, 2006

A nationwide network of attorneys and plaintiffs brought together by The Lighted Candle Society will be filing civil and criminal actions in courtrooms around the country against the producers and distributors of pornographic materials.

 

 WEDNESDAY MAY 3RD, 2006

The annual GUARDIAN OF THE LIGHT award dinner sponsored by The Lighted Candle Society will be held.  At this event we will present awards to two individuals who have demonstrated by their commitment and conduct that they have the courage and the commitment to provide leadership and to make the personal sacrifice necessary to protect the moral and cultural heritage of America.  Our keynote speaker for this year will be Elder Jeffrey Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   For more details about the dinner please go to our web site.

 

Website:

 www.lightedcandlesociety.org

Address: 

The Lighted Candle Society

109 E. South Temple  Suite 6E

 Salt Lake City, Utah 84111