Group fights pornography

Utah, famous for hiring the nation's first "porn czar," is back in the anti-pornography spotlight — and candlelight.

The Lighted Candle Society, based in Washington, D.C., will launch a national fund-raising effort in Salt Lake City on June 18, with a keynote address by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III. Proceeds from the fund-raiser will go to the Utah Coalition Against Pornography, which will then distribute it to grass-roots anti-porn groups around the state.

Current grass-roots groups "have mostly been funded out of their grocery money," notes Utahn John Harmer, chairman and CEO of The Lighted Candle Society. Lack of money and know-how often makes it hard for these groups to educate families about the risks of pornography and strategies to combat it, he says.

So, typically, a mother in a small town might be upset by videos or Internet smut her children are exposed to, may try to organize other parents, and then may become overwhelmed. "We want to turn that housewife into an effective instrument for opposing pornography," he says.

Harmer, a former lieutenant governor of California, organized The Lighted Candle Society with Meese five years ago, then put the idea on a back burner until recently. The society's name, he says, "symbolizes its commitment to enhance and increase the presence of light, virtue and dignity within and among the American people."

While the war against pornography is still being fought on the "supply" side — against the manufacturers and distributors of pay-per-view movies and Internet sites, for example — increasingly the focus has shifted to the "demand" side, Harmer says. The Lighted Candle Society will produce literature for families, "to warn them of the tragic, addictive nature" of pornography. "We want to make it as abhorrent to them as drugs are . . . so they will shun it."

The Utah Coalition Against Pornography, which will be the recipient of the fund-raiser event, is chaired by the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. The 19-member coalition is made up of "diverse religious, social and cultural groups," says Bishop Niederauer. The group was established in 2001, with help from the Ohio-based National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families.

"Our aim is to get the word out, to educate wards, parishes, synagogues, mosques. We want to raise their consciousness about the dangers and what they can do," including what kinds of Internet filters are available. "Every home has a potential pornography outlet," he says. "It's often well-intentioned people who get hooked."