Is pornography a mounting menace to U.S. youth? Church bodies and guardian groups, including the Roman Catholic National Organization for Decent Literature, the Protestant Churchmen's Committee for Decent Publications, and others, cite alarming statistics and urge various actions ranging from newsstand boycotts to congressional legislation. In last week's Christian Century, the managing director of the American Book Publishers Council, Unitarian Dan Lacy, presents a cool and collected analysis of a situation that normally collects more heat than light.
Author Lacy sees little reason to believe that there has been much relative growth in "hard-core," out-and-out pornography (sold under the counter), and...
