Nearly two dozen former porn stars have signed a letter addressed to the "porn industry" that calls on its leaders to increase the minimum age of entry into the industry from 18 to 21. The letter urges leaders to "stop recruiting impressionable teens into porn," adding, "Before we began shooting porn scenes, we had no understanding of the extreme physical, emotional, or psychological trauma that awaited us. Some of us weren't even old enough to drink alcohol, and, as brain science reveals, the decision-making part of our brains wasn't fully developed." The letter further described the signatories' claims that they were "coerced in high pressure situations to do sex acts we've clearly said we will not do," saying they feel they are "victims of violent sexual assaults" and have sustained "physical injury, psychological trauma" and were put "at risk of sexually transmitted infections." Read more.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes over a dispute surrounding its efforts to regain official recondition at Pioneer High School in San Jose, Calif. A 2-1 opinion authored by Judge Kenneth Lee contends that the San Jose Unified School District violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by revoking FCA's status as an official student club at its high schools in 2019 over the club's requirement that participants sign a "sexual purity" statement opposing homosexuality. Lee wrote that, although the school district cited concerns that the club's "sexual purity" statement and "statement of faith" constituted violations of the district's non-discrimination policy, the school district approved other student clubs whose constitutions limited membership based on gender identity and ethnicity. "Under the First Amendment, our government must be scrupulously neutral when it comes to religion: It cannot treat religious groups worse than comparable secular ones," Lee wrote in the majority opinion. "But the School District did just that." Read more.

Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools in South Dakota is facing scrutiny over a school dress code policy that requires male students to have short hair or dreadlocks. The policy gained attention after a 14-year-old African American freshman was reportedly told he could not attend high school because his dreadlocks are considered too long. In a statement to The Christian Post, Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools Administration clarified that the policy still "allows for culturally appropriate hairstyles such as dreadlocks" and said that several students "have dreadlocks that meet" its policy. The administration also stated that the parents had agreed to "further dialogue" with the "hope of finding a resolution" but that they "took to social media to present their version of events" before engaging in said dialogue. Read more.

In this editorial, Mark Creech cautions against the Church uniting with false religion and selling out to the world in a bid to appear inclusive, good and noble. "Christians must be tolerant of personality differences, quirks, and foibles among the brethren, but the Church must never tolerate violations of essential Christian doctrine and clear moral practice," Creech explains. Read more.

John Stonestreet and Maria Baer write about choice and why the belief that having more control and more choices is a modern misconception. "No matter how many choices we have, we cannot remake the world. Everywhere we turn, we butt up against the limits of creation. According to a Christian worldview, this is actually good news. God created the world with limits: physical and moral laws, bodies, certain geographic locations and times in history, and not other ones," they write. Read more.

Did you know that up to 40% of families in your church and community are blended families?

Perhaps you parent within the framework of a blended family yourself and understand the complexities of stepfamily dynamics.

Stepfamilies are born of loss. Every person and relationship has a shadow of sadness behind it. Unwanted loss often recalibrates our understanding of God and ourselves and therefore, reveals our need for grace. Read more.

In this episode of "Billy Hallowell's Playing With Fire Podcast," Bible teacher Jareb Nott and his wife, Petra, explain their views on how pornography and other issues have demonic elements. The co-authors of The Science of Deliverance: How Spiritual Freedom Brings Physical Healing discuss how full possession is rare but that struggles with issues like pornography can open believers up to spiritual problems. "We dip our toes in. That’s the open door for that particular issue and that particular demon to infiltrate our lives," says Jareb Nott. Listen now.

Actor and professing Christian Terry Crews shared during an interview on Entertainment Tonight how a "90-day sex fast" helped him overcome an addiction to pornography that was harming his marriage. "What was so beautiful about that, was it took me to a time when I was 12 years old and I liked a girl and I didn’t know anything about sex," he explained. "But all I did was give her a flower and say, ‘I like you for who you are.’ And it wasn’t about sex. It took us back to those moments." Crews discussed how celibacy and therapy helped put him on the path to overcoming his addiction, saying, "I couldn't believe it. It was the best. At first, I was like, 'This this is gonna be horrible.' It was the best thing that we had ever done." Crews previously discussed his porn addition in a 2016 Facebook video where he said that X-rated content "changes the way you think about people. People become objects." Read more.