"Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

Hey fundies - don't get pissed at me. That's the motto printed on bibles handed out by the XXXChurch.com.

And no, it's not just a church for people in the porn business. Rather, it seems it was created "as a way to get Christians and church officials to talk about pornography addiction," according to this CNN news story.

MORTON, Illinois (CNN) -- At 8 o'clock on a recent Saturday morning, more than 250 men gathered at New Life Christian Church in Morton, Illinois, for a breakfast of porn and pancakes.

The event, not as titillating as it sounds, is the brainchild of Craig Gross, founder of the online Christian ministry, XXXChurch.com. Gross concocted the idea of "Porn & Pancakes" as a way to get Christians and church officials to talk about pornography addiction.

It's a problem, he said, that is growing, among Christian communities.

The homepage for the XXXChurch will probably give you a good idea of the demographic being targeted - young men. Even the layout for the rest of the site looks like it is trying to emulate some cheap porn site (er, not that I would know what they look like, you understand...). And evidently both their layout and domain name trip up a number of 'Good Christians', given some of the hatemail they have posted.

Given the way that most Christian religions have demonized sexuality to one extent or another, it isn't surprising that many believers have somewhat mixed feelings about porn, even to the extent of developing intense psychological problems in dealing with an interest in it. And so this guy has found himself a nice little niche in ministering to these addicts - though he has also gone to porn conventions - and trying to target young people who might have an interest in porn (he regularly holds debates with Ron Jeremy on college campuses...probably boosts both of their incomes). He even offers free 'accountability software':

X3watch is an accountability software program helping with online integrity. Whenever you browse the Internet and access a site, which may contain questionable material, the program will save the site name on your computer in a hidden folder. A person of your choice (an accountability partner) will receive an email containing all possible questionable sites you may have visited within the month. This information is meant to encourage open and honest conversation between friends and help us all be more accountable.

Man, I could see frat boys using that stuff to share sites they find...

Jim Downey