Huffington Post

In three studies, Grubbs polled people about their strength of faith, religious practices, online porn-viewing habits and moral attitudes about porn. He also gave participants a survey to measure their perception of addiction, asking them to rate how much they agreed with statements like: “I believe I am addicted to Internet pornography;” and “I feel ashamed after viewing pornography online.”

One study involved 331 undergraduates at a public U.S. university, another focused on 97 students at a religiously affiliated university, and a third involved 208 adults gathered in an online poll. The majority of the participants in each survey were either Christian or Catholic, heterosexual and white. In each of the studies, 26-32 percent reported no religious affiliation. The studies excluded people who had not looked at porn at least once in the past six months.

There was no connection between the religious devotion of the participants and how much porn they actually viewed, the studies showed. However, stronger religious faith was linked with more negative moral attitudes about pornography, which in turn was associated with greater perceived addiction, the study found.

Grubbs and his co-authors speculate that feelings of addiction could be seen as “the religious individual’s pathological interpretation of behaviour deemed a transgression or a desecration of sexual purity.” The findings could help therapists understand that the perception of addiction might have more to do with religious beliefs than actual porn-watching habits, the researchers said.

“We can help the individual understand what is driving this perception, and help individuals better enjoy their faith,” Grubbs said in a statement.

Ok, first of all, this study is barely worth classifying as such. The very fact that people who failed to view porn (Likely erotica) online were excluded indicates little to no interest in even thinking whether or not there is a confounding variable in play — much less assessing if anyone on either side was actually attempting to alter the level of use or classifying materials viewed and scaling for such…

(In case it’s not abundantly clear already, “Academic Peer review,” is basically a myth invented to scare grad students.)

But, it’s still interesting — interesting in that, for whatever else it may prove, this study makes very clear one reality we have known for years: The more guilt and shame you experience, the more bondage you are under.

Addiction simply isn’t a question of the amount of material or substance consumed — it’s about the experience of bondage. And the experience of bondage always drives the guilt and shame as much as the guilt and shame drive the bondage which is then experienced.

Yep, it’s an infinite loop — which is exactly what addiction is.

The breakpoint of that loop is the polar difference between religion and faith. The first creates guilt, the second erase even the mechanism to create such…