Pornified, Prude-ified, or Purified?

The subject is sex, and the sex text is the Song of Solomon.

This week’s topic: How to Have Really Great Sex.

Put that on the sign out in front of the church and you’re guaranteed to have a crowd. You don’t need a hook any better than that!

After all, we live in what Pamela Paul, author of Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families, calls a “pornified” world — a culture where sexy images and titillating talk dominate the landscape from TV to the Internet to billboards to the magazine rack at the Gas & Sip. Everywhere we turn we are confronted with someone’s body parts in full view for our inspection and entertainment. Sex is a product that sells and sex products sell just as well.

How pervasive is porn in our culture? Says Paul: “Imagine if Starbucks offered a shot of alcohol with your morning coffee. Then there was beer in the office and at lunchtime we all automatically ordered a bottle of wine rather than sparkling water. If alcohol were that available we’d all start drinking more and any stigma...