Actor Terry Crews repents, again, on porn -- leading to God-haunted news coverage
So let's walk through the basics on this story, shall we?
What we have here is a video in which a former National Football League player, now a mid-level star in network television (and advertising), talks very openly about his struggles with pornography. He puts the video on Facebook and it goes totally viral.
A key element in this story is the fact that his wife of 25 years -- Rebecca King-Crews -- has stayed by his side during this fight with addiction. She is a former beauty queen and a famous gospel singer, in her own right. The two also made news when they decided, to help build communication and intimacy in their marriage, to take a 90-day "fast" from sex.
In the viral video, Crews talks about the fact that his wife stood with him because he was "repentant" and now, several years after the crisis, he wants to make it his "mission" to help men break this addiction, to take steps to get help rather than just "asking for forgiveness."
The video, targeting his "Facebook family," does not talk about his faith in explicit terms -- but even the most simple Internet search makes it clear that Crews and his wife are active Christians.
So now, with that information in mind, watch the ABC News clip at the top of this post.
What is missing? Do you sense a God-shaped hole in this report?
Now, read the following story from CNN. It opens like this:
(CNN) "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" actor Terry Crews is opening up about his addiction to pornography, which he says "really, really messed up my life."
In a new series of videos posted to Facebook, the former NFL player says he had to go to rehab for his addiction, which consumed him and threatened his marriage.
"Some people say, 'Hey, man ... you can't really be addicted to pornography.' But I'm gonna tell you something: If day turns into night and you are still watching, you probably have got a problem. And that was me," he said.
"It changes the way you think about people. People become objects. People become body parts; they become things to be used rather than people to be loved."
In his "Dirty Little Secrets" videos -- there are three so far -- Crews talks about shame, sexism, male entitlement and a host of other subjects, while leaving the faith component at the "God bless you" level. Nevertheless, the religious components of his message are easy to spot and identify.
So what about the CNN report? What is missing from this story?
It does include reactions from online viewers, but only those talking about this issue in secular terms, such as:
"Thank you so much for this message, Terry. Your honesty humbles me," said one man on Facebook. "I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do drugs. But I have wrestled for years -- YEARS -- with pornography. I am grateful today to say that I have a very specific sobriety date and I have stayed clean for some time now. I work at it every day and I do everything I can to remove its power and hold."
"Thanks for putting this out there and congratulations on finding recovery," said a female commenter. "This horrible plague killed my marriage. Glad you decided to fight. We need more voices bringing awareness. There is a silent war being fought and the casualties are families and relationships."
Since this story has a strong moral component, and both the husband and the wife in this drama are outspoken Christians, why leave the religious themes out of the news story?