The Silent Problem of Pornography Use Among Pastors

In this digital age, pastors often find themselves navigating challenges their predecessors never imagined. Among these, pornography use has quietly emerged as one of the most pressing issues for the Church.

Recent Barna research reveals a complex landscape where personal struggles intersect with pastoral duties, generational shifts are evident, and churches grapple with how to address an issue that’s still rarely talked about openly. Compounding this, many pastors are silently dealing with their own pornography use.

Beyond the Porn Phenomenon, a new Barna report produced in partnership with Pure Desire Ministries, illuminates both the magnitude of today’s porn problem and the gaps and opportunities to address it.

Pornography Use Among Today’s Pastors

An overwhelming majority of pastors (86%) feel porn use is common among Christian pastors—a perception that seems to align closely with reality. Two in three U.S. pastors (67%) report having struggled with pornography at some point in their lives, with almost one in five (18%) saying this is a current struggle. Since Barna’s first study of pornography use in 2015, we see across the board more pastors saying they currently or previously struggled with pornography, and fewer pastors saying they’ve never struggled with pornography.

These findings paint a picture of senior church leaders who are simultaneously counselors and fellow or former strugglers, working to provide guidance while often dealing with their own challenges in this area.

Younger pastors especially are treading this line. Pastors under age 45 are more likely to say they are currently struggling with pornography (26% of pastors under age 45 say this vs.16% of those ages 45 and older). Among pastors ages 45 and up, two in five (38%) say they have never struggled with pornography, compared to 17 percent of younger pastors.

Younger pastors are also more likely than older pastors to believe it’s “very common” for Christian pastors to struggle with pornography use (44% of pastors under age 45 say this, compared to 29% of those ages 45 and older). Younger pastors appear more attuned to digital realities and perhaps are more likely to recognize or candidly discuss pornography as a widespread issue among Christian leaders.

Still, most pastors with a history of porn use say their church doesn’t know about their pornography use, including elders or deacons. And while pastors see pornography as one of many issues for church leadership today, they view issues like burnout, pride, marital problems, finances and disagreements as bigger ministry problems. Overall, the data suggests a lack of pastoral openness about struggles with pornography or low urgency to address the topic in general.

Pastors’ Perceptions About the Influence of Pornography

When directly confronting the prevalence of the problem, only a third of pastors (33%) assume porn use is a major or significant problem in their congregations. While this number nearly doubles (to 62%) among pastors with larger congregations, overall, most U.S. pastors don’t see porn use as a problem for their congregants, revealing a profound disconnect between pastoral perception and actual behavior.

Contrary to most pastors’ assessments of their congregations, 75 percent of Christian men and 40 percent of Christian women report porn consumption on some level. And while practicing faith does correlate with less porn use, we see that over half of practicing Christians (54%) report viewing pornography (compared to 68% of non-Christians).

Pornography use affects Christian communities far more than church leadership recognizes. Additionally, an overwhelming majority of pastors (81%) acknowledge that their churches are not adequately teaching about compulsive sexual behavior like pornography use.

With pornography now more conveniently accessible than ever, the Church faces a critical choice: ignore or minimize the issue of porn use, or confront it with transparency, compassion and robust support systems.