YOUNG MEN AND PORN
“Thank you for presenting the evidence that Internet porn has damaged the most important sex organ: the brain,” wrote family therapist Timothy Teague of Waterford, Va., about Belinda Luscombe’s April 11 cover story, which explored the effects of Internet porn on the sex drives of young men. Another marriage and family therapist, Charles Baum of Santa Cruz, Calif., echoed that point: Though “social conservatives” rail against “abortion, homosexuality [and] gay marriage,” he wrote, “I can attest that online porn and gambling cause much more harm to individuals, couples and families.”
“A war zone, indeed,” added Katie Deolloz of Luscombe’s description of the fraught topic. “Will be sharing with my teen son.” However, Heather Colletto of Grand Rapids, Mich., saw a certain irony in the story’s focus: “Decades of oppressing and degrading women through porn is finally being discussed because men are now having trouble getting an erection? Sigh. Whatever it takes, I guess.”
THE G-MAN
Massimo Calabresi’s reporting on FBI Director James Comey’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, which appeared in the April 11 issue and on TIME.com, prompted outrage from reader Lenore Alpert of Pompano Beach, Fla., who called the probe a “political witch hunt.” TIME’s article, she wrote, was “one-sided” for not highlighting points that might make Clinton’s decision seem less newsworthy, such as the “private email use by other Secretaries of State.” But Michele Yendall of Towson, Md., disagreed, noting that the controversy has been dubbed “an email issue” when, in her view, “it is the private server that indicates an effort to obstruct anyone from knowing the goings-on of the Secretary of State.”
Back in TIME
April 8, 1966
IS GOD DEAD?
To mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic cover story, TIME History takes a look back at the article’s fallout among its subjects and its echoes in the world of theology, which continue to this day. Read more at time.com/IsGodDead
THE NEWS
As the most radical of them proclaimed God’s death, religious thinkers were confronting a world in which the presence of a higher power was no longer assumed.
THE STORY
But after extensive research and reporting, it became clear that for many, faith was still very much alive.
THE COVER
Although TIME had commissioned original artwork by Larry Rivers, it opted instead for its first all-text cover.
THE REACTION
Nearly 3,500 readers wrote in, with letters that ranged from concise (“Yes” and “No”) to ferocious (“Your ugly cover is a blasphemous outrage”).
IN PERSPECTIVE
According to the story, 97% of Americans polled in 1965 believed in God. In 2014, Pew found that only 63% of respondents were absolutely certain about it. (An additional 20% were “fairly certain.”)
–LILY ROTHMAN
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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com