65,000+ Reddit users flock to forum founded by atheist to quit pornography, masturbation

Even a blind hog in a pigsty, as they say, can stumble upon an acorn occasionally. John Jalsevac, "65,000+ Reddit users flock to forum founded by atheist to quit pornography, masturbation" (LifeSiteNews, July 12, 2013):

July 12, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – They’re called “fapstronauts”: men and women who, for whatever reason, have signed up to take the “ultimate challenge” and conquer the urge to masturbate (“fap” in Internet slang) and/or use porn, whether it be for a certain, set period of time, or permanently. And joining their ranks is quickly becoming one of the hottest new trends on the social media site Reddit.

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What is notable here, perhaps, is that while the reasons for pursuit of the goal in question are varied, the majority of those involved are secular atheists, not Catholics or otherwise religious; and, like Catholics familiar with Church teaching, they are coming to the realization in this highly hedonistic and over-sexualized culture that pornography and auto-erotic self-gratification do not lead to happiness or joy, but alienation, emotional distancing, objectification of others, and emotional isolation.

In one sense, as Christopher Blosser pointed out to me, the movement might be characterized as a modern day grassroots revival of stoicism (exercise of will and reason, mastery over passions, etc.); but in their own meagre way, these young people -- although completely ignorant of Christianity in general or Catholicism in particular, or even anything redolent of the "theology of the body" -- are coming to parallel epiphanies. Given time, the "truth will out," as they say.

[Hat tip to C.B.]