The Church of England drew its General Synod to a close last week with a debate on whether standards of decency were falling in the British media in the aftermath of the Celebrity Big Brother race row and growing concerns over the increasing presence of sexually explicit images and violence in the media.
Just some of the programmes under fire from Synod members were Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing and Little Britain, which some feared were lowering standards of behaviour and exploiting the humiliation of human beings for "ratings and sales".
Although the Church of England voted against a call for the Government to launch an inquiry into media standards, it was nonetheless a positive sign that the Church was even holding such a debate.
One Synod member called it "timely". Overdue might be more fitting.
The Church of England rightly voiced concern at what it called the "worrying tendency to exploit the humiliation of human beings for public entertainment" - referring particularly to Celebrity Big Brother.
But Synod members also criticised the alarming proliferation of sexually explicit male magazines, or 'lads mags' like Nuts, Zoo, Loaded and FHM. These magazines, once banished to the top shelf where no self-respecting man would dare cast his eyes, have slowly crept their way down to prime positions directly eye-level with children.
And what's more worrying, these magazines are now online with no measures in place to prevent children from accessing them. In its Google tag, Loaded describes itself as "the best UK men's magazine, now online with more exclusive, sexy girl galleries, hot new games and gambling" - how base. FHM is only slightly better but still boasts that it features the "best girls". Well, the eyes may be full but the heart is empty.
These magazines exploit women and reduce them to fodder for men's sexual fantasies, and yet they have become a regular feature in the bedrooms of men and boys across the country. And the sexually graphic images once confined to the inner pages are now liberally and unavoidably splayed across the front covers - anything to make the sale.
