R-Rated Movies

Do "good" Latter-days Saints avoid R-rated movies? Many in the Church gesture towards rules against consuming media with too-mature ratings, but where do those rules come from? Are Church leaders trying to control what we watch, or is this just a part of Church culture?

Is it against the Church rules to watch R-rated movies?

No, there is no specific policy against R-rated movies, however Church leaders teach that we should avoid "anything that is not consistent with the Spirit"[1] and to not view anything that is "vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way."[2]

But in the past, was there a rule against R-rated movies?

In 1980 President Kimball said in a BYU Devotional "I would warn you against the [R-rated] movies"[3] and in April 1986 General Conference, President Ezra Taft Benson told young men "don't see R-rated movies."[4]

An MPAA warning still from before a movie, circa 1970s, when Latter-day Saint prophets and leaders cautioned members against viewing R-rated movies, blue with white writing. — A still from an older MPAA R rating warning, ca 1970s.

But even today, isn't there a cultural rule against R-rated movies?

In some ways. Many Ensign Articles since the eighties have warned against R-rated movies.[5] Some Seventies have repeated the warnings against R-rated movies as well in varying contexts.[6] All of this has contributed to a general culture of rejecting all R-rated movies.[7]

Why does the Church lean on a secular ratings system?

It doesn't. In fact, more recent counsel (again, to youth) has specifically stated that the prophet has not drawn a line.[8]

What qualifies a movie for an R rating?

Movies are judged by a board of the MPA (Motion Picture Association) referred to as CARA (the Classification and Rating Administration.)[9] R-rated movies are considered to "contain some adult material"[10] and the acceptance of some level of what could be considered pornographic material in R-rated movies are often cited by Church leaders as a reason to avoid them.[11]

What qualifies a movie or series for a TV-MA rating?

TV-MA is approximately equivalent to R, but the ratings can vary.[12] TV shows are also rated by episode, so rating severity can fluctuate throughout a show's run.[13] It's also important to know that the movie ratings criteria expressly change along with prevailing culture, sometimes referred to as "ratings creep,"[14] so the ratings may never be precisely analogous.[15]

Have R-rated movies "gotten worse" over time?

Mostly yes, depending on how you define "worse." Studies have shown increases in violence, profanity, sexual content, and drug use.[16]

What about shows that are unrated?

Unrated shows have no warnings about the content they contain.[17] Some shows are unrated because they are a different cut of the film or contain deleted scenes and commentary that the MPA rated theatrical release does not contain.[18]

Aren't some PG-13-rated movies "worse" than some R-rated movies?

Probably. In this context, Lynn G. Robbins referred to "ratings creep" and stated that the "cunning result of this creeping trend is that the 1986 R-rated movie has deceptively become a PG-13 or PG movie in 2013."[19]

Is it okay to fast forward through the "bad parts" of a show?

The Church does not give specific guidance on the topic. However, in the past, some have counseled against "justifications" for watching movies with inappropriate content.[20]

Why does the Church care what I watch?

The Church teaches that "just as your body is affected by what you eat and drink, your mind and spirit are profoundly affected by what you read, watch, and listen to."[21]

The Facts

In the 1980s, prophets advised youth against watching R-rated movies.
Ratings have changed significantly since the 1980s.
In the 21st century, prophets have "not drawn a line" with respect to movie ratings.

Our Take

Are Latter-day Saints allowed to watch R-rated movies? Does the Church control what its members watch? People choose what media to consume based on preference and personal values, so having the Church be prescriptive about what movies are off-limits can feel controlling or stifling. Is this an actual policy, or is this cultural?

In 1980 President Kimball said in a BYU Devotional "I would warn you against the [R-rated] movies" and in April 1986 General Conference, President Ezra Taft Benson told young men "don't see R-rated movies." In the years since, many Church articles and leaders have reinforced the warning against R-rated movies, which has created some cultural aversion to R-rated movies amongst Church members.

However, in the 21st century, leaders like Elder Lynn G. Robbins in 2013 have addressed the youth of the Church to say that the prophet has not "draw[n] a line" on what rating of movies the youth watch. And the current For the Strength of Youth advises to avoid "anything that is not consistent with the Spirit."

For youth and adult members, it seems the Church’s concern is with the spiritual effect that media has on its consumers, and this concern doesn’t translate to specific policies based on a secular ratings systems. Some Saints may differ in their movie-watching standards, and that's okay. The Church's counsel is simple: seek uplifting content. Members can feel confident navigating media for themselves, with the guidance of the Spirit and teachings from Church leaders.

What's Your Take?

Michael
“Good article. I've had to take the perspective that there are R-rated films that have value because of the history or cultural background they provide. Examples would be Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan. Others simply tell a great story. The Shawshank Redemption is one.”
Emerson
“At the risk of cherry-picking, the "ratings creep" trend is not always towards permissiveness. Overt sexuality and nudity that used to show up in PG movies (e.g. Airplane and Ghostbusters) would never get that now, and IMO many Disney PG movies would have been G 40 years ago.”
Rachelle H.
“Until the current prophet says otherwise, I'll follow the counsel of Pres. Kimball & Pres Benson.”
Jacob
“It was 1986 when President Benson gave the commandment to not watch Rated-R movies. If it needed to be changed, a prophet would have done so since him. Doctrine and Covenants 21:4-5 comes to mind.”
Lynn C
“I don’t watch R rated movies. But the two I was encouraged to watch were so uplifting I would truly recommend them. They are “The Kings Speech” and “The Pianist”.”

Read More Difficult Questions

28 Primary Sources

Footnotes

[1]↩︎
The most recent For the Strength of Youth pamphlet offers the following counsel in the same paragraph around media:
Don’t participate in anything that dulls your judgment or sensitivity to the Spirit, such as violence, alcohol, and harmful drugs. Have the courage to turn off a video or game, walk out of a movie or a dance, change your music, or turn away from anything that is not consistent with the Spirit.
R-rated movies are not specifically mentioned.
- Most recent (2022) For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet advises seeking entertainment that uplifts, inspires, and invites the Spirit.
[2]↩︎
In a 2013 BYU Devotional, Lynn G. Robbins said, regarding movies:
"President Gordon B. Hinckley never drew a line. Neither has President Thomas S. Monson. But the prophets have taught us principles found in For the Strength of the Youth, such as the following: Do not attend, view, or participate in anything that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in anything that presents immorality or violence as acceptable."
- Lynn G. Robbins discusses movie ratings, concludes the Holy Ghost should guide what movies we watch.
[3]↩︎
President Kimball, while speaking of "things of the moment and social diversions" said:
I would warn you against the R- and X-rated movies that unfortunately seem to be so prevalent these days. For the most part, they are filled with violence, sex, profanity, and crime. I can hardly imagine that any young man at the BYU, or elsewhere in the Church, would ever think of taking his lovely date to such a movie.
- Spencer W. Kimball warns BYU students against R- and X- rated movies.
[4]↩︎
President Benson's remark covered more than just R-rated movies:
We counsel you, young men, not to pollute your minds with such degrading matter, for the mind through which this filth passes is never the same afterwards. Don’t see R-rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic.
- President Ezra Taft Benson counsels the young men to not see R-rated movies or vulgar videos.
[5]↩︎
Most of these articles expand on Ezra Taft Benson's counsel to the youth. They are usually focused on keeping yourself unspotted from the world and similar themes.
[6]↩︎
One piece of counsel from Hartman Rector, Jr. to the youth was:
Do not attend R- or X-rated movies, and avoid drive-ins.
Cree-L Kofford added:
Young people know they should not watch R- or X-rated movies, and yet time after time I hear them say, “Well it’s only rated R because it’s violent.” What difference does it make why it is rated R? The fact is, a prophet of God has said not to go to R-rated movies (see, for example, Ezra Taft Benson, “To the ‘Youth of the Noble Birthright,’” Ensign, May 1986, 45). That ought to be good enough.
Joe J. Christensen tied in counsel from Gordon B. Hinckley as well, saying:
It is a concern that some of our young Latter-day Saints, as well as their parents, regularly watch R-rated and other inappropriate movies and videos—one more reason why the ‘devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice’ (3 Nephi 9:2).
Just a few months ago the Lord’s prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, shared with the youth, and with all of us, this clear and unmistakable counsel:
“Be clean. I cannot emphasize that enough. Be clean. It is so very, very important, and you at your age are in such temptation all the time. It is thrown at you on television. It is thrown at you in books and magazines and videos. You do not have to rent them. Don’t do it. Just don’t do it. Don’t look at them. If somebody proposes that you sit around all night watching some of that sleazy stuff, you say, “It’s not for me.” Stay away from it" (Denver, Colorado, youth meeting, 14 Apr. 1996).
The Lord and His living prophets are counting on you to avoid the trash that surrounds you in the media. When anyone chooses to ignore or defiantly go against the counsel of the living prophet, he is on very shaky ground.
[7]↩︎
For example, Orson Scott Card described his experience of receiving some backlash in 2004 for reviewing "The Passion of the Christ," a film with an R rating, along with the following experience a sister shared with him:
This past Sunday, for instance, which was a testimony meeting in some wards, one sister (who later wrote to me) stood up and bore her testimony about how seeing The Passion had brought new awareness to her of the meaning of the sacrament. At the end of the meeting, the bishop's counselor, in an obvious rebuke, told the members, "I would just like to say that our church does not condone going to see R-rated movies based on their violence, graphic and sexual content."
- Orson Scott Card explains his rationale that there is no commandment against R-rated films.
[8]↩︎
Elder Lynn G. Robbins, in a BYU Devotional in 2013 said the following:
If the Church were to draw a line with movies, that would be like giving permission to watch everything up to the line. President Gordon B. Hinckley never drew a line. Neither has President Thomas S. Monson. But the prophets have taught us principles found in For the Strength of the Youth, such as the following:
Do not attend, view, or participate in anything that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in anything that presents immorality or violence as acceptable.
President Hinckley taught, “Avoid pornography as you would a plague.” Did you notice his use of the word avoid? President Monson has said, “Avoid any semblance of pornography. It will desensitize the spirit and erode the conscience.”
He still warns against R-rated films in this talk, but adds the counsel that "The Holy Ghost should be our Internet, movie, and TV guide."
- Lynn G. Robbins discusses movie ratings, concludes the Holy Ghost should guide what movies we watch.
[9]↩︎
The raters on the board must be parents who do not have ties to the entertainment industry. Each rater must have children between the ages of five and fifteen when they join the board, and they must leave the board once all of their children have turned twenty-one.
They serve up to 7 year terms. They're selected by the Chairperson of the board in an effort to "represent the diversity of American parents."
- The Rating Rules document provided by the MPA outlines the makeup of the board for CARA.
[10]↩︎
The current CARA Rating guide outlines this more specifically, as follows: :
An R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously.
- CARA outlines the criteria for rating a movie G, PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17.
[11]↩︎
A common theme in avoiding R-rated movies is linking them to pornographic content. For example, Ezra Taft Benson's stated:
Don’t see R-rated movies or vulgar videos or participate in any entertainment that is immoral, suggestive, or pornographic.
In 1972, Hartman Rector, Jr. gave the following in a list of "barriers" he counseled for the youth:
5. Do not read pornographic literature. 6. Do not attend R- or X-rated movies, and avoid drive-ins.
More recently, in 2013, Lynn G. Robbins, in his remarks about movie ratings, said the following:
But the prophets have taught us principles found in For the Strength of the Youth, such as the following: Do not attend, view, or participate in anything that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in anything that presents immorality or violence as acceptable. President Hinckley taught, “Avoid pornography as you would a plague.” Did you notice his use of the word avoid? President Monson has said, “Avoid any semblance of pornography. It will desensitize the spirit and erode the conscience.”
[12]↩︎
The TV-MA Rating is rated for "Mature Audiences" with the following description:
This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17. This program may contain one or more of the following: crude indecent language (L), explicit sexual activity (S), or graphic violence (V).
In addition, while the ratings for television are modeled after the ratings for movies for ease of use, they are determined by a different board.
- The Television Ratings Guide segment on TV-MA rating and how it is modeled off of movie ratings.
[13]↩︎
The TV Parental Guidelines, made by the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board (comprised of experts from the television industry and public interest advocates that function like CARA but for Television) elaborates:
TV ratings are applied on an episode-by-episode basis. This can result in individual shows within a series carrying different ratings.
- The TV Parental Guidelines detail how ratings are applied on an episode-by-episode basis.
[14]↩︎
The term "ratings creep" was used in a 2004 Harvard study as well as a 2011 study published in Journal of Children and Media to refer to the apparent progression of acceptable levels of violence, profanity and sexual content in movies.
Lynn G. Robbins characterized "ratings creep" as follows:
But what would a movie given an R rating in 1986 be rated today? Would you agree that Hollywood has relaxed its standards? It is referred to as “ratings creep.” Hollywood has gradually allowed more vulgarity, profanity, nudity, violence, sex, etc., over the decades while maintaining the same ratings.
[15]↩︎
The fluidity of the ratings system is described on filmratings.com (the official website of the MPA) as follows:
Furthermore, to ensure our rating system reflects the current sentiment of parents, CARA’s system is constantly evolving. As American parents’ sensitivities change, so too does the rating system. Elements such as violence, language, drug use, and sexuality are continually re-evaluated through surveys and focus groups to mirror contemporary concern and to better assist parents in making the right family viewing choices.
- CARA explains how the movie rating system is "constantly evolving."
[16]↩︎
In 2011 a study published in Journal of Children and Media found:
A quantitative content analysis of 45 films was conducted, and significant increases in violent content in the PG-13 rating category from Time 1 (1988) to Times 2 (1997) and 3 (2006) were found. However, similar increases in other types of adult content in the PG-13 rating category were not found. Results suggest a leniency toward violent content by the MPAA ratings board that parallels America's parents' greater comfort with children being exposed to violence than other types of adult content—sex, for example—in the unrestricted PG-13 rating category.
Additionally, a Harvard study in 2004 found:
. . . a significant increase of violence, sex, and profanity in films. . . suggesting that the MPAA became increasingly more lenient in assigning its age-based movie ratings. Their results suggest that the overall increase arose largely from increases in violent content in films rated PG and PG-13, increases in sexual content in films rated PG, PG-13, and R, and increases in profanity in films rated PG-13 and R.
- Ron Leone & Nicole Houle conclude from a 2006 study of "ratings creep" found a significant increases in both sexual and violent content in PG-13 movies from 2000 to 2003.
- Harvard Study finds significant increases in violence, sex, and profanity in movies between 1992 and 2003.
[17]↩︎
The Classification and Rating Rules (from CARA) outlines the following information about film ratings, with G dealing with unrated film content:
F. All motion pictures intended for exhibition in the United States produced or theatrically distributed by a member of the MPA must be submitted to CARA for rating. Such motion pictures may only be exhibited in the United States with a CARA rating and rating descriptors and are subject to these Rules, as well as the Advertising Administration Rules.
G. Any motion picture not produced or theatrically distributed by a member of the MPA may be submitted to CARA for rating in the same manner and under the same conditions as those applicable to submission of motion pictures by members of the MPA. However, the producer or distributor of such a motion picture may elect not to accept the rating and rating descriptor for that motion picture, or to surrender the rating for the motion picture, and thereafter may exhibit or distribute the motion picture in the United States without a rating.
- The "Classification and Rating Rules" document of the MPA outlines that anything made by an MPA member must be rated to be distributed.
[18]↩︎
The Classification and Rating Rules provide this description of what might be unrated material:
G. If a rated version of a motion picture is distributed in the home entertainment market with audiovisual material in addition to the rated motion picture, such as deleted scenes, interviews, commentary, bonus material or other similar materials ("unrated content"), the distributor must comply with the Advertising Administration Rules with respect to such product and must include on the packaging of the product the following legend: "This product contains the _-rated motion picture and additional unrated material" or a similar legend acceptable to the Advertising Administration.
- The Classification and Rating Rules document of the MPA details that movies may include unrated material like deleted scenes, interviews, commentary, etc.
[19]↩︎
While speaking of "ratings creep," Lynn G. Robbins had the following to say about PG-13 movies:
The cunning result of this creeping trend is that the 1986 R-rated movie has deceptively become a PG-13 or PG movie in 2013. The shifting or creeping of the line could be compared to the mists in Lehi’s dream that “blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.” As members justify the viewing of such movies based upon a deceptive rating, they become more and more desensitized to inappropriate material that a prophet identified as dangerous back in 1986.
- Lynn G. Robbins discusses movie ratings, concludes the Holy Ghost should guide what movies we watch.
[20]↩︎
Joseph Walker, a former film critic and member of the Church's Public Communications Department had this to say in an Ensign article in 1990:
Justifications like “Well, it won an Oscar” or “There’s only one little scene (or word, or grotesque special effect) that gave it an R-rating” are just that: justifications, hollow excuses for going contrary to the Spirit of Christ. Never mind that Mom and Dad won’t allow the kids to watch the show with them.
And in February of 2002 the New Era published a "Mormonad" depicting a cockroach in an ice cream sundae with the caption:
It’s Great Except For … except for the bad parts. What kinds of movies and music are you feeding your mind? (See A of F 13.)
- Joseph Walker warns against justifying watching R-rated movies, encourages 13th Article of Faith as a guideline, regardless of rating.
- The New Era publishes a Mormonad depicting a cockroach in ice-cream, relating it to what kind of movies or music you participate in.
[21]↩︎
The 2022 For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, while detailing how good choices improve your ability to feel the spirit, says:
Just as your body is affected by what you eat and drink, your mind and spirit are profoundly affected by what you read, watch, and listen to.