Vicars, priests, bishops and reverends across the UK have voted almost unanimously in support of online ID checks for porn sites.

The Church of England's Synod voted 263 to 2 in favour of urging age verification for pornography from the UK government.

Religious leaders from around the country said that children and young people are suffering 'grave harm' from porn, and will now demand that the government introduces age verification for sites like Pornhub.

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Reverend Jo Winn-Smith, who introduced the motion, said that age verification "ought to be a no brainer."

Ms Winn-Smith argued that experts have shown that pornography is "increasingly extreme and violent, misogynistic, objectifying women, normalising non-consent and coercion, as well as promotion unrealistic attitudes towards sex and body image."

The CofE ruling means the government's controversial Online Safety Bill will now have the backing of religious leaders in the UK.

A proposed amendment to the bill would see porn sites forced to check users' age through ID and credit card checks. Sites that fail to comply could be blocked in the UK or fined millions of pounds.

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However, the proposals are proving contentious, with many concerned that age checks could prove too invasive by tracking people's porn habits.

This was reflected in comments by Reverend Fiona Jack, who said she supported the measures but that people must "think very carefully about how we do this."

She said: "We need to work out how age verification can be done. One of the things we actually did as part of this piece of research was we looked at different methods but when I tell you about some of them they're very, very intrusive."

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