|
AFA/ACTIVISM
Dothan, Alabama, draws nearly 100,000 people each November during
the National Peanut Festival. The week-long celebration includes
a fair and Saturday morning parade down Main Street – a street
which is home to the nation’s largest distributor of retail
porn videos, Movie Gallery.
This year, mothers angered by Movie Gallery’s open display
of porn literally took their message to the streets. Armed with
5,000 sealed envelopes containing boycott cards, brochures, and
Movie Gallery officers’ names, they hand delivered them to
parents lining the street during the annual parade on Saturday morning.
“We’re here to send a message that some of our local citizens
are deeply involved with the porno industry,” said Jawana Stewart.
“Movie Gallery decision-makers live among us and we are going
to let parents know who they are.”
At the same time, an airplane flew overhead bearing a banner reading,
www.StopMovieGalleryPorn.com.
Later that day, some in the group visited neighborhoods, handing
out boycott information to those who live next to Movie Gallery’s
porn kingpins, and also handed out literature at the fairgrounds.
Dothan isn’t the only town fighting Movie Gallery’s display
of porn videos. AFA is working with citizens in Arkansas, Oklahoma,
Mississippi, Virginia, and Kentucky to rid their communities of
smutty videos in Movie Gallery stores.
A&F relents, ends sexed-up catalog marketing
Following the concerted efforts of AFA and other pro-family groups,
clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) has announced
that it will no longer produce its controversial quarterly catalog.
The catalogs have become infamous for their nude models and promotion
of sexual immorality. AFA had previously called for its supporters
to boycott the retailer because of the smutty catalogs. Other pro-family
groups had also called for their own, separate boycotts of the company.
Initially, a story in National Review said that the company
had indeed pulled its Christmas catalog from its stores, and would
no longer promote its popular clothing lines in that manner. But
an A&F spokesman denied that, saying the holiday issue had been
removed simply to make room in stores for a new line of perfume.
A follow-up story on CNN/Money.com, however, said the company admitted
that the catalogs would no longer be issued. A&F said in a statement
that the company “looks forward to unveiling an innovative
and exciting campaign in the spring.”
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said AFA Chairman
Don Wildmon. “If A&F has decided to become more responsible
in its marketing strategy, then it’s a good thing. But if the
company simply tries a new, similarly immoral approach, then we’ll
continue with our efforts to encourage permanent change.”
FCC to meet with AFA over profanity decision
AFA supporters have sent more than 750,000 E-mails and letters to
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), criticizing the agency’s
recent ruling that the use of the “f-word” on radio and
TV was allowable in certain contexts. Thanks to that overwhelming
flood of complaints, the FCC has agreed to meet with AFA representatives
in early 2004.
AFA Chairman Don Wildmon noted that several in Congress are also
calling on the FCC to review their recent ruling.
Carl’s Jr. partners with ‘Playboy’
founder
What does a hamburger have to do with Hugh Hefner, the infamous
founder of Playboy magazine and a trailblazer of the sexual revolution?
That’s what AFA supporters want to know.
Fast-food restaurant chain Carl’s Jr. has employed Hefner as
a representative for the company. In a recent television spot, Hefner’s
famously voracious sexual appetite is used as a double entendre
for the variety of the Carl’s Jr. menu. While the viewer is
left with the impression that Hefner is having to choose between
having sex with only one of three sensual women, Hefner says, “I
love ’em all. It just depends on what I’m in the mood
for.” As he takes a bite of a hamburger, the announcer says,
“Because some guys don’t like the same thing night after
night.”
CKE Restaurants, Inc., the parent company of Carl’s Jr., operates
more than 1,000 of the hamburger restaurants, and also owns more
than 2,100 Hardee’s restaurants.
Hefner has long credited himself for the rise of the sexual revolution
in America. According to past reports, Hefner’s personal sexual
“variety” includes group sex and sex with blood sisters,
among other immoralities, making the smut peddler’s ties to
Carl’s Jr. problematic.
However, a spokeswoman for Carl’s Jr. said that ultimately
“the parents need to take responsibility” for the viewing
of any and all programming.
AFA Director of Special Projects Randy Sharp disagreed. “Carl’s
Jr. is responsible for the advertising strategy chosen by its corporate
executives, period. Parents can determine what shows will be aired
in their homes, but they can’t control what commercials pop
up unexpectedly on TV shows,” he said. “But we will encourage
parents to take responsibility for where they buy their hamburgers,
that’s for sure.”
CONTACT
CKE Restaurants
Chairman William P. Foley II
3916 State St., Ste. 300
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Phone: 805-898-4200
Toll Free (877) 799-7827
ENTERTAINMENT
AFA files complaint over lingerie show
AFA recently insisted that the CBS network be investigated by
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for airing a lingerie
special in November. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
featured scantily clad women in sexual and suggestive poses.
“We believe CBS crossed the line of decency when it aired this
Victoria’s Secret special on November 19, and we’ve asked
the FCC to open an indecency investigation against the CBS television
stations that aired the program,” said Don Wildmon, chairman
of AFA.
Calling the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show nothing less
than a televised version of a strip show, Wildmon said the government
needs to become responsive to the people.
“The airwaves belong to the people, not CBS and their local
affiliate stations,” he said. “It’s time the FCC
began serving the viewer, rather than the broadcaster.” He
said people are tired of the constant barrage of filth on network
television night after night.
CBS relents on ‘Reagans’ after outcry
The networks rarely seem to listen to the complaints of viewers,
but in November CBS did just that – responding to a storm of
protest over a miniseries that allegedly maligned and ridiculed
former president Ronald Reagan, now suffering from Alzheimer’s
disease, and his wife, Nancy.
The Reagans was scheduled to air on CBS in November, but
word leaked out concerning the film’s content. Conservatives
were furious, and calls for boycotts – both of the miniseries
itself and the advertisers who sponsored it – flew fast and
furiously across the nation.
After network chairman Leslie Moonves screened the miniseries, he
admitted it “did not present a balanced portrayal” of
the former president and his wife. Some 18 changes were made to
The Reagans before CBS scrapped it altogether, dumping it on
cable sister network Showtime.
Culture critic Michael Medved said “conservatives flexed their
muscles with a stunning mobilization of public protest to force
the network to cancel plans to broadcast the series” during
its November programming cycle.
“This reminds us all that the American people have a strong
voice in deciding what is fair and appropriate,” said Rep.
Eric Cantor (R-VA) after CBS’ decision was made.
Sources: USA Today, 11/5/03, 11/10/03; World Net Daily, 10/28/03
FAMILY
Court tells mom: ‘no homophobic teaching’
A custody dispute in Colorado shows just how far some judges
will go to squelch Christianity and promote homosexuality.
The case involves a lesbian couple that broke up after one of the
women, who is the child’s adoptive parent, became a Christian.
After the pair split up, the lesbian – who previously had no
legal relationship with the child – sued for joint custody,
which was awarded to her by a judge.
However, in a stunning decision, the court ordered the Christian
mother not to expose her daughter to any “homophobic”
religious teachings.
Mat Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel, filed a lawsuit with
the Colorado Court of Appeals on the Christian mother’s behalf.
He said the warning to the mother “has clearly gone beyond
the permissible boundaries of courts – that this ruling interferes
with her constitutionally guaranteed right to free exercise of religion
and her rights as a parent to be able to direct the upbringing and
teaching of her own child.”
He said the Colorado court had effectively given the Christian mother
two choices – either to abandon her religious beliefs, or abandon
her child.
Source: AgapePress, 11/4/03
HOMOSEXUALITY
Transgendereds follow in ‘gay’
footsteps
In the wake of the increasingly successful homosexual movement,
transgendereds are beginning to win victories of their own, as they
use similar arguments in their campaign for civil rights and societal
approval.
Transgendered individuals are men and women who believe that their
biological sex does not accurately reflect what they perceive their
gender to be. Some – called transsexuals – have sex-change
operations, while others maintain their biological sex and merely
“cross-dress.”
In the past such folk were regarded by homosexual activists as the
proverbial oddball uncle, but the clout of transgendereds is growing.
According to The New York Times, for example, the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in November that it would allow
athletes who have undergone a sex change to compete in events as
their new “gender.” Thus a man who has become a “woman”
through surgery and hormone treatments could compete in women’s
Olympic events.
“We will have no discrimination,” explained one IOC official.
“The IOC will respect human rights.”
Discrimination is the rallying point for transsexual activists,
just as it has been for “gay” and lesbian activists. An
article at www.forbes.com
said cases of discrimination claims revolving around such gender-bender
cases are “proliferating furiously” across the U.S.
To protect themselves from lawsuits and charges of discrimination,
a growing number of U.S. companies are adding protections for their
transgendered employees. According to a Reuters article, in the
last two years 19 companies in the Fortune 500 have added “gender
identity and expression” to their policies banning discrimination.
Four states and 65 cities and counties have similar policies in
place – either through legislative actions, executive decrees,
or judicial rulings. (Legal scholars are still sorting out the full
implications of some of these judicial rulings, according to Reuters.)
These gender-bending legal changes have sometimes created mind-bending
controversies, such as in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a school
staff member who had undergone a male-to-female sex change wanted
to use the women’s restroom.
Sources: The New York Times, 11/13/03; Reuters, 11/10/03
PORNOGRAPHY
Child sex aggression linked to pornography
Incidents of young children displaying sexually aggressive behavior
toward others appear to be on the increase, and exposure to pornography
on the Internet is a key factor, a new study from Australia reports.
The child-at-risk assessment unit at Canberra Hospital in Australia
was seeing as few as three children a year in the mid 1990s who
were involved in “sexually abusive behavior.” By 2000,
the number had grown to 28, and officials were expecting that number
to reach 70 by the end of 2003.
The report differentiates between sexual behavior in children regarded
as normal and “developmentally appropriate” – curiosity
such as “playing doctor” – and activity that was
aggressive, secretive, coercive and usually involved an age difference
between the perpetrator and victim.
Of the 101 sexually abusive children seen during the past three
years, almost all had access to the Internet, and 90% admitted having
seen sexually explicit material online, the report said. One quarter
of the children deliberately sought out pornography online as their
main use of the Internet. Another 25% said they were shown pornography
online by an older sibling or child.
“We’re suggesting there’s an association between
the children’s exposure to inappropriate material on the Internet
. . . and their acting out in sexually aggressive behavior, experimenting
and modeling what they’re seeing,” said Dr. Janet Stanley,
one of the child protection experts at Canberra.
Sources: CNSNews.com, 11/26/03
Pornography tied to Green River Killer
The investigation of a man who is the most lethal serial killer
in U.S. history has turned up something commonly found in connection
with such murderers – pornography.
Gary Ridgway, who has confessed to 48 murders and admits to being
the notorious Green River Killer – named after the river in
Washington state where victims’ bodies were first found –
was arrested in 2001. He pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.
Ridgway’s murder spree, which targeted women who were usually
prostitutes or runaways, began in 1982. In many of the cases, Ridgway
had sex with his victims prior to killing them, usually by strangulation.
According to an article at www.fotf.org
(Family News in Focus), a search of Ridgway’s home uncovered
pornographic magazines, something frequently linked to sex-crimes.
The article further stated that, according to the FBI, 81% of sexually-oriented
murderers and serial killers listed pornography as their primary
sexual interest.
Focus on the Family Chairman Dr. James Dobson interviewed serial
killer Ted Bundy before his execution in 1989. Bundy told Dobson
that porn helped fuel his own murder spree.
“I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence,
just like me. And without exception, every one of them was deeply
involved in pornography, without question,” he told Dobson.
Sources: CourtTV.com, 11/21/03; Family News in Focus, 11/13/03
RELIGION
Fallout from Episcopal ‘gay’ bishop
under way
The decision of the 2.4-million-member Episcopal Church to consecrate
as bishop of New Hampshire an openly homosexual man, Gene Robinson,
has caused shock waves that are being felt both inside and outside
the denomination. Worldwide the Anglican Communion has some 77 million
adherents.
In Africa the two largest Anglican church communities – the
Anglican Church of Nigeria, with 17.5 million members, and the Anglican
Church of Uganda, with eight million – have officially broken
all relations with the Episcopal Church.
In November African church officials in Nigeria and Uganda spoke
against Robinson’s consecration in strong terms. A statement
released by the Nigerian church called the selection of a “gay”
bishop a “divisive and unscriptural act,” while Anglican
officials in Uganda said in a statement, “We deplore, abhor
and condemn in the strongest possible terms the resolution of [the
Episcopal Church USA] to consecrate Gene Robinson.”
Other Anglican officials in Kenya and South America have also expressed
their indignation over the Episcopal decision.
Inside the U.S., the American Anglican Council, which consists of
conservative Episcopalians who are likewise appalled by the consecration
of Robinson, is collecting applications from congregations that
want to be led by conservative bishops instead of their own liberal
church leaders.
Meanwhile, the world’s Orthodox churches, including the Armenian
Church, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, Coptic Orthodox Church of
Egypt, and Ethiopian Orthodox Church have suspended ecumenical talks
with the Anglicans until they resolve their internal disputes over
homosexuality. The Orthodox churches began a dialogue with the Anglicans
last year. The Russian Orthodox Church formally cut off ties with
the Episcopal Church in November.
Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and conservative Protestant leaders
also have criticized the Episcopal Church’s actions as detrimental
to Christian unity.
Sources: PlanetOut.com, 11/24/03; Gay.com U.K., 11/18/03; The Guardian,
11/4/03; Agape Press, 11/4/03, 11/20/03
Update: Christian instructor wins lawsuit
Janis Price, the DePauw University instructor who had her pay cut
and was demoted after a student complained Price had a copy of a
pro-family magazine in her classroom, has won a lawsuit against
the university.
An Indiana jury found DePauw officials did not follow the university’s
handbook in its handling of Price’s job status.
“They were supposed to give me a year’s notice because
of my tenure, but they didn’t, and we know that’s due
to the harassment because of my Christian faith,” Price said.
DePauw was ordered to pay Price $10,401, the amount of pay she lost
for one year as a result of her demotion. DePauw officials have
appealed the verdict, however, so Price may not collect on that
amount for some time to come. Also, she will not be able to collect
on lawyers’ fees for the trial unless the judge rules otherwise.
Price told AFA Journal she felt blessed for all the prayer
support and monetary gifts she had received from all across America.
AFA supporters sent Price hundreds of letters of encouragement and
support following articles in the AFA Journal.
Price filed her lawsuit against DePauw University after her demotion
and salary reduction. The university made the move after a student
complained Price had made available to students copies of Teachers
in Focus, with one of the copies featuring an article on homosexuality.
Teachers in Focus was produced by Focus on the Family.
Price originally sued the university on multiple counts, saying
DePauw violated her freedom of speech, freedom of religion and academic
freedom. Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Diana LaViolette, who
formerly worked at the university, dismissed much of the lawsuit
before the trial, however, and frequently ruled in DePauw’s
favor.
Source: United Methodist News Service, 11/13/03
NYC school system denies Christ’s birth
New York City public schools have effectively said Jesus’ birth
did not take place. The school system stated in pleadings filed
with a federal court that the nativity scene did not depict a historical
event and disputed that Jesus’ birth was the basis for the
celebration of Christmas.
According to the Thomas More Law Center, the school system was sued
after it allowed the display of the Jewish menorah and Islamic star
and crescent in schools, but refused to allow the display of a nativity
scene. School system policy says schools can display the Jewish
and Islamic symbols during Hanukkah and Ramadan, but not the nativity
scene during Christmas.
School officials have dismissed previous requests to display the
nativity scene and instead would only allow Christmas trees, erroneously
claiming that Supreme Court precedent prohibited them from including
the nativity scene as part of their holiday displays. Remarkably,
school officials claim that the Jewish and Islamic symbols are secular.
The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of Andrea Skoros
and her two children, who are both elementary school students in
the New York City schools. Skoros and her children are devout Roman
Catholics.
“This case will decide whether public school officials can
enforce a policy that shows preference for Judaism and Islam, but
disfavors Christianity,” said Robert Muise, the Law Center
attorney handling the case. “Can Christianity be erased from
a public school? Can ‘Christ’ be removed from Christmas?
We will soon find out.”
Source: Thomas More Law Center, 11/11/03
Toddlers glued to tube, study says
A recent study reveals that a large majority of young kids are spending
a significant amount of time in front of electronic media, and experts
aren’t sure what the long-term effects of that habit will be.
The study, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that
68% of children age two and under spend an average of two hours
a day either in front of the TV, the computer, or playing video
games.
“We don’t know the long-term consequences of such early
media use, particularly electronic media use, on children’s
development,” said study co-author Ellen Wartella, dean of
the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.
Such obsession with electronic media has been linked by previous
studies to obesity and poorer reading ability, and some groups worry
that kids are negatively influenced by the violence, sexual content
and substance abuse so prevalent on TV.
In an interview with USA Today, Wartella did not make those links
to television, but did state that the study results should be a
“wake-up call that we better do some studies to find out the
impact of such early screen viewing. It’s not just a few kids
who are doing this. It’s a lot.”
Sources: USA Today, 11/11/03; Family News in Focus, 10/31/03
|
