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AFA/ACTIVISM
Cable providers pressured for á
la carte programming
Pro-family groups are pressuring the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and members of Congress
to force cable television providers to allow consumers more choice
when it comes to programming options.
"It only makes sense for a cable company
to allow a family to pick what channels they want, and only pay
for those," said AFA president Tim Wildmon. "Such an á
la carte approach would also help parents keep smutty television
out of their homes."
Currently, cable companies force consumers to
buy cable "packages," in which raunchy channels like MTV,
E! Entertainment, VH1, and Comedy Central are bundled with more
family-friendly fare.
Congress has instructed the FCC to look into
the ramifications of an á la carte approach to pricing for
cable television. The study will examine whether or not subscriber
costs would rise under the new proposal, and whether less popular
cable channels might disappear, leaving consumers with fewer choices.
The FCC report is due back to Congress by November 18.
Meanwhile consumers have another alternative.
Leading cable companies affiliated with the National Cable &
Telecommunications Association (NCTA), which represents about 85%
of all cable subscribers, will make channel-blocking technology
available to any cable customer who doesn’t already possess
the equipment necessary to block channels. The technology will be
made available upon request, at no additional charge.
Some local cable companies have balked when
customers have called to ask for the new channel-blocking technology.
When AFA passed this along to the NCTA, President & CEO Robert
Sachs said the organization was setting up an E-mail address (parentalcontrols@ncta.com)
for complaints.
AFA ends MTV sponsor boycott
AFA initiated a boycott of sponsors
on MTV following the much-publicized Superbowl halftime show featuring
partial nudity, lewd dancing and vulgar MTV-style lyrics. The good
news is that at least one of the targeted advertisers — McDonald’s
— did not appear on MTV during follow-up monitoring.
AFA chairman Don Wildmon said that, while concerns
about the disappearance of "family-friendly entertainment"
are still valid, American society faces even graver issues. "We
have decided to end any official boycott of MTV sponsors,"
said Wildmon, "because our national attention needs to be on
greater things such as the Federal Marriage Amendment."
For those who still want to target MTV sponsors,
Wildmon encouraged them to continue according to their personal
convictions. "But AFA has always been most effective when limiting
our number of campaigns," he said.
Cross-carrying Christians
arrested
The AFA Center for Law & Policy
(CLP) is representing two men arrested in Dayton, Tennessee, for
attempting to peacefully display their crosses outside a "Gay
Day" event held in May. The two men, Michael Joseph Siemer
and Brian O’Connell, were charged with disorderly conduct and
interfering with a special event.
The "Gay Day" celebration was held
at a public park, and access was restricted by as many as 130 law
enforcement officers from seven different agencies. Siemer and O’Connell
parked near the entrance to the event, got out of their van and
started assembling their 10-foot crosses. They were immediately
approached by police officers, who ordered them to leave. When they
refused, they were promptly arrested. Other Christians were permitted
to remain and even enter the park, so long as they did not voice
opposition to homosexual behavior.
"Apparently Dayton has decided that activist
homosexuals are entitled to more rights than peaceful Christians,"
said Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the CLP. "To arrest
these men simply because they wanted to share the gospel of Jesus
Christ with homosexuals is to engage in censorship of the worst
kind. We are committed to vindicating their constitutional rights,
whatever it takes."
Siemer and O’Connell travel the world carrying
their crosses in an effort to reach others with the truth of Christ.
"This is the first time I’ve been arrested for being a
Christian," Siemer said after being released from jail on a
$500 bond.
In addition to uniformed local police officers,
undercover officers walked the park, the Tennessee Highway Patrol
(THP) set up a speed zone on a nearby highway, a THP helicopter
flew overhead, and the National Guard Armory in Dayton was on call
with a "flying squad" in the event of a major disturbance.
Even the Homeland Security Agency got into the act, positioning
agents at the Cherokee Walking Trail.
"The law enforcement coverage for this
tiny gathering of homosexuals was not only unnecessary, it appeared
to be a further effort to intimidate peaceful Christians from expressing
any opposition to a sinful lifestyle," Crampton said.
Alabama street evangelist
acquitted
Alabama court has acquitted street
preacher Matthew Bourgault, charged with disorderly conduct for
proclaiming the gospel in public, after attorneys from the CLP defended
him.
Bourgault is the head of Consuming Fire Ministries,
an organization that takes the Gospel nationwide. In March, Bourgault
traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, to preach to students at Alabama
State University.
However, since he was there during spring break,
he decided to preach on public sidewalks in the downtown area. Bourgault
began preaching, and some time later, police arrived and arrested
him, charging him with disorderly conduct.
In May, a municipal court judge acquitted the
street preacher of all charges.
Joe Murray, an attorney with the CLP, said Bourgault’s
case was an example of a municipality treating the gospel as "a
disfavored message" and attempting "to shut that message
down. The First Amendment will not permit that," Murray said,
"and it was not going to happen on our watch."
The attorney said that Bourgault got in trouble
primarily for the content of his message, which, during the trial,
a police official characterized in very hostile and anti-Christian
terms.
"We were down there and testimony was being
given by the arresting officer, in which he basically told the court
that the basic message of salvation and repentance is abusive and
obscene," Murray said. "It is just amazing what’s
going on in the streets today, whether it be Montgomery, Alabama,
or New York City, New York, or Los Angeles, California."
Ministry aims to aid
nation’s truckers
The high price of fuel is far from
the only stress confronting the nation’s long-haul truck drivers,
and a ministry aimed at helping them is springing up at truck stops
around the country.
According to truck stop chaplain Tim Sackett,
the long-distance truckers face lonely weeks on the road and an
array of trials and temptations along their routes. Among those,
he said, are "family separation — being gone from home
and the kids," and calling home to find "the wife is upset
because the kids can’t behave, and there’s nothing you
can do except talk to them on the phone."
In circumstances like these, the chaplain said
drivers find that "the chapel fills in that need [to know]
there is hope. There’s a personal relationship with God who
is a loving Father, and there’s a Lord in Jesus Christ, who
is the best friend and the Savior that they need."
Sackett said he and other chaplains with Transport
for Christ International minister to drivers at more than two dozen
truck stops nationwide in semi-trailers that have been converted
into small chapels.
Using a trailer "that used to haul freight,"
he said, "we convert the inside into a small church, and we
invite drivers to come in, day in and day out."
The chaplain said some drivers on regular routes
may visit Transport for Christ chapels more often than they are
able to attend church at home.
AgapePress, 5/17/04
CULTURE
STD infects one out
of 25 young Americans
Chlamydia, the most common bacterial
sexually transmitted disease (STD), afflicts one out of 25 Americans
age 18 to 26, according to a new study.
According to an article in USA Today, chlamydia
can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and ectopic pregnancy
in women, and it may cause fertility problems in men. Although the
STD is easily treated with antibiotics, most people with chlamydia
don’t know they have it because it has no symptoms.
The research was headed by epidemiologist and
infectious-disease specialist William Miller of the University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The study results were published in
the Journal of the American Medical Association in May.
"Unless Americans rein in their predilection
for sex outside marriage, these kinds of STD numbers are going to
continue to grow," said AFA President Tim Wildmon.
USA Today, 5/12/04
Christian kids struggle
with sexual issues
A teenager’s Christian faith
is likely to have some impact on his sexual behavior, but not nearly
enough according to Jennifer M. Parker’s report titled "The
Sex Lives of Christian Teens." Parker wrote, "[A]ll indications
are that, on average, there is little difference between their sexual
behavior and that of non-Christian youths other than to delay their
first sexual experience slightly longer."
Her research revealed that Christian teens are
hardly discernible from their peers when it comes to some startling
statistics. For example, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health reports that of nearly 21,000 teens (male and female) they
surveyed in grades 7-12, 39.9% of boys and 37.3% of girls have had
sexual intercourse. And the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation reports that
20% of sexually active girls ages 15-19 get pregnant each year.
One troubling trend is how loosely teenagers
define what constitutes having sex. Parker cites Azusa Pacific University
professor Kara Eckmann Powell as saying that teens are increasingly
engaging in oral sex, often initiated by teenage girls as an avenue
to intimacy with their boyfriends.
The experts seem to agree that church programs
dealing with teen sex too often depend upon a one-time event or
decision. While that may be desirable, ongoing programs are critical,
too.
Parker says it’s not just about not
having sex. It is also important for adults to focus on the
positive side of abstinence — helping teens make their own
choice as a principle as well as a practice. "For that to happen,"
Parker says, "the experts say adults need to establish a rapport
with teens by communicating availability, acceptance and love while
providing a safe environment for ongoing dialogue."
The Christian Reader, 3/03
EDUCATION
Classrooms tyrannized
by troublemakers
From 30% to 50% of the nation’s
public school teachers leave education within their first five years
according to National Education Association spokesman Jerry Newberry.
A recent poll by the nonpartisan research firm Public Agenda reveals
a number of contributing factors.
Public Agenda surveyed 725 middle and high school
teachers, and in another survey heard from 600 parents on the same
subject. Teachers said students and their parents routinely challenge
the teachers’ disciplinary decisions.
Almost 80% of teachers said students quickly
point out their rights or threaten to get their parents to sue the
teacher. About the same percentage indicated that it is a small
number of troublemakers who create most of the problems in their
schools.
In most public school systems budget cuts have
reduced the number of counselors and alternative school programs
that once supported teachers. But now, teachers are often on their
own to deal with disruptive students.
USA Today, 5/12/004
FAMILY
Attempts to protect
marriage can work
A new study shows that when clergy
in a community agree to work harder to preserve marriage, they can
do just that.
Ministers in 185 cities across the U.S. have
signed on to a Community Marriage Policy (CMP), in which they make
a commitment to make marriage preparation more intensive, enrich
existing marriages, and aid troubled ones.
These CMPs are the brainchild of Mike and Harriet
McManus, who began an organization called Marriage Savers in 1997,
in an attempt to help churches halt the high number of divorces
that afflict the Christian community.
The Institute for Research and Evaluation compared
cities which had instituted CMPs with cities in which clergy had
no such policy. Over a seven-year period, non-CMP cities saw their
divorce rates fall 9.4% while CMP cities recorded an average 17.5%
drop.
"The results are important, not because
of their magnitude, which is modest, but because there are any results
at all," said Dr. Stan Weed, president of the Institute. "The
deck was stacked against finding a program effect. Community Marriage
Policies depend on local volunteers of varying degrees of motivation,
commitment and ability and with high turnover. There’s wide
variation in program implementation. The proportion of signed congregations
is often small, while the data is county-wide. Serious training
of mentor couples began in 1998. Under these conditions, finding
a significant program effect is actually pretty surprising."
Weed estimated that in the 114 cities studied,
perhaps as many as 50,000 divorces were averted.
For more information about Marriage Savers or
Community Marriage Policies:
Mike and Harriet McManus
Marriage Savers
9311 Harrington Dr.
Potomac, MD 20854
Phone: 301-469-5873
Internet: www.marriagesavers.com
E-mail:
michaeljmcmanus@cs.com
Data says kids better
off with mom and dad
An examination of the latest data
provided by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that, from a purely
economic standpoint, children do better if they are living with
both their mother and father.
"The householders in married-couple families
had higher proportions in the labor force, they owned their own
home, and they were not living in poverty — all good signs
for the children living in these families," said Terry Lugaila,
a statistician with the Census Bureau.
The study, titled "Children and the Households
They Live In: 2000," states that "children living in married-couple
families had the lowest poverty rates," far less than the children
living in homes headed only by a father or only by a mother.
"Children in mother-only family groups
were almost five times as likely to be in poverty as those in married-couple
family groups (39% and 8%, respectively)," the Census Bureau
report stated.
www.census.gov, 2/04; www.family.org,
3/17/04
HOMOSEXUAL
AGENDA
Politics drives
funding of AIDS research
A recent article in The Washington
Times noted that the amount of money Congress spends on medical
research through both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be
allocated on the basis of politics, rather than science or public
need.
In terms of numbers of people in the U.S. who
die due to various diseases, figures from 2001 show heart disease
(700,142), cancer (553,768), and stroke (163,538) topping the list.
HIV/AIDS, which is ranked 22nd on the list of causes of death, killed
14,175 people in 2001.
However, when CDC funding in 2001 is examined,
HIV/AIDS tops the list by far with $854.06 million. Funding for
diseases like heart disease, cancer and stroke lag far behind.
NIH spending also seems out of whack. Based
on 2003 budget figures, that agency allocated roughly $194,000 per
death caused by HIV/AIDS. For heart disease research, the NIH spent
approximately $2,871 per death.
"NIH has to go back to the drawing board
and reevaluate its methods for distribution and stop the favoritism
toward AIDS," said Richard Darling, whose nonprofit group,
Fair Allocations In Research, keeps an eye on NIH funding patterns.
Why such disparity? Dr. Stuart Seides, associate
director of cardiology at the Washington Hospital Center, a private
teaching hospital in the nation’s capital, said diseases such
as HIV/AIDS or breast cancer have "a strong political constituency,"
whereas heart disease does not.
"There’s a mismatch between the funding
for research and the incidence and importance of cardiovascular
disease, both locally and nationally," he told the Times.
MEDIA
Survey reveals left
slant in media
A poll released in May showed that
men and women who work as journalists in the mainstream media tend
to be liberal, with moral and cultural views that are at odds with
the general public.
Conducted by the Pew Research Center for the
People and the Press, the survey questioned journalists about their
political and moral views. Participants in the poll were from well-known
national media outlets, encompassing television (network and cable),
radio, newspapers, magazines, and wire and news services.
When asked to identify their own personal political
and cultural ideology, 20% of the general public said they were
liberal, 41% moderate, and 33% conservative. However, the national
media tilted dramatically away from the conservative label: only
7% said they held conservative views, while 34% self-identified
as liberal and 54% moderate.
When it comes to the media, the "moderate"
label makes conservatives suspicious. "I think some in the
media think admitting to being liberal is politically incorrect,
so the word ‘moderate’ becomes a substitute," said
AFA President Tim Wildmon.
That suspicion was strengthened when members
of the media were asked by Pew about their views on homosexuality.
With 88% claiming to be either liberal or moderate, the full 88%
said they believed homosexuality "should be accepted by society."
Only 51% of the general public said they agreed with that statement,
while 42% said homosexuality should be discouraged — a statement
with which only 5% of the national media agreed.
The issue of morality also demonstrated a wide
gap between the media and the general public. When asked if belief
in God is necessary to be moral, 58% of the public said they agree,
and 40% said they disagree. However, those within the national media
overwhelmingly disagree (91%), with only a fraction (6%) agreeing.
http://people-press.org, 5/23/04;
www.mediaresearch.org, 5/24/04
PORNOGRAPHY
Media group finds
porn-sex crime link
Pornography has become nearly ubiquitous
in American culture, and yet so many regard it as a harmless pursuit.
However, in a recent report, media watchdog Morality in Media (MIM)
has established what it calls a "causal connection" between
pornography and violent sex crimes.
MIM’s report knits together a compelling
case using news accounts, the testimony of law enforcement officers,
clinical case studies and common sense.
The report said that while pornography cannot
be singled out as the sole cause of violent sex crimes, "there
is ample evidence to support the conclusion that many violent sex
crimes would not have occurred … if the perpetrator had not
been exposed to or become addicted to pornography."
MIM president Robert Peters said, "At a
time when some commentators in the media are saying that pornography
is widely accepted and harmless, we need to remind ourselves that
common sense, anecdotal evidence and social science research all
point in the opposite direction."
The report can be found at MIM’s Web site,
www.moralityinmedia.org.
Pastor, church attack
porn, salvage lives
Jim Norwood, pastor of Oakcrest Family
Church in Kennedale, Texas, didn’t know he was getting into
politics when he took a bold, visible stand against adult/porn businesses
in the town of 4,000.
In December 2003, Norwood and his church began
photographing automobiles parked at local adult businesses and mailing
the photos to the addresses of the vehicle owners. The campaign
thrust Norwood into the public spotlight and resulted in his landslide
victory in the May 15 mayoral race. He won election in the Fort
Worth suburb by almost a 2-1 margin over the incumbent.
"America needs more of this kind of bold
stand by our pastors," said AFA President Tim Wildmon. "And
those who would argue against Pastor Norwood’s method need
to consider its obvious positive impact on the community."
Since the project began last December, Oakcrest
Family Church has been contacted by 15 or more people seeking help
with sexual addictions.
The postcards sent by Norwood have a photo of
the vehicle on one side and this message printed on the other: "Observed
you in the neighborhood. Didn’t know if you were aware there
is a church in the area ... Please stop by next time. We’d
love to have you visit."
Norwood told Baptist Press he initiated the
project for three reasons: to help customers of the sexually-oriented
businesses realize their wrong behavior, to make them aware that
there is help at Oakcrest Church, and to reduce traffic at the adult
businesses.
BP News, 5/17/04
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