Religious Right Watch Rings In The New Year

GOD'S COUNTRY – One thing about watching the religious right and occasionally attending their get-togethers is, you're never short on snail-mail. The ultra-pious trade mailing lists like there's no tomorrow, and scarcely a week goes by when I don't receive a hearty greeting of some sort ... accompanied, as always, by an open hand.

"A warm greeting to you and your loved ones from all of us here at Focus on the Family," begins one such letter from Dr. James Dobson of last March. "'Warm' might not be an entirely appropriate term, however, as this has been one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent memory. We assure you, we've seen no evidence of 'global warming' in our neck of the woods."

Um ... I hate to break it to ya, Jim, but the fact that "this [was] one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent memory" is "evidence of 'global warming'." Y'see, when people say "global warming," what they really mean is "global climate change," because although the planet as a whole is getting warmer with each passing day, that warming manifests itself as all sorts of weather weirdness: Stronger hurricanes; more frequent tornadoes; failure to replenish the Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves during the winter; rapidly , which contains such stellar articles as melting glaciers in Alaska and Greenland ... and yes, even excess snow and lower temperatures than normal in Colorado!

One of my more upscale correspondents is the American Family Association (AFA), which sends me, monthly, a copy of the American Family Association Journal (AFAJ), featuring such gut-wrenching stories as:

• '08 Democratic candidates gung ho for gay agenda – "The entire field of Democratic candidates seeking the 2008 nomination for president have publicly stated their unflinching support for the homosexual agenda with same-sex marriage the only exception."

(What they mean is, the candidates support including gays in federal anti-discrimination laws, and if a Christian landlord can't refuse to rent an apartment to a gay couple because of their sinful ways, what's the world coming to?)

Comprehensive sex ed fails, reports say – "Leslie Unruh, president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, likened the content [of comprehensive sex education programs] to pornography. 'What is going to happen if people do not stand up,' Unruh explained, 'is they will get this kind of radical sex ed in all the schools in America.'"

(Yeah; that's why the number of abortions in the U.S. has fallen precipitiously: More kids are being abstinent – these idiots really believe that!)

Majority of Americans believe TV is harmful – "The Culture and Media Institute (CMI) has published a report called The Media Assault on American Values: The conflict between the media, personal responsibility and respect for religion. The report found that 68% of Americans said they believed the media have a negative impact on moral values in this country, and 73% said the entertainment industry is having a negative impact... The report also showed the more a person watches TV, the less likely he is to value religious principles and obedience to God."

(Seems to me that just listening to Republican politicians lying us into war and bankruptcy, and out of our civil rights, would probably shake anybody's religious principles.)

Courageous crusader, single-minded servant, humble hero (Interview with AFA founder Donald Wildmon) – AFAJ: "So what prompted you to begin AFA?" DW: "With our four children, Lynda and I were watching TV one night during the Christmas season in 1976. There were only three networks at the time, and all three had objectionable material. I can't even remember the programs. I remember one was violent. Another was a sexual scene, and the third was profanity. I decided fighting this was what the Lord had called me to do, and I began at that point."

(Makes me wish I'd kept my TV Guide from December, '76, just to see what this guy considers to be "a sexual scene" and "profanity.")

It is time to pay the fiddler – "The greatest threat to the existence of our society today is not air pollution or water pollution, but mind pollution. For the first time in history, man has an instrument through which the masses can be effectively taught immediately and effortlessly. That instrument is television."

(Wildmon wrote that in 1982, and if TV is so "effectively" educational – and not in a good way – how did we wind up with three Republican presidents since?)

Professors: What they believe about religion – "Current research has found the following: Not all professors are atheists and agnostics ... Professors are less religious than the public ... Most don't think religion is important for students ... If, for the foreseeable future, a large chunk of college and university faculty remain ideologically hostile toward evangelical Christianity, parents might want to be extremely careful about where they send their kids to school."

(Yeah; try Baylor University, where they just accepted boys and girls dancing together a few years ago, or Bob Jones University, where they allowed interracial dating at the end of the last century.)

Gay coup in small town USA – NEW DVD REVEALS HOW GAYS CAPTURED CITY HALL IN SMALL ARKANSAS TOWN – "Eureka Springs has long been a tourism draw for Christians who visited not only the Great Passion Play but other popular places like Christ of the Ozarks, the Bible Museum and Thorncrown Chapel. However, Johnson said the new image of the town as a gay hot spot is causing Christian support for Eureka Springs to hemorrhage badly."

(The DVD is titled They're Coming to Your Town; I sent away for a copy to review ...)

Can gays change? – STUDY SUGGESTS YES, BUT THE TRUTH FACES TOUGH OPPOSITION – "Wildmon said the role of television in changing the public's views should also be recognized. 'The pro-homosexual sympathies of the entertainment industry have been well-documented,' he said, 'and I think the efforts of gay activists to force the acceptance of homosexuality through TV programming has been extremely successful."

(Don, you say that as if it's a Bad Thing ...)

Are atheists the new gays? – by Dinesh D'Souza, author of "What's So Great About Christianity?"

Hello, my name is Tim, and I'm a hypocrite – by Tim Wildmon, AFA President

(What more can I say?)