disney dollars still in dol

Transcription

march 1999
american family association
Inside this issue
Disney dollars still in dol■ Eisner promises more ‘family films’
As the boycott of The Walt Disney Company
continues, more people appear to be taking their
entertainment dollars elsewhere. And for the
first time, some cracks may be appearing in the
company many thought was invincible.
For the fiscal first quarter of 1999 (ending
December 31), Disney’s earnings dropped 18%.
The company’s first quarter earnings were down
38% compared to the same quarter last year.
That profit plunge was not an aberration, but
had the makings of a nasty little trend for the
Mouse. The last two quarters of fiscal 1998 also
saw declines – 2% and 31% respectively.
Even when the bad news was leaking out about
dramatically lower earnings for the fourth quarter,
some analysts speculated that Disney would still
exceed 1997 figures by 8%. The real earnings,
however, only grew 4% in 1998, which followed a
48% growth in 1997. Disney Chairman and CEO
Michael Eisner had been promising investors an
average annual growth of 20%.
The weaker performance also led to a 9.1%
drop in Disney’s stock price from 1997, while
overall the Dow Jones industrials averaged a
16.1% increase over the same period.
In his annual letter to shareholders, Eisner
explained why the company was now in relatively
shallow financial waters. For the most part, he
said, 1998 was a year of “key strategic investments
and significant new initiatives.”
The Mouse was certainly busy last year investing in projects which the company hopes
will be profitable in the long run. Among those
investments: the new Animal Kingdom theme
park near Walt Disney World; the launching
See disney on page 3
AFA expands Internet servicAmerican Family Radio (AFR), the broadcast
ministry of AFA, is now offering free daily delivery
of top news stories via E-mail. In addition, AFR
news is updated and posted several times each
weekday at http://www.afr.net.
To subscribe to this new
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In the first line of the
body of the E-mail, type:
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address>. (For example:
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AFA has had a major
presence on the Internet
for several years. In addition
to past issues of the AFA Journal, AFA’s popular
home page at http://www.afa.net contains updates
on ongoing AFA projects; late breaking news;
position papers and commentaries on important
issues; and links to a large number of relevant
Internet sites.
AFA also keeps citizen activists abreast of
vital issues with an E-mail
newsletter. The AFA Action
Alert now has over 7,000
subscribers. Instruction on
how to subscribe are available
at AFA’s homepage.
American Family Online
(AFO) is AFA’s unique Internet gateway. Using one of the
most effective protection filters
available, AFO allows families
to explore the Internet free
of pornography and other
offensive content. Since AFO’s
protection filter operates at the
server level, it is impossible to override at home.
See page 19 for more details including a list of
AFA Departments
❚ Christians &
12
Society Today
❚ Columns
2
Don Wildmon
23
Tim Wildmon
14
❚ AFA Foundation
The Church in America
❚ Catholic bishops get
10
tough on abortion
❚ Student group applauds
10
homosexuality
Homosexual
Rights Agenda
❚ Targeting children
4
News of Interest
❚ AFA Law Center
wins pro-life cases
8
Pornography
❚ Porn profs’ plans
18
for your kids
❚ Brothers turn their
back on porn industry 20
The Stern Project
❚ Top radio advertisers
Television
❚ Cable channel
profile: WB
❚ Network reviews
3
15
16
IMPORTANT!
150 UM
ministers
endorse
“union”
of lesbians.
See page 9.
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for all generations
By donald e. wildmon • AFA President
Back in 1984, AFA published a study book titled Christianity and Humanism: A Study
in Contrasts. In that publication we pointed out the new religion which was sweeping
America. Secular humanism may be a new term for some people, but it is a real religion
which is taking a devastating toll on our society. Let me share with you the basic beliefs
of secular humanism and you can see if it sounds relevant for today. These quotes are
taken from Humanist Manifestos I and II.
Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created…. Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as the result
of a continuous process…. Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe makes
unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values…Humanists are firmly convinced that existing acquisitive and profit-motivated society has
shown itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls and
motives must be instituted.
Humanists believe traditional theism, especially faith in the prayer-hearing
God, assumed to love and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers,
and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.
Salvationism, based on mere affirmation, still appears as harmful, diverting people
with false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds must look to other means
for survival.
Ethics is autonomous and situational, needing no theological or ideological
sanction….
Reason and intelligence are the most effective instruments that humankind
possesses. There is no substitute; neither faith nor passion….
In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by
orthodox religions and puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. While
we do not approve of exploitive, denigrating forms of sexual expression, neither do
we wish to prohibit, by law or social sanction, sexual behavior between consenting adults. The many varieties of sexual exploration should not in themselves be
considered evil.
The right to abortion should be recognized. To enhance freedom and dignity
the individual must experience a full range of civil liberties in all societies. This
includes a recognition of an individual’s right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and
the right to suicide.
The separation of church and state and the separation of ideology and state
are imperatives….
We look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based
See no god on page 22
AFA Journal • Volume 23, No. 3
AFA Journal is a publication of the American
Family Association. Published monthly except
November/December. AFA is a Christian organization promoting the Biblical ethic of decency in
American society with primary emphasis on TV
and other media.
P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803
Main phone: 601-844-5036
FAX: 601-842-7798
AFA Law Center: 601-680-3886
WAFR Radio: 601-844-8888
Internet homepage: http://www.afa.net
American Family Online: 601-840-6464
Founding Editor: Don Wildmon
Editor: Randall Murphree
Associate Editor: Rusty Benson
Copy Editor: Jessica Huckaby
News Editor: Ed Vitagliano
By NeAl clement
A few months ago
an EFP client transferred her two thousand dollar IRA from
another investment
into the morally sound
investments EFP suggested.
She wrote her former investment
manager to tell him how morally polluted his holdings were. She said that
as a matter of conscience, she could no
longer invest in certain companies.
Let me tell you, an investment
manager is a very busy person. The
likelihood that he or she would respond
to such a letter is small.
However, this lady’s letter about her
two thousand dollar IRA transfer got
the money manager’s attention. He
personally called EFP to ask which
particular holdings of his investment
program did not pass our screens for
moral soundness.
That, my friends, is a remarkable
response, and one that demonstrates
that investors – large and small – who
are concerned with the morality of the
companies with which they invest, can
have an impact on the market.
If the idea of changing our culture
through principled investment decisions
appeals to you, EFP is your investment company. Our Values Investment
Portfolios can help you build for the
future while influencing companies
to maintain moral standards.
EFP has a long history of solid
financial and moral investing. You can
learn more by calling me toll free 1888-M-O-R-A-L-S-1 (1-888-667-2571).
If you are online, you can E-mail me
at [email protected].
Securities offered through FSC Securities Corporation, a registered broker/dealer. Member
NASD and SIPC.
Please, no unsolicited manuscripts.
AFA Journal • March, 1999
ADVERTISEMENT
No God leads to no good
Can morally
sound investing
really make a
difference?
disney…from page 1
of the first Disney Cruise Line ship; the
renovation of Anaheim Stadium, home of
the Disney-owned Anaheim Angels; and
an investment in Starwave software and
Infoseek, with which Disney has created
the Go Network for the Internet.
But not all financial analysts agreed with
the rosier picture Eisner tried to paint on
the financial situation. Merrill Lynch analyst
Jessica Reif Cohen pointed to Disney’s “underlying fundamentals, especially in creative
content and broadcasting,” which she said
would “continue to be sluggish.” And Jill
Krutick, analyst at Salomon Smith Barney,
cautioned that the outlook for Disney in
1999 is “bleak.”
The downward pressure created by
Disney’s creative content division and its
ABC network interests was certainly apparent
in this fiscal year’s first quarter. Operating
profits from broadcasting dropped 48%,
according to CBS MarketWatch.
The creative content unit, which is responsible for the production and distribution of
films, video products, sales at Disney stores,
and merchandise licensing, also saw a drop.
Operating profits from that divison fell 39%,
offsetting the big monies churned out by
first quarter movie hits like the animated
A Bug’s Life and live-action films, The
Waterboy and Enemy of the State.
Following the bad news for 1998, Disney
halved Eisner’s yearly bonus to $5 million,
down from $9.9 million last year. While
still one of the highest paid executives in
the U.S., the bonus cut was a reflection of
the company’s less profitable year.
“His bonus is a report card. You get paid
to perform,” said Mark Greenberg, an investment manager at Invesco Leisure Fund.
Seeking more families?
Eisner appeared intent on shifting some
gears to make up for Disney’s mediocre
film performance. In his stockholder letter
Eisner cited the success of some bigger hits
in 1998 – like the blockbuster Armageddon. But he also noted that “in too many
instances, profits did not materialize from
the revenues achieved by our films. Stated
more bluntly, either the films and marketing cost too much, or the audience rejected
our ideas.”
Whether or not people rejected Disney
films because of the boycott, Eisner appeared
AFA Journal • march, 1999
Top Stern radio advertisers
Howard Stern’s raunchy late-night Saturday television show has been mired in
third place since it first aired last summer, losing each week to Saturday Night Live
(NBC) and Mad-TV (Fox). Stern’s TV show is produced by the CBS Television
Stations Group and marketed by Eyemark Entertainment, CBS’ syndication arm.
Despite controversy and more than a dozen stations dropping the program, Eyemark
has announced it will be bringing Stern back for a second year.
Meanwhile on Stern’s popular radio program, which airs five hours a day, five
days a week in major markets across the nation, the shock-jock continues to offend.
While many advertisers have dropped Stern, the following continue to stubbornly
sponsor his raunchy radio program.
Andrew Jergens-Biore
Sam Goody-Musicland Group, Inc.
Geico Direct Insurance
Cold-Eeze-Quigley Corp.
Mr. William J. Gentner
2535 Spring Grove Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45214-1773
Phone: 513-421-1400
Mr. Tony Nicely
One Geico Plaza / 5260 Western Ave.
Washington, DC 20076
Phone: 202-986-2500
to make a pitch for the family-friendly
crowd.
“In an effort to improve our odds for
continued success in the live-action film
business, we are implementing a strategy
that calls for the making of a higher percentage of Disney-labeled films,” Eisner said.
“Disney continues to be the only brand
name in the entertainment industry. For 75
years, it has earned the trust of the public.
Under our new strategy, we hope to build
on this trust with a renewed emphasis on
Disney family films.”
AFA President Donald E. Wildmon said
he sees encouraging signs produced by the
Disney boycott.“People are deciding there are
other things besides Disney products – other
movies, other videos, other T-shirts,” he said.
“Michael Eisner wants those families back
in the fold, but he’s going to have to make
more changes than that before those families
will trust the Disney name again.”
Disney recalls animated film
The apparent recommitment to Disney’s
family-friendly foundation was evident
when the company recalled millions of
video copies of an animated film which
contained an objectionable scene.
In January the Mouse announced a recall of 3.4 million video copies of its 1977
Mr. Jack Eugster
10400 Yellow Circle Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55343
Phone: 612-931-8000
Mr. Guy Quigley
10 S. Clinton Street / P. O. Box 1349
Doylestown, PA 18901
Phone: 215-345-0919
animated feature The Rescuers. Although
the image could not be discerned when the
movie is played at normal speed, when slowed
down one image contains a clear photo of a
topless woman in the background.
This is not the first time Disney animation has stirred up controversy. Animators
admitted to Peter and Rochelle Schweizer,
who wrote Disney: The Mouse Betrayed,
that they had put images including cartoon
figures exposing themselves, being sexually
aroused and making an obscene gesture in
the 1988 Disney animated/live-action film
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
The Schweizers said other animated films,
like The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin
(1992) and The Lion King (1994), have
also contained questionable scenes. None
of those movies were recalled.
The Disney recall of The Rescuers represents a first for the Mouse. A company
spokesman said the recall was announced
“to keep our promise to families that we can
trust and rely on the Disney brand to provide
the finest in family entertainment.”
“I’m sure Disney was embarrassed to
have one of its animators place nudity in a
movie intended for families. But we’ve been
saying all along that movies which are not
family-friendly should have no place in the
Disney tradition,” said AFA Vice President
Homosexual rights agenda
Targeting children
How homosexual activists intend to capture the next generation
BY Ed Vitagliano
AFA Journal News Editor
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series
examining the state of the homosexual rights
movement.
When presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan
warned the 1992 Republican National Convention about an ongoing “culture war,” he
was fairly spat upon by liberals who viewed
the speech as hateful agitation.
More than six years later, however, nearly
everyone across the political spectrum admits that there is, in fact, an unremitting
ideological war underway. And nowhere
is that conflict more evident than in the
bitter, hand-to-hand combat now going
on between those who view homosexuality
as unnatural, immoral and unhealthy, and
those who seek to overthrow that view.
The most sought-after trophies of the
homosexual movement are not found in
corporate boardrooms, state legislatures,
or even Hollywood. The ultimate prizes
are the hearts and minds of children. In
schools and in public libraries, on television
and at the movies, from San Francisco to
Washington, D.C., children in this country
are being exposed to a constant, concerted
propaganda effort that aims to instill a
homosexual worldview.
Evangelizing young hearts and
minds
Perhaps no network television show better
highlighted this strategy than Disney/ABC’s
controversial sitcom Ellen. That show made
history when its main character, played by
lesbian actress Ellen DeGeneres, declared
her homosexuality on an infamous episode
in the Spring of 1997.
But as the new lesbian flavor of the
show became its hallmark during the Fall
’97 season, resulting in more same-sex affection than ever before on the networks,
ABC began preceeding the show with a
parental advisory warning of adult content.
DeGeneres grew so angry she threatened to
quit. “This advisory,” she said, “is telling kids
something’s wrong with being gay.”
It was a revealing statement, for one of
DeGeneres’ explicit goals was, in fact, to
let kids know that there is something right
with being homosexual. Upon receiving an
Emmy Award for her sitcom, for example,
the actress told the Academy of TV Arts &
Sciences that she was accepting the trophy on
behalf of “the teenagers especially out there
who think there’s something wrong with
them because they’re gay, and there’s nothing
wrong with you; don’t ever let anyone make
you feel ashamed of who you are.”
Even in preparing the much ballyhooed
coming-out episode, the effect on those
children who might be watching was in the
minds of the show’s producers. Remarking
that “a lot of kids go through” the same coming-out anxieties as DeGeneres’ character
on the show, Ellen executive producer Dava
Savel said, “If this episode helps some child
in the Midwest with their sexual identification, we’ve done our job.”
In the effort to subtly indoctrinate kids,
homosexual activists even intend to use as
an instrument television programming
targeted specifically to children. In 1995,
for example, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation (GLAAD) called on the
federal government to set guidelines requiring children’s TV programs to educate kids
against “homophobia” and “discrimination
based on sexual orientation.”
Al Kielwasser, a San Francisco spokesman
for GLAAD, said, “Inexcusably, broadcasters
continue to overlook the enormous potential of children’s television for combating
homophobia.”
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
has apparently taken GLAAD’s recommendation to heart. The website for the PBS
children’s show Puzzle Place says, “Using a
lively combination of song, story, comedy,
puppets and lots of fun, this series sows the
seeds of self-esteem and respect for others
in young children.” While such a statement
sounds harmless on the surface, not all
the “seeds” which Puzzle Place “sows…in
young children” are innocuous. An episode
in October entitled “Family Fun” taught its
young viewers that “there are many different kinds of families, including same-sex
parents.”
Dodging parents
While activists attempt to persuade adults
to support the homosexual rights movement, they see most adults as supporters
of this culture’s “homophobic” mentality.
For activists, the perceived anti-homosexual
bigotry in many adults can be supressed,
but never conquered.
In the Spring of 1998, for example, the folk
rock duo the Indigo Girls were scheduled to
give a free concert at a South Carolina high
school. But when parents protested because
of the group’s outspoken lesbianism, the
concert was canceled.
This sort of resolute resistance to the
normalization of homosexuality frustrates
and angers homosexual activists. One of the
Indigo Girls, Amy Ray, said, “A minority
composed of homophobic, narrow-minded
parents and weak-kneed principals and
school boards have successfully enforced
a policy of hate.”
Such disdain for what they see as adult
“There’s a group of older people that will never
accept it, but there are a lot of empty cemeteries, and when
they’re filled, the world will be more tolerant.”
Tim Doyle, Ellen executive producer and head writer
bigotry is unmistakable in the radical activists. Urvashi Vaid, former executive director
of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
said children should be a special target for
homosexual rights activists in the attempt
to change society.
“Coming out [publicly as a homosexual]
never ceases. Don’t give in to complacency;
they don’t know until you tell them,” Vaid
says in her agenda-setting book, Virtual
Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian
Liberation. “Tell your family, especially the
younger nieces, nephews and others, before
they adopt prejudicial attitudes!” (Emphasis
in the original.)
For these homosexual crusaders, the
moral and religious views of parents are to
be rejected if they contradict the philosophy
of the homosexual rights movement, and
if necessary, the authority of parents is to
be circumvented.
In XY Magazine, directed to homosexual
youth, writer Indigo Escobar drives just such
a wedge between parent and child. What
should kids do, Escobar asks, when parents
install filtering software on the home computer which blocks access to homosexual
websites? “If your parents disagree with
you – well, they’re wrong and you are right.
This is part of separating from your parents
and becoming your own person, and if they
force you to get gay youth information
behind their back – that’s their fault and
their problem.”
Going “behind your parents’ backs” is
precisely what Escobar advises, telling young
people how they can get to homosexual websites despite parental disapproval. Escobar
tells kids that such access is important, “so
be tricky” in circumventing their parents’
wishes.
What is so important that the adult writers
for XY Magazine would advise children to
disobey their parents? The magazine issue
in which Escobar advocated being “tricky”
also gives tips to kids on coming out to
their parents, advises young people to use
condoms when they have “hot sex,” and has
a “personals” section where homosexuals
can “meet the dude of your dreams.”
Young people who are confused about
their sexuality find plenty of advice from
adult homosexuals in XY. “This [your homosexual orientation] is who you are, it’s
a good thing, and it’s not going to change,”
says Pete Helvey, President of Infiniti Web
Design, writing in the magazine. When
counseling kids about revealing their homosexuality, Helvey says, “The main thing
is finding someone who won’t try to change
your mind [about being homosexual], but
will just accept it.”
XY Magazine also contains a full page
ad listing homosexual organizations eager
to talk with youth, staffed by homosexual
adults as counselors. The page is sponsored
by The National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual & Transgender Youth.
Hoping for a new generation
For activists, the success of their longrange goals seems centered on persuading
“Whoever captures the
kids owns the future.”
Lesbian author Patricia Nell Warren
children to accept homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexuality. That is
the attitude of outspoken homosexual and
actor Harvey Fierstein. His career has been
given a big boost with roles in films popular
with children and young adults, such as
Independence Day, Mrs. Doubtfire, and
as the voice of Yao in the Disney animated
film Mulan.
But Fierstein is eagerly awaiting an HBO
animated children’s special entitled The
Sissy Duckling, which he calls “the first
gay-positive children’s story on TV.” According to The Washington Blade, a newspaper
targeting the homosexual community, the
film is loosely based on the old favorite The
Ugly Duckling, except the main character is
a five-year-old who is, Fierstein said, “quite a
little sissy.” Lesbian entertainers DeGeneres,
Anne Heche, and Melissa Etheridge have
purportedly agreed to help perform the
voices for the animated movie.
Fierstein is enjoying the work aimed
at the younger generation, but his motive
is frightening. “It would be wonderful to
have a generation grow up not frightened
of gay people. We can’t reach a lot of their
parents, but we can reach kids, and if they
grow up without being full of hate, we can
have hope,” he said.
Some advocates for the homosexual
agenda, like Ellen executive producer and
head writer Tim Doyle, are more blunt. “It’s
hard to blaze a trail and progress is slow,
but there’s a whole generation that’s now
grown up with homosexuality and doesn’t
think that’s so extraordinary,” he told Daily
Variety. “There’s a group of older people that
will never accept it, but there are a lot of
empty cemeteries, and when they’re filled,
the world will be more tolerant.”
Winning the war
Children are targeted because homosexual activists see them as holding the
keys to tomorrow. In The Advocate, lesbian
author Patricia Nell Warren issued what was
intended to be a warning about the goals
of “religious extremists” in this country:
“It is the first fact of civilization,” she said.
“Whoever captures the kids owns the future.” Warren, of course, was warning the
homosexual readers of her article that if
activists didn’t get busy, religious fanatics
would be successful. The converse of that,
however, was also implicit: if homosexual
activists get busy, then they can win the
allegiance of children.
As Machiavellian as it may seem, the
success of the radical homosexual agenda
is partly dependent on persuading children
today that homosexuality is normal – to
Daily Variety, 1/15/99; Reuters, 1/14/99
Sources cited for News of Interest indicate
source of basic information only.
CULTURE
States post on Internet
names of sex offenders
Some states are going high-tech in fulfilling their responsibility to inform the public
of the potential presence of sex offenders
in their community: they are putting the
relevant information on the Internet.
The Web sites, which put names, addresses and sometimes photographs of those
convicted of sex crimes, are in response to
federal and often state laws requiring the
public to be notified about offenders.
The federal law – named “Megan’s Law”
– was passed in 1996. It was named after
Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl
who was kidnapped, raped and murdered
in 1994 by a convicted sex offender living
next door. Prior to the brutal slaying, no
one in the neighborhood was aware of the
presence of a sex criminal.
According to The Center For Sex Offender
Management, 12 states have begun publicizing
sex offender information on the Internet:
Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Florida,
Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Three
more states, Delaware, Iowa, and Missouri,
have laws on the books which would allow
them to do the same.
If informing the public is the goal of
using the Internet, states seem to be succeeding. According to USA Today, Virginians, for example, looked in on that state’s
Web site more than a half million times in
the first three weeks after the information
was first posted.
Despite evidence that many pedophiles
cannot be “cured” of their perverse sexuality,
there is at least one voice that opposes the
Web sites – the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU).
“People who’ve been convicted of crimes,
who serve their sentences, shouldn’t be the
subject of continuing punishment,” said ACLU
Associate Director Barry Steinhardt.
USA Today, 1/19/99
ENTERTAINMENT
Sexual assault linked to trash TV
The controversial Jerry Springer Show
was named by two teens who were charged
with repeatedly sexually assaulting their
half-sister. The girl was eight years old.
Police in Hollywood, Florida, asked the
15-year-old brother how he had learned
to do what he’d done. The boy replied, “I
watched the Jerry Springer Show.”
Both have admitted to the crimes: according to the charges, the two brothers
raped and molested the girl over a threeyear period. The older boy will be tried as
an adult, while his 13- year-old brother will
be tried as a juvenile.
Even liberals were dumbfounded. After
stating that a vibrant democracy must have
free speech, Bonnie Erbe, host of the PBS
program To the Contrary, said, “Too much
permissiveness can lead society down the
road to self-destruction.”
Newsweek, 1/18/99; Commercial Appeal
(Memphis), 1/13/99; UPI, 1/7/99
NBC exec wants less sex on TV
Perhaps the NBC network is just desperate
for change, or maybe it really has heard the
complaints of most Americans about too
much sex on TV.
Scott Sassa, NBC’s new entertainment
president, told the Television Critics Association he wanted “less emphasis on sex”
and “more traditional values.” Sassa is NBC’s
top programming executive.
The network has been criticized for
its almost single-minded devotion to hit
sitcoms like Seinfeld and Friends, which
often feature storylines about the sex lives
of singles.
Recognizing that “people want to be able
to watch TV with their kids,” Sassa said,
“Sometimes we use sex to get an easy laugh.
We could use a few more words between
‘Hello’ and ‘Will you sleep with me?’”
Sassa, however, quickly remarked that NBC
was not going to a “no sex” policy. “We’re
not trying to create a family channel here,”
he said. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that
“we don’t have a show that has a mother
and father and kids.”
HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA
Psychiatric group opposes
conversion therapy
Evidence is mounting, in the form of
thousands of ex-homosexuals, that sexual
orientation can be changed with the help
of mental health professionals. Nevertheless, the American Psychiatric Association
(APA) Board of Trustees voted unanimously
in December to condemn what is called
“reparative or conversion therapy.”
The board’s perspective was summed
up in its Position Statement on Psychiatric
Treatment and Sexual Orientation. That
statement that said the APA opposes any
psychiatric treatment based upon the assumption that homosexuality “is a mental
disorder or based upon a prior assumption
that the patient should change his/her sexual
orientation.”
APA President Dr. Rodrigo Munoz not
only denied the efficacy of reparative or
conversion therapies, but also said such
treatments “can be destructive.”
David M. Smith, communications director for the Human Rights Campaign,
applauded the APA’s “condemnation of
this thoroughly discredited practice,” calling reparative therapy “nothing less than
psychological terrorism.”
The 21 voting members of the APA’s
board make policy for the 42,000-member
organization. Although the position statement could be overturned by a referendum
by the full membership of the APA, that is
unlikely, according to APA officials.
New York Blade News, 12/18/98
Same-sex parents lose cases
The drive to force society to consider
homosexuals the equivalent of heterosexuals when it comes to parenting has suffered
three separate setbacks.
A three-judge panel of the Indiana Court
of Appeals voted unanimously to restrict
the visitation priviledges of a homosexual
man. The court ruled that Douglas Marlow
could not have any unrelated person in his
apartment when his three sons came to visit,
and was not allowed to take the children to
any event “sponsored by or which otherwise
promoted the homosexual lifestyle.”
Marlow and his ex-wife Connie had
married in 1983, even though Douglas had
news of interest
told her that he had gone through a phase
when he was attracted to men. After Douglas
returned to the homosexual lifestyle, the
couple divorced in 1996.
The issue of their three adopted sons,
Caleb, now age 9, Jacob and Isaac, now 6,
arose after Douglas took them to a homosexual rights conference. The boys returned
home displaying stress-related behaviors
that led a clinical psychologist and child
counselor to recommend restrictions on
visitation to the court.
In Ohio an appellate court denied a
lesbian’s request that her lover be allowed
to adopt her child. The two women had the
child through artificial insemination.
Meanwhile the Arkansas Child Welfare
Agency Review Board voted to prohibit
homosexuals from becoming foster parents.
Arkansas became the second state to do so
– New Hampshire has had a ban on homosexual foster parents since the late 1980s.
Board member Robin Woodruff said
information obtained through meetings and
written material convinced board members
that heterosexual homes are more stable.
According to the Arkansas DemocratGazette, prospective foster parents will be
required to sign a written statement that no
adult member of their household engages
in homosexual activity.
Activists complained bitterly about the decision, citing studies which said that whether
parents are homosexual or heterosexual is
irrelevant in raising children.
Jerry Cox of the Little Rock-based Family Council defended the board’s decision,
however, and pointed to the research on
homosexual parenting by Brigham Young
University law professor Lynn Wardle.
“The methodological flaws [of pro-homosexual parenting studies] are the sorts
of things that would make a junior high
science teacher reprove an eighth-grade
student,” Wardle told the Democrat-Gazette.
“But that kind of methodology is accepted
as a matter of course because it reaches the
politically correct solution.”
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1/7/99;
Lesbian & Gay New York, 12/31/98
PORNOGRAPHY
Canadian court: child porn legal
In a stunning decision, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled that
the mere possession of child pornography
could not be banned under that nation’s
constitution.
The case resulted from the arrest of
Vancouver resident John Sharpe, who had
received a child porn computer disc in the
mail. Police searched Sharpe’s home and
found additional materials that allegedly
contained child pornography.
Justice Duncan Shaw agreed with Sharpe’s
lawyers, who argued that since Sharpe possesed the porn merely for his own personal
use and not for distribution, the arrest was a
violation of privacy and freedom of expression. Shaw also said there was insufficient
proof that child pornography contributed
to child abuse or was otherwise socially
harmful.
The decision was not binding on other
Canadian court jurisdictions. The British
Columbia attorney general is considering an
appeal to the Canadian Supreme Court.
Reuters, 1/15/99
Playboy can air 24-7, court rules
A federal court in Delaware has reversed
a law passed by Congress that was intended
to protect children from TV porn.
The ruling is the culmination of Playboy
Enterprises’ two-and-a- half year clash over
the Communications Decency Act (CDA),
part of the Telecommunications Act passed
in 1996. Part of the CDA prohibited porn
channels from airing smut between 6 a.m.
and 10 p.m. – the time during which children
were most likely to have access to TV – unless
the signals were completely blocked.
Congress included the provision because
some parents were complaining that their
children had accidentally been able to see
nudity or hear the sounds of sex scenes, even
when the porn channel was scrambled. Porn
providers complained that the technology
to completely block out their signals – thus
avoiding such signal “bleeding” – was too
expensive to install all over the country.
Congress sided with the parents.
The Playboy Channel sued, however, saying it stood to lose $25 million in subscriber
revenues because of the CDA provision.
Lawyers for the company claimed the law
was too vague, exempted other channels like
HBO, and violated Playboy’s First Amendment right to free speech.
The three-judge federal court panel
agreed, ruling that, while the government
had a legitimate interest in protecting the
welfare of children, it had presented “no
clinical evidence linking child viewing of
pornography to psychological harms.”
The result of the ruling is that now the
Playboy Channel – and presumably any other
porn provider – can air their programming
24 hours a day, seven days a week, as long as
the companies make a good-faith effort to
completely scramble the signals to the homes
of nonsubscribers. The Justice Department
could still appeal the ruling.
Daily Variety, 12/30/98, 12/31/98;
Reuters, 1/8/99
Court OKs effort to curb smut
New York City’s efforts to isolate its socalled “adult” businesses got final approval
in January, as the U.S. Supreme Court let
stand a lower court ruling which had given
the city’s actions a thumbs up.
The city enacted tough zoning laws that
literally herded sexually-oriented businesses
away from most legitimate businesses, schools,
churches and homes, and into out-of-theway industrial zones – which make up only
4% of the city’s available land.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
cheered the decision, saying the success of
the zoning laws are “one of the prime reasons
for the revival of the city in the sense that
the city is a more decent place and nicer
place for people to visit.”
Legal analysts say the Supreme Court
move, while not a ruling and thus not a
precedent, will still probably encourage
other cities to try similar laws.
USA Today, 1/12/99
PRO-LIFE
Abortionist charged in death
Arizona abortionist John Biskind was
arrested and charged with manslaughter
after a patient died following an allegedly
botched abortion.
Lou Anne Herron, 33, died after bleeding
to death from injuries stemming from a uterus
that was punctured during an abortion. The
employees at Biskind’s Phoenix-based clinic
hesitated to call 911 even when Herron’s
blood pressure dropped dangerously low
and her heartbeat was almost too faint to
detect. Finally Biskind, whom the staff had
contacted by phone, gave the order to call
paramedics, who arrived some four hours
after the abortion had been performed. By
that time, however, Herron had already died
news of interest
from the hemorrhaging.
This is not the first time controversy has
surrounded Biskind’s abortion business.
According to the Family Research Council
(FRC), Biskind has been investigated five
times over the past eight years for abortions that went awry and misdiagnosing
pregnancies. Biskind’s clinic is not licensed
by the state of Arizona.
“If ever we needed evidence of how
dangerous and unregulated abortion is, the
horrific story of Lou Anne Herron’s death
is it,” said Teresa Wagner, Legal Analyst for
Human Rights and Sanctity of Life Issues
at FRC. “Biskind’s utter disregard for his
patient’s health reveals how far the callous,
money-driven abortion industry is from
being truly ‘pro-woman.’”
USA Today, 1/21/99
RELIGION/ANTICHRISTIAN
Child molester freed
because judge quoted Bible
The U.S. Supreme Court once again
showed its disdain for the Bible when it
refused to hear a rather bizarre case: a
convicted child molester set free because
the judge presiding over the case quoted the
Scriptures when imposing a sentence.
Aaron Pattno pled guilty in a Nebraska
court two years ago for sexually assaulting a
13-year-old boy, according to World magazine. Sarpy County District Judge George
Thompson sentenced him to prison for 20
months to five years.
Thompson’s mistake was in quoting the
Book of Romans as he pronounced sentence.
Pattno appealed to the Nebraska Supreme
Court, which declared that the judge erred
in quoting a Biblical text which referred to
homosexuality – sex between consenting
adults – which is not illegal. Instead, Pattno
had been having sex with a minor, to which
the quoted verses did not apply.
Moreover, the Nebraska high court said
by quoting the Bible, Thompson would
cause “a reasonable person to question [his]
impartiality.” The sentence was nullified, and
the court ordered Pattno resentenced.
On appeal before the Supreme Court,
the Nebraska attorney general’s office said
quoting the Bible did not change the fact
that the man was guilty.
The nation’s highest court, however, refused to reinstate Pattno’s sentence. Another
Nebraska court resentenced Pattno to four
years of probation.
AFA Law Center wins trio of pro-life
World, 1/23/99; WorldNetDaily, 1/14/99
In three separate cases, the American Family Association Law Center (AFALC)
has successfully defended the rights of pro-life individuals to peacefully protest
against abortion.
Connecticut: A federal district court in Connecticut unsealed hundreds of hours
of videotape that government officials had wanted to cover-up, following an AFALC
court victory in a pro-life case.
In 1996 both the federal government and the State of Connecticut joined forces
to sue two pro-life sidewalk counselors, Carmen Vazquez and Bobby Riley. According to prosecutors in that case, the pair had committed the “crimes” of handing out
pro-life leaflets outside an abortion clinic, convincing hundreds of women not to
have abortions, and then helping and providing diapers, clothing, and food to the
women who had changed their minds about killing their children.
Prosecutors had based their charges on the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances
Act (FACE), a federal law that prohibits pro-lifers from physically preventing women
from entering an abortion clinic. But in a landmark decision, AFALC attorneys
prevailed by proving that simply handing out leaflets did not bring a person under
the jurisdiction of FACE.
Subsequently, AFALC wanted the videotapes – which showed the defendants
counseling women – made public to demonstrate the government’s misuse of FACE.
While the trial court ordered the tapes sealed, that order has now been rescinded
after AFALC appealed to the 2nd Circuit Court.
“What is truly astonishing is that the [federal and Connecticut state] governments
truly believe that handing a pro-life leaflet to a woman in front of an abortion center is a violation of the law,” said AFALC Senior Trial Attorney Brian Fahling. “The
release of the videotapes will expose the extremism of these high level enforcement
officials.”
Wisconsin: In an unprecedented settlement, two Milwaukee, Wisconsin, abortion
clinics agreed to pay a pro-life defendent and AFALC $3,000 to settle a counterclaim
suit for abuse of process.
Milwaukee Women’s Health Services and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin had
sued pro-life protester Daniel Balint, seeking an injunction to stop his counseling
activity outside the clinics. The clinics dropped their lawsuit in response to AFALC’s
motion for summary judgment.
AFALC’s countersuit on behalf of Balint noted that the act of filing suit against
the peaceful sidewalk counselor was meant only to harass and intimidate Balint, in
effect declaring “open season on pro-lifers.” The clinics agreed to pay $3,000 rather
than face Balint in the courtroom.
“To our knowledge this is the first time an abortion clinic has voluntarily agreed
to pay a pro-life protester for wrongfully asserting a legal claim,” said AFALC Chief
Counsel Stephen M. Crampton.
Colorado: An attempt by the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, to charge a prolife sidewalk counselor with “harassment” failed when the city dropped all charges
just days before the case was slated for trial.
AFALC represented Karl Henderson, an employee of Colorado Springs-based
Focus on the Family, who had been witnessing outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Although a volunteer escort for the clinic said Henderson taunted her,
he had merely been standing outside reading from the Scriptures and implicating
clinic staff in the sin of abortion.
After the city agreed to drop its charges, AFALC Staff Attorney Bryan J. Brown
said, “Mr. Henderson’s legal victory is a moral victory for everyone who refuses to
be silent in the face of America’s abortion holocaust.”
Church in america
UMC ministers defy
■ 150 plus join in
blessing lesbian
More than 80 United Methodist Church
(UMC) ministers openly rebelled against the
laws of their own church by co-officiating
at a same-sex “holy union” commitment
ceremony. Nearly 70 more signed on to
officiate in abstentia.
More than 1,200 celebrants attended the
January 16 event, held at the Sacramento
Convention Center, led by the Rev. Don Fado
of St. Mark UMC in Sacramento, California.
According to the United Methodist News
Service, some 80 clergy of the CaliforniaNevada Annual (regional) Conference were
present to “co-officiate” in support of Fado
and same-sex unions.
The ceremony allegedly joined lesbians
Jeanne Barnett and Ellie Charlton in a “holy”
union with the blessings of the church. Both
are workers within the UMC conference.
With the pair in their 60s, their participation in the service was actually more of
a protest, since Barnett and Charlton had
already exchanged vows in a previous ceremony. Afterwards, Charlton said she hoped
to be a role model for other homosexuals.
“The closet is dark and damp and unhealthy.
I hope those of you who are in the closet
can find a way out.”
Continuing controversy
The public quarreling within the 8.5 million-member denomination over same-sex
unions has been going on since 1996, when
the UMC’s General Conference voted to
prohibit Methodist ministers from performing same-sex unions or using Methodist
churches to hold ceremonies.
That ruling was challenged in September
1997 by the Rev. Jimmy Creech, a Nebraska
pastor who blessed the union of two lesbian
women. Creech was acquitted in a church
trial after arguing that the UMC rule which
prohibited same-sex ceremonies was simply a guideline, and not church law. The
acquittal so angered conservatives that a
split seemed imminent.
When the UMC’s highest judicial court
ruled in August that the guideline against
Dozens of UMC clergy joined in the “holy union” of two lesbians in Sacramento, California.
Both women are workers in the California-Nevada Conference of the UMC.
same-sex unions was, in fact, church law,
the controversy seemed to die down. But
homosexual activists within the church kept
stoking the fires. In October, 363 UMC clergy
and laity signed an open letter urging the
denomination’s bishops to ignore church
law, celebrate “holy unions,” teach the church
to accept homosexuality, and receive the
forgiveness of Christ for remaining silent
on the issue.
Faithful to Jesus’ call?
In a joint statement prior to the January ceremony in Sacramento, the ministers
said they were “responding to the call of
Jesus as reflected in Scripture” by blessing
Barnett and Charlton’s union. “We believe
we are called to bless loving committeed
relationships between Christian people,
regardless of their sexual orientation,” the
statement said.
They added, “Jesus was very deliberate
in placing the need for healing and renewal
above the need for obedience to ecclesiastical authority.”
One of those participating clergy, the Rev.
David M. Holmes of Council Bluffs, Iowa,
said the ceremony “was the first massive
demonstration of defying the church law.
It was one of the greatest worship experiences of my life.”
Others saw the same-sex union differently.
David Stanley, chairman of the Institute on
Religion and Democracy’s United Methodist
committee, said the ceremony was “another
act of betrayal by extremists who are violating the Bible, church law, and the Christian
faith still believed in by millions of faithful
United Methodists.”
In fact, the push for homosexual commitment ceremonies is being instigated by a
minority of Methodist ministers. According
to The Washington Post, fewer than 500 of
the more than 50,000 UMC ministers in this
country have come out in favor of blessing
same-sex unions.
Stanley said the UMC ministers who
participated in the union had surrendered
to society’s “fads and fashions.” He added,
“These mistaken clergy are not only violating
their ordination vows; they have chosen to
sacrifice the gospel to the whims of popular
culture.”
It is still unclear what will happen to
the ministers who have defied church law
– sympathizers want church law changed,
while conservatives are demanding that the
ministers be defrocked.
Melvin G. Talbert, the bishop of the
California-Nevada regional conference, is
sympathetic with the ministers who performed the ceremony. In a pastoral letter
prior to the ceremony, Talbert said while
he will uphold church law, “personally, I
believe the position of our church is wrong
on this issue.”
church in america
Catholic bishops get tough on aborThe National Conference of Catholic
Bishops has taken a decidedly stouter stand
on abortion and on Catholic politicians
who reject the church’s views on abortion,
releasing a statement which says flatly that
any Catholic who is pro-abortion is breaking
God’s laws and is not a faithful member of
the Catholic church.
The statement, entitled “Living the Gospel
of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics,” the bishops said, “No public official,
especially one claiming to be a faithful and
serious Catholic, can responsibly advocate
for or actively support direct attacks on
innocent human life.”
Frank Pavone of the Pontifical Council
for the Family said, “There is simply no
way to be Catholic and ‘pro-choice,’ when
the choice in question involves the taking
of innocent life. Those who hold that there
is more than one Catholic position on
abortion are mistaken and need to stop
“There is simply no
way to be Catholic
and ‘pro-choice’….”
misleading others.”
The document provides no sanctions
for straying Catholic politicians. Instead,
said Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, it
is a teaching tool. The statement says a
pro-abortion position is a threat to one’s
“spiritual well-being,” and that bishops
Ecumenical student group
applauds homosexuality
The potential to influence the next
generation was demonstrated in disturbing
fashion by an ecumenical student conference
where more than 1,300 young people and
campus ministers heard speeches promoting
acceptance of homosexuality and a rejection
of traditional Christianity.
Organized by the Council for Ecumenical
Student Christian Ministry, the conference
was sponsored by mainline denominations
such as the United Methodist Church
(UMC), the Presbyterian Church (USA),
the Episcopal Church, the United Church of
Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ).
According to Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, the best
known speaker to address the gathering
was South African Anglican Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, who called for the church
to fully accept homosexuality. “We should
celebrate sex as a wonderful gift of God. We
should accept different sexual orientations.
God made us who we are,” Tutu said to an
applauding audience.
Tooley said there were ministers who
stood up and proclaimed Biblical truth
10
– like Disciples of Christ minister Daisy
Machado and United Church of Christ
minister Jeremiah Wright.
But even the workshops included themes
that were definitely outside orthodox
teaching. Some of the pro-homosexual offerings had titles such as “Lesbian and Gay
Liberation Theologies: Embodying Love;”
“Wide is the Welcome: Celebrating Diverse
Sexual Orientations in Campus Ministries;”
and “A Humble Walk with God: Justice for
and Kindness toward the Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning
Community.”
Other workshops focused on the Jesus
Seminar, a group of liberal academics
who believe most of the Gospels are myth.
Mark Rutledge, a United Church of Christ
minister and a campus minister at Duke
University (UMC), told his listeners that he
did not believe in the resurrection of Christ,
among other things. “The early Christians
were making it up as they went along,”
he said. “Jesus did not intend to found a
church but did animate a movement.” He
later added, “I might have to reject a Jesus
should initiate “a private call to conversion”
for Catholic public figures.
The statement appears to be an official
response to the view popularized by Mario
Cuomo, a Catholic and former governor of
New York. Cuomo said that, while he as an
individual was opposed to abortion, he felt
it was wrong to force his religious beliefs
on his constituents.
But “Living the Gospel Life” rejects that
reasoning.“Most Americans would recognize
the contradiction in the statement, ‘ While I
am personally opposed to slavery or racism
I cannot force my personal view on the rest
of society,’” the statement said.
Some churches removing
Baptist from name
Some Baptist pastors are discovering that
removing the name “Baptist” from the signs
outside their churches can increase attendance
and overcome an image problem.
“I’m not ashamed to be a Baptist, but
a brand name can be a hindrance. Some
people mistakenly associate the Baptist
name with an angry, judgmental kind of
fundamentalism,” said Rev. Roddy Clyde
of Trinity Baptist Church in Round Rock,
Texas. Since changing its name in 1992 to
Fellowship of Forest Creek, Clyde’s church
has added hundreds of new parishioners.
Pastor Ed Young’s 6,000-member church
in a Dallas suburb changed its name from
Las Colinas Baptist Church to Fellowship
Church. “Basically, we changed the name
for one reason – to reach as many people
as possible,” Young said.
Of course, others recognize that changing
the name of a church doesn’t necessarily
imply a departure from the faith. “Many of
the fastest growing churches in the country
still have ‘Baptist’ in the label,” said Ken
Hemphill, president of the Southwestern
Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. “The
key issue is not necessarily the name, but
changes in the content of what happens in
the church.”
Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 1/13/99
ALABAMA
Enterprise
Carrollton (WALN)
Ozark (WAQG)
Selma (WAQU)
Sheffield (WAKD)
Troy
90.5
89.3
91.7
91.1
89.9
91.1
ARIZONA
Fredonia
Holbrook
Mesa
Winslow
89.1
90.3
89.1
91.3
ARKANSAS
Arkadelphia
Bentonville
Blytheville
Clarksville
Crossett
El Dorado
Fayetteville
Forrest City
Fort Smith (KAOW)
Jonesboro (KAOG)
Piggott
Pocahontas
Prescott
Sheridan (KANX)
Warren
91.9
88.1
91.5
89.9
91.7
91.9
90.1
91.5
88.9
90.5
88.1
91.1
88.9
91.1
91.3
CALIFORNIA
*Quincy (KNLF)
COLORADO
Trinidad
95.9
91.7
FLORIDA
*Florida City (WMFL) 88.5
*Key Largo (WMKL) 91.7
GEORGIA
Americus
Cordele
Cuthbert
Dublin
*Griffin (WMVV)
Waycross (WASW) ILLINOIS
DeKalb (WWGN)
Effingham
Flora
Kankakee
Mt.Vernon (WAPO)
Ottawa (WWGN)
Pana
Salem
INDIANA
*Greensburg (WAUZ)
Michigan City
Plymouth
Vincennes
Terre Haute (WAPC)
90.3
90.3
89.3
91.9
90.7
91.9
93.3
91.3
88.5
88.1
90.5
88.9
88.5
91.3
89.1
88.5
91.3
89.9
91.9
AmeriFamRadio
KANSAS
Arkansas City
Beloit
Enterprise
89.7
91.3
88.7
Great Bend
89.7
Hays
89.7
Independence (KARF)91.9
Marysville
91.7
Norton
91.5
Ottawa (KRBW)
90.5
Salina (KAKA)
88.5
Topeka (KBUZ)
90.3
Wichita (KCFN)
91.1
KENTUCKY
Ashland
91.1
Campbellsville (WAPD)
91.7
*Central City (WMTA)
1380AM
Mt. Sterling (WAXG) 88.1
LOUISIANA
Alexandria (KAPM) 91.7
Jonesboro
89.7
Jonesville
91.9
Lafayette (KSJY)
90.9
Many (KAVK)
89.7
Monroe
94.9
*Russell Springs (WIDS) 570AM
Ruston (KAPI)
88.3
St. Joseph
89.9
MINNESOTA
Montevideo
Windom
Worthington
89.7
90.9
88.1
MISSISSIPPI
Ackerman
Brookhaven
Cleveland (WDFX)
Columbia
Duck Hill (WAUM)
Forest (WQST)
Gulfport (WAOY)
Hattiesburg (WAII)
Laurel (WATP)
McComb (WAQL)
96.9
90.5
98.3
90.9
91.9
92.5
91.7
89.3
90.7
90.5
IOWA
Creston
90.9
Fairfield
88.7
Ottumwa
88.1
Sioux City (KAYA)
91.3
*Affiliate Station – may not carry all AFR programming.
All stations
listed are
FM unless1999
otherwise indicated.
AFA
Journal
• march,
Natchez
Oxford
Starkville
Tupelo (WAFR)
Vicksburg
West Point
91.1
101.3
88.9
88.3
93.3
96.9
MISSOURI
*Birch Tree (KBMV) 1310AM
Brookfield
91.5
Cabool
89.9
Kennett (KAUF)
89.9
Memphis
91.5
*Mountain Grove (KELE) 1360AM
Park Hills
91.1
*Piedmont (KPWB)
1140AM
Springfield (KAKU) 90.1
NEBRASKA
Chadron
Hastings
Hubbard (KAYA)
Valentine
89.3
91.7
91.3
89.3
NEW HAMPSHIRE
*Manchester (WLMW)
90.7
Ahoskie
Beaufort
Mt. Airy
New Bern (WAAE)
Sanford
91.9
91.5
90.3
91.9
88.7
NORTH DAKOTA
Devils Lake
Harvey
Jamestown
Watford City
89.9
91.1
90.7
89.1
Williston
91.7
OHIO
Martin’s Ferry
Steubenville
Shelby (WAUI)
91.1
88.9
88.3
OKLAHOMA
Ada
Ardmore
Atoka
Durant
Elk City
88.7
91.9
91.7
89.3
91.9
Aberdeen
Spearfish
90.1
90.1
TENNESSEE
*Alcoa (WBCR) 1470AM
Bristol
90.5
*Columbia (WMRB)
910AM
Dyersburg
89.7
Hohenwald (WAUO) 90.7
Jackson (WAMP)
88.1
Lawrenceberg
Milan
Savannah
Shelbyville
Spencer
Tullahoma (WAUT)
Waynesboro
89.9
99.1
88.1
91.3
90.1
88.5
89.9
TEXAS
Abilene (KAQD)
Alpine
Amarillo (KAVW)
Big Spring
Bonham
Borger (KAVO)
91.3
90.9
90.7
91.5
91.1
91.5
Breckenridge
Brownfield
Crockett
Dalhart
Del Rio
Dumas
Hereford
Huntsville (KAXF)
Kermit
Lamesa
Levelland
Lockhart
Midland
Morton
Pampa (KAXH)
Pecos
Plainview
Stephenville
Van Horn
Victoria
90.7
90.7
91.9
91.7
89.9
91.7
90.7
88.3
91.5
91.3
91.9
88.5
89.5
91.1
90.9
91.3
90.7
90.5
89.9
88.5
UTAH
St. George
88.7
VIRGINIA
Bristol
Culpeper (WARN)
Elkins (WBHZ)
90.5
91.5
91.9
WASHINGTON
Sunnyside (KAYB)
88.1
WEST VIRGINIA
Elkins (WBHZ)
91.9
WYOMING
Gillette (KAXG)
89.7
Alberta, CANADA
Three Hills (PBC)
89.9
from sea to shining
NEW MEXICO
*Carlsbad (KAMQ)
1240AM
Clayton
91.3
Clovis (KAQF)
91.1
*Farmington (KPCL) 95.7
Hobbs
91.5
Las Vegas
90.3
Raton
90.1
NEW YORK
Batavia
NORTH CAROLINA
89.5
Idabel
91.9
Norman
89.3
*Okmulgee (KOKL)
1240AM
Poteau (KARG)
91.7
Stillwater
89.7
Weatherford
90.5
OREGON
Baker City
Grants Pass (KAPK)
90.7
91.1
PENNSYLVANIA
Franklin (WAWN)
89.5
*Youngsville (WTMV) 88.5
SOUTH DAKOTA
11
A supplement for local bulletins & newsletters from the American Family Association
New book exposes rise of relativAmerica is a nation awash in scandals in
both political parties at the highest levels,
and perhaps more disturbing is that most
Americans don’t seem to care. What has
changed in this country to make the majority of its citizens yawn when confronted by
allegations of adultery, perjury, and obstruction of justice in high places?
A new book by Robert
H. Knight, director of
cultural studies at the
Family Research Council,
reflects on the causes
of this phenomenon.
In The Age of Consent:
The Rise of Relativism
and the Corruption of
Popular Culture, Knight
examines the shift in
America away from
its Judeo-Christian heritage – based upon
God’s laws – into a moral wasteland where
nothing is right or wrong.
Flowing out of this change in worldview
have come numerous other destroyers of
morality: subjectivism, radical individualism, materialism and the sexual revolution.
All have combined not only to erode moral
absolutes further, but also to capture the
institutions of popular entertainment: art,
music, television, and film.
But Knight does not abandon the reader
to hopelessness. The Age of Consent concludes
with a chapter outlining the “counterrevolution” that is now producing positive
signs of moral renewal. He says, “A major
reassessment is under way that has the possibility of stemming the tide of decay and
decadence that has swept America over the
march, 1999
TV-Turnoff Week slated for
This April 22-28 an expected
seven million individuals around
the country will voluntarily turn off
their TV sets for seven days, hoping
to rediscover that life can be more
constructive, rewarding and healthy
without television.
The fifth annual “National TVTurnoff Week,” coordinated by TV-Free
America, is endorsed by more than
56 national organizations, including
AFA, the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics,
American Academy of Family Physicians, and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. TV-Free America is a national
non-profit organization that encourages
Americans to voluntarily reduce the amount
of television they watch.
“National TV-Turnoff Week succeeds
because it is a fun event. Instead of watching, families are talking and doing things
together, children are playing and exercising,” said Mim Noorani, program director at
TV-Free America. “For many it’s a welcome
revelation that the day doesn’t end when
prime-time begins.”
To learn how to organize a TV-Turnoff
in your family, school, library, church or
community, contact: TV-Free America,
1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 3A,
Washington, DC, 20009; phone: 800-9396737; 202-887-0436; Fax: 202-518-5560;
www.tvfa.org.
No ‘R’ movie policy flops at theater
Perhaps it’s true that most Americans just
don’t care anymore about morality. That’s
what one theater owner believes, now that
his community failed to support his policy
of showing only family-friendly films.
David Crenshaw, a theater owner in
Spartanburg, South Carolina, publicized his
decision last August that his seven-screen,
second-run theater would no longer show
R-rated movies. Crenshaw said he was
concerned about the effects of too much
sex and violence on society.
He said after announcing the policy
change, “We had vocal support, but people
were just not showing up to see the movies.”
Crenshaw said his theater experienced a 40%
drop in ticket sales, producing a $20,000
loss since August. He told World magazine,
“You can’t make people want something
they don’t want.”
That monetary damage caused Crenshaw
to drop his ban on R-rated films in late December. “I thought people cared more,” he
said. “Apparently they don’t much care.”
World, 1/16/99; USA Today, 12/30/98
American Family Association • P.O. Drawer 2440 • Tupelo, MS 38803 • 601-844-5036
Signs of hope in America?
States move to shore
up religious freedom
Many Christians were ecstatic when
Congress passed the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA), only to see their
hopes dashed when the U.S. Supreme Court
declared RFRA unconstitutional. Now some
states are moving to fill in the gap left by the
overturned congressional measure.
During the last half of this century, the
government – especially the courts – has
been shuffling the free exercise of religion
out of the public sphere by giving credence
to virtually any counterclaim – such as
“separation of church and state.”
RFRA was intended to counter that trend
by placing the burden on the government
to justify curbs on religion. But the nation’s
high court said Congress had overstepped
its authority by trying to broaden the definition of religious freedom – an authority the
Supreme Court has taken for itself.
Now, according to Christianity Today, at
least a dozen states are considering a state
version of RFRA, while Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and Rhode Island have
already passed such measures.
A recent edition of The American Enterprise asked the question, “Is America
turning a corner?” The conservative magazine gathered statistics that indicate that
some of the worst trends may be easing a bit.
Between 1970 and 1998, for example, the percentage of Americans who said “a
letdown in moral values” was one of the “major causes of our problems today” grew
from 50% to 62%. And 66% of poll respondents said they were more worried “that
the country will become too tolerant of behaviors that are bad for society;” 28% said
they were more worried “that the country will become too intolerant of behaviors
that don’t do any real harm to society.”
The statistics should encourage pro-family groups to continue the battle: illegitimacy rates, teen births, the abortion rate, the percentage of teens having sex, the
percentage of teens who drop out of school, the teen suicide rate and the divorce rate
have all dropped during the 1990s. So have both violent and property crimes.
While drug abuse among teens is the exception – it’s growing – teenage drinking
has dropped dramatically since 1975. That year 50% of 12- to 17-year-olds said they
had consumed alcohol in the past month, compared to just 21% in 1995.
Meanwhile, there are some trends that are up. The percentage of Americans
who say religion is “very important” in their life as well as the percentage of teens
who attend religious services in an average week are both going up. And per capita
charitable contributions in the U.S. have risen (in 1997 dollars) from $398 a year
in 1970 to $536 in 1997.
The American Enterprise, January/February 1999
Christianity Today, 1/11/99
Music conference demands
absolute freedom for artists
Echoing the sentiments of many in the
U.S. music industry, delegates at the first
world conference on music and censorship
claimed musicians like Marilyn Manson
should not be denied their “fundamental
rights of freedom of musical expression.”
Delegates made it clear that even efforts to
prevent shock-rocker Marilyn Manson from
performing in some U.S. cities amounted
to “human rights abuses,” a phrase used
in the conference’s final declaration. The
meeting was scheduled to mark the 50th
anniversary of the U.N. Declaration on
Human Rights.
The right of musicians to express themselves was apparently so absolute that delegates would not even condemn music that
promoted hate, racism or drug abuse.
Reuters, 11/22/98
TV bad even for primates
Officials at the St. Petersburg Zoo in Russia had a great idea: they would educate the
zoo’s orangutans about family life by letting
them watch television. But the humans may
have learned more than the primates.
Rather than become more family oriented, zoo officials discovered that the male
orangutan became so absorbed with watching
the tube that he began to ignore his mate.
That upset Mrs. Orangutan and convinced
officials to rethink their plan.
“We’ll reduce the time of TV watching
in order to keep the family together,” said
Ivan Korneyev, director of the St. Petersburg Zoo.
World, 1/16/99
Sunday night
Dear Mom and Dad,
What a great time we all had with you last weekend. I think I
put on 20 pounds. No doubt I’m going to have to get serious about
exercising more.
When we were sitting around “solving the world’s problems,”
you mentioned what a terrific job American Family Association
was doing. Let me share with you a great idea that can help AFA, as
well as both of you.
It’s called a “gift annuity.” It works like this – You make a gift to the
AFA, and receive lifetime income from that gift.
I know you’d like to send more to AFA, but can’t afford to give up the
income from your CD’s and investments. With a gift annuity you can give
to AFA now without giving up the investment income. In many cases a gift
annuity will even increase your income.
Plus, since you itemize your taxes, you can deduct the gift. And on top of all that, a
substantial portion of the income you receive will be tax- free. It’s such a great deal for everybody involved! You can even set up a gift annuity for one or both of you (a “two-life” gift
annuity).
If you want to see exactly how it works, just fill out the coupon and send it to AFA. They’ll send you a proposal using your information. It’s called an “illustration,” and shows you how
a gift annuity can work for you. And don’t worry, there is absolutely no obligation. I filled one out
yesterday for myself, but since I am under 50, mine will be called a “deferred gift annuity.”
Dad, you and Mom always taught us kids to be good stewards of God’s blessings, so I think
you’ll appreciate what a gift annuity can do for you both, as well as for AFA.
One last great benefit. When you and dad go to be with the Lord, this gift doesn’t go through
probate. It passes directly to AFA, so there’s no chance of it winding up in the wrong hands. I
really like that idea. Don’t you?
Got to take Emily to the soccer field now. Everyone sends their love.
Love, Dave
AFA Gift Annuity Illustration Form
➤ I am interested in a ❑ One-life Gift Annuity ❑ Two-life Gift Annuity ❑ Deferred Gift Annuity
➤ I plan to fund my annuity with ❑ personal check
❑ Transfer of stocks and bonds
Name ____________________________________________________
___
➤ I wish to receive my income payments ❑ annually ❑ semi-annually
❑ quarterly ❑monthly (Requires $25,000 minimum for monthly
income option)
2nd name if Two-life Gift ____________________________________
Address ___________________________________________________
___
City/State/Zip _______________________________________________
Telephone ( _____ ) ________ ________
Date(s) of Birth _____ _____ _____ 2nd person _____ _____ _____
➤ For Deferred Annuities Only: Please defer my payment until
I reach age ______ . (Income can be deferred to any age
beyond 50.)
Completion of this form will enable American Family Association Foundation to prepare a no obligation illustration for your review. The
Foundation is a division of American Family Association.
American Family Association Foundation
P. O. Box 3933 • Tupelo, MS 38803 • 601-844-7370
AFA Gift Annuities may not be offered in every state.
television – cable channel profile
WB net attracts adult audience
with adolescent sex
Editor’s note: The following is the second
in a series of AFA Journal profiles of major
cable channels. Comments below are based
on viewing of 12 hours of selected programming during prime-time hours.
Cable channel profile: WB
Viewing period: January 11-22.
When the WB network debuted in January, 1995, the only original programs were
Muscle (set in a New York gym), Unhappily Ever After (about a recently divorced
father), and Father Knows Nothing (guess
what that one’s about). None of the three
survived, and in the fall of ’95, the baby
net introduced five more new titles, none
of which are still around.
Finally, in their second full season (199697), Seventh Heaven became a hit for the
fledgling upstart net. The family-friendly
Seventh Heaven stands in stark contrast to
the great majority of prime-time programming, including that of WB.
Ironically, however, WB continues to
point its creative efforts in other directions,
e.g., Dawson’s Creek, the setting for an
ensemble cast of sex-obsessed teens, now in
its sophomore season. Though WB quickly
established a reputation as a teen network,
its adult viewers outnumber teens by more
than 2-to-1, according to a recent USA Today
report. And WB executives indicate that it
is no accident.
“Teens kind of decide what is cool in
pop culture, and adults follow the lead of
teens,” said WB president Jamie Kellner.
The strategy appears to be working, as WB
jumped 14% from last season, with 18- to
34-year-old women, its fastest-growing
audience. Almost 50% of WB’s primetime audience this season is adults 18-49
(comparable to NBC and ABC).
Still, the network’s strength remains with
teens. In fact, half of all teenage female viewers
on Wednesday night have their eyes glued
to Dawson’s Creek. But teens make up only
31% of the show’s viewers, indicating that
adults, too, are mesmerized by the series’
tawdry adolescent angst and amore.
A WB sampling
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, airing
at 7 p.m. (CST), predictably dabbles
in the occult. Like Dawson’s Creek,
the lead characters are teens. In one
January episode, Buffy and her friends
are the objects of a witch hunt when
two young children are found murdered in a hometown park. Buffy’s
mother organizes Mothers Opposed
to the Occult, and assists in tying her
daughter and two friends to stakes
and setting fire to occult books piled
around them. Buffy and friends, of
course, use their supernatural powers to escape death. The next week,
adults in the episode get hooked on
candy laced with drugs that cause
them to act like teenagers. Always,
the young teens are the wise, strong
and rational characters.
Also dealing with the occult is WB’s
Charmed, an hour-long drama focusing on
the exploits of three sisters (young adults)
who discover they have the power of witches.
Curses, spells, death by scorpion sting, and
a goddess who appears out of thin air are
elements in the January 20 episode.
Dawson’s Creek has become the net’s
signature series. The first of two episodes
AFA reviewed focused on Andie (female)
and Pacey (male) as they plan to have sex
– his AIDS test, buying condoms together,
etc. Jack poses nude for Joey (female) to
draw him for her art class assignment. As
he lounges naked on her living room sofa,
she asks him to describe the feeling of
having sex. When she stands to answer a
telephone call, shock covers her face as she
gazes toward his genital area.
In the second episode, the theme is on
answering the question, “Who had sex?” It
was, indeed, Andie and Pacey. Interestingly, in
these two episodes, there was never a parent
to be found, and few adults were evident
at the high school. The main characters are
portrayed as 15- and 16-year-olds.
Felicity is yet another teen drama, following Felicity and her peers in their freshman
year at a New York college. Date rape is the
main storyline in the January 12 episode,
including a gratuitous graphic description
of the event. Then, on January 19, Felicity
returns from the holidays at home to announce to her friend Noel (whom she has
never dated) that she thinks they should
have sex. Felicity’s virginity is apparently
of grave concern to all of her sexually active friends.
Seventh Heaven is the network’s one
bright spot. The series follows the life of
Rev. Steven Camden, his wife Annie and
their five children. Back-to-back episodes
on January 11 dealt with such typical family
matters as Mary’s fears of having to parallel
park during her driver’s test; 12-year-old
Simon’s confusion about whether his girl
friend is trying to break up with him; and
Matt’s devastation when he learns that an old
girl friend is now engaged. The series handles
serious matters responsibly: alcoholism in
the family, a young girl with leukemia, teen
promiscuity and more.
Among the most frequent advertisers on
WB programs reviewed were Disney and
Procter and Gamble, PM/Kraft was the leading sponsor of 7th Heaven. (For addresses,
see Action Index, on page 16.)
15
television – prime-time network reviews
action inUse this information to write
or call advertisers cited in this
issue’s television reviews.
Cosmair, Inc.
V. Pres. James A. Nixon
575 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-818-1500
Fax: 212-984-4056
Toll free: 1-800-322-2036
Products: L’Oreal hair care, Maybelline cosmetics, Preference
hair dye, Studio Line products
Johnson & Johnson
Chrm. Ralph S. Larsen
One Johnson & Johnson Plaza
New Brunswick, NJ 08933
Phone: 732-524-0400
Fax: 732-214-0332
Web site: www.jnj.com
Products: Johnson’s baby
products, Neutrogena skin and
hair products, Pepcid AC, Reach
toothbrush, Tylenol
PM/Kraft
Chrm. Geoffrey C. Bible
120 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-880-5000
Fax: 212-907-5430
Toll Free 1-800-343-0975
E-mail: [email protected]
Products: General Foods products, Jell-O desserts, Kraft food
products, Minute Rice
The Procter & Gamble Co.
Chrm. John E. Pepper
P. O. Box 599
Cincinnati, OH 45201
Phone: 513-983-1100
Fax: 513-983-4381
Toll free: 1-800-435-9254
Web site: www.pg.com
Products: Charmin toilet tissue,
Febreze household product,
Pepto-Bismol, Sunny Delight,
Tide, Vicks medication
The Walt Disney Company
Chrm. Michael Eisner
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
Phone: 818-560-1000
Fax: 818-5261137
Products: Dimension Films, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films,
Walt Disney Pictures
Warner-Lambert Company
16
Disney dollars underwrite decadent dra■ Ally McBeal P2 S
TV14-DL
Fox, 12/21/98 – A man and two women ask
the law firm to petition the court for the right
to marry. (The man is already married to one
of them, and his mistress has borne him a child
out of wedlock). It is a straightforward defense
of polygamy. Richard, head of the firm, says he
can’t take the case because he’s already “fornicating” with the judge.
January 11 AC H P1 PC S
TV14SD
Ally and her roommate Rene argue about an
inflatable sex toy, and Ally several times fantasizes
about using her snake-like tongue on the man
of her dreams. Ling tells her boyfriend Richard
that he thinks with his penis, and that if John
won’t have sex with Nelle it must mean he’s
homosexual. Ally successfully argues in court
to have the judge put a woman in a coma so she
can enjoy her “dreamworld.” When the woman
remarks to a priest, “God forgive me,” Ally answers
emphatically, “She will.”
■ L. A. Doctors P2 S
TVPG-L
CBS, 1/11 – One of the doctors is consulted
by a mom who is convinced her 17-year-old
daughter is pregnant. As it turns out, she is on
steroids, preparing for a sex-change operation
when she turns 18. The mother remains adamant
against such sugery, but at the episode’s end, it appears that the father intends to help the daughter
through this stressful event.
■ The Practice P7 S
TVPG-L
ABC, 1/3 – Sex is the only subject of this episode. Eugene, series regular, gets a call for help
from his friend Jerry, who has been arrested for
soliticing sex with another man. Jerry, a married
father, is also a cross dresser. Another sub-plot
focuses on a local politician, the man who tried
to pick up Jerry.
In a third storyline, one secretary asks a woman,
“Are you lesbian?” Yet another story pits attorneys
Bobby and Lindsey (sex partners) against the
other three in a critical vote. As head of the firm,
Bobby gets two votes, thus producing a 3-3 tie.
Then Bobby, as chair, breaks the tie, thus making
two partners overrule three.
■ X-Files P6 S
TVPG-LV
Fox, 1/3 – A demonic man impregnates several
women in his futile attempt to have a normal child.
Each child, however, is part demon and part human. The demon/father then kills each baby.
An ironic twist occurs in the person of one of
the man’s human wives who married him because
she wanted a demonic child.
Warner-Lambert, Cosmair on trashy sit■ Encore! Encore! P6 S
TVPG
NBC, 1/20 – This episode revolves around a past
sexual encounter between Joe and Danielle. When
Danielle comes to visit, she tells Joe she wants to
be a nun, and he thinks she wants to play a sex
game called “the nun and the naughty choir boy.”
Danielle, however, is serious and says it would be
an honor to “become a bride of Christ.”
■ Lateline P3 S
TV14
NBC, 1/6 – Series star Pierce McKenzie is
shown twice in bed with women he’d picked up
just that day. Genitalia and flatulence jokes are
par for the course in the crude dialogue.
■ The Simpsons
AC H P4 PC S
TVPG-L
Fox, 1/10 – Ned Flanders, the Simpsons’ nerdy
do-gooder Christian neighbor, asks Homer for
help in overcoming his resistance to temptation.
So Homer takes him to Las Vegas, where they
gamble and marry two floozies while in a drunken
stupor. Signs in Vegas advertise “Nudes,” “Legends
of Cleavage” and such homosexually-oriented
themes as “Klon-Dykes!” and “Okla-Homo!”
This episode ridicules Christianity constantly:
the Simpsons’ minister is nothing more than a
money-grubbing preacher; everyone pokes fun
at Christians who attend church regularly; and
when Homer uses a Bible reference as a number
for betting at the roullete table, he wins and says,
“The Bible’s finally pulling its weight.”
■ Spin City H P8 S
TVPG-LD
ABC, 1/5 – In a typical sex-fest on this sitcom,
Mike tries to prevent Nikki from sleeping with
her boyfriend for the first time. The series’ pervert
Stuart appears to have rubbed off on his homosexual roommate Carter, who spends this show
television – prime-time network reviews
putting a nasty sexual twist on nearly everything
that is said. And after Stuart has sex with a girl
after their first date, he breaks up with her because,
after all, “I’m kinda done [with her].”
■ That ’70s Show
H P5 S SA
TVPG-SLD
Fox, 1/17 – Sex and substance abuse mark the
lives of this group of 1970s teens. In his daydream
about a sexual encounter with girlfriend Donna,
Eric sees her becoming turned on by his arousal
– only to discover that it’s a road flare under
the covers. Michael and Jackie retire alone to a
bedroom, and even the sex life of Eric’s parents
is made into a humorous storyline. While hitchhiking, Michael gets picked up by a homosexual
truckdriver, and Michael’s naivete´ makes for
laughter inspired by numerous double entendres.
There’s plenty of teen drinking, and a reference
to Eric’s secret stash of pot.
January 24 P16 PC S
TVPG SLD
This episode contained more profanity than
most one-hour dramas. Donna says the girls at
school who have regular sex just “seem more relaxed.” Jackie and Michael apparently have their
first sexual encounter at the end of the show, and
Michael makes an extremely crude comment about
his friend’s mother’s sexual promiscuity.
■ 3rd Rock From the Sun
H P12 S
TV14
NBC, 1/5 – The alien-in-charge switches
bodies on Dick and Sally, and the result is an
episode of jokes about women’s breasts, male
genitalia and menstruation. Because the two
are in opposite-sex bodies, there is homosexual
humor as they each try to date their respective
girl and boyfriend.
■ Will & Grace AC
H
P11
S
TVPG
NBC, 1/5 – This episode contains sexual humor about homosexuality, transvestites, adultery,
fornication, prostitution, lust, genitals and breasts.
It also takes a few swipes at Christianity. When
Grace criticizes a neighbor for cheating on her
husband, Will sarcastically calls her “church lady,”
and jokes about breaking the commandment
against sexual covetousness.
January 12 H P12 S
TVPG
Sexual dialogue in this series is becoming more
focused on the homosexuality of Will and Jack.
Will recalls how he dressed up in his mother’s
clothes as a kid, and jokes that he wants a cute
waiter served to him for his birthday. Next year
he insists he wants a real cowboy as a birthday
present. When Will complains about a grey chest
hair, Grace says it could be worse – and glances
Johnson & Johnson ads on four good
■ Kids say the Darndest Things
+ TVG
CBS, 1/8 – A highlight of this installment was
classic clips from the archives, with former host
Art Linkletter talking to children about their
mothers. In a current segment, host Bill Cosby
has kids explaining New Year’s resolutions.
■ Promised Land +
TVPG
CBS, 12/31 – The Greenes cross paths with
Ryan and his teenage daughter Tess. Years earlier
Ryan had told Tess her mother died in an auto
accident. In reality, she was caught shoplifting and
Ryan forced her to leave him and Tess in return
for not reporting her to the police. The Greenes
help bring reconciliation to the family.
■ Touched by an Angel +TVG
CBS, 12/27 – The fifth season premiere repeated,
set in a hospital as angels help medical staff and
patients solve the mystery of a “resident angel”
who appears to terminal patients.
January 24 +
TVPG
Donnie Mancuso has high expectations for
his son Cameron to be an athlete, which is not
at all Cameron’s desire. Adding to their conflict,
Cameron befriends Ferdie, an autistic adult who
is accused of crimes he did not commit.
action inChrm. Melvin R. Goodes
201 Tabor Road
Morris Plains, NJ 07950
Phone: 973-540-2000
Fax: 973-540-7027
Toll free: 1-800-223-0182
Web site: www.warner-lambert.com
Products: Benadryl, Listerine
mouthwash, Rolaids antacid,
Tracer razor
AFA TV Codes
AC Anti-Christian
H Promotes homosexual
agenda
P Profanity; the number
following the “P” is the
number of times profanity
is used in the program.
PC Politically correct in dealing with an issue identified
in the review
S Objectionable sexual content (may include partial
nudity)
SA Substance abuse (drugs or
alcohol)
V Violence (graphic or gratuitous)
+ Positive theme with no
objectionable elements
(A good story told with
profane language earns no
commendation.)
TV TV network ratings are
indicated in black.
Cosmair sponsors occult mov■ The Craft P27 S SA
TV14-VL
Fox, 1/6 – This movie about four teenage witches was full of occultic symbols and concepts, and included numerous scenes showing the girls casting
spells in detailed fashion – a primer for any confused teen wanting to dabble
in witchcraft.
One of the witches not only invokes a spirit, but welcomes it inside her
body. The girls all use their powers for revenge, until it backfires for three of
them. But then comes the movie’s most dangerous message: be a good witch,
and everything will turn out all right. Sexual themes and the use of alcohol
and tobacco by teens are also prevalent.
17
Pornography
The porn profs’ plans for your
BY Dr. Dennis Jarrard
I recently spent a day in Hell. I attended the
World Pornography Conference (“Eroticism
and The First Amendment”) at the Sheraton
Universal Hotel in Los Angeles.
I was probably the only pro-decency
participant at the confab, which drew porn
defenders from as far away as Russia, Japan,
South Africa and Australia. For eight hours I
rubbed shoulders with top obscenity lawyers,
the porn industry’s political shills from the
ACLU, porn actresses, and academics from
major universities, particularly California
State University at Northridge (CSUN). The
town of Northridge is the world capital of
porn video production.
The purpose of the proceedings seemed
to be to advance a plan of the $8 billiona-year porn industry – namely, to get the
public to accept the now-discredited Prof.
Alfred Kinsey’s anything-goes approach to
sex as the basis for granting teaching credentials to all sex educators in both public
and religious schools.
What these intellectuals said should frighten citizens into action. I first heard CSUN’s
librarian as she described efforts to protect
the public university’s porn collection. Next,
I heard a professor quoting tax-supported
researcher Dr. Ed Donnerstein of University
of California at Santa Barbara. Donnerstein,
who maintains that only violence in porn
is dangerous, did not mention the research
funding he has received from Playboy and
other pornography interests.
Dr. William Griffitt of Kansas State
University informed us that porn causes
no adverse effects. He cited the discredited,
ACLU-dominated Presidential Commission
on Pornography (1970) as showing minimal
effects from making and using porn.
When I asked about the more recent
Reagan-era Presidential Commission that
found porn harmful, he dismissed it as politically inspired. He carefully dodged the issue
of the link between porn and public health
and safety problems such as rape, venereal
disease, AIDS, incest, serial murders, child
molestation and sex addiction.
He said not a word about the enormous
increase in sex-related pathologies since Kin18
sey, as documented by Dr. Judith Reisman in
her book Kinsey: Crimes and Consequences.
Dr. Reisman demonstrates that Kinsey’s
work is a fraud involving hundreds of sex
crimes against children. Griffitt sees Kinsey
as a fine researcher, a real contributor to
learning and teaching about sex.
A California State University at Long
Beach professor told how he brought porn
stars into his classroom as guest lecturers.
He told us this shields him from direct
criticism.
The “legitimate” entertainment industry
received praise for its use of erotic images in
Hollywood movies since Tinseltown discarded
the movie decency code in the 1960s.
And on and on they droned. The research
of “sexperts” such as Kinsey, Masters and
Kinsey: Crimes & Consequences, published
by The Institute for
Media Education,
Inc., is available at
bookstores or by
calling toll-free
1-800-837-0544.
Johnson, and Wardell Pomeroy is being
peddled endlessly. It comes from Vern
Bullough’s Center for Sex Research, from
other Kinsey-spawned sex research and/or
teacher credentialing centers.
What about countless academic studies
showing direct connection between porn
use and sex crimes and disease? None of the
scholars mentioned Dr. Reisman’s findings
about what they are doing to put children
and society in the hands of Kinseyite cranks
and their wealthy porn czar patrons.
Did you know that 25% of all videos
sold and rented in the United States last
year were porn videos? Or that organized
crime controls 90% of the distribution of
porn videos in America, including those in
your friendly suburban video store? Or that
the Clinton Administration ended almost
all federal prosecutions of porn peddlers?
In large measure, you can thank the people
at this conference.
The speakers definitely did not bring up
Dr. Riesman’s 30 years of research into how
the Kinseyan sexology societies and teacheraccrediting agencies have metastasized sex
educators into our children’s classrooms
through such devices as their Commission
on Accreditation.
These supposedly unbiased academics did
not want to discuss Dr. Reisman’s chronicle
of the damage done by the Kinseyans through
the explosion of sex crimes and venereal
disease (not to mention AIDS) that has
occurred since the 1950s, when obscenity
laws were still enforced.
The Kinsey model of loveless, dangerous,
anything-goes sex is now the primary model
that teachers get credentialed to teach in
America’s schools. Parents and taxpayers
must de-credential the Kinsey-clone sex
educators who are teaching our children
that condoms should replace chastity, that
lust is better than love.
The damage that the “sexperts” are doing to our boys and girls is no less harmful
than that done by Soviet and Nazi educators in the 1930s and 1940s. In those cases,
pseudo-science led to the deaths of millions.
In our country, venereal disease, AIDS, rape,
murder, molestation, incest, sex addiction
and the other effects of “harmless” porn are
killing the minds, souls and even the lives of
countless young people and adults.
A determined citizen can still make a difference. Read up on Kinsey, porn and the sex
education industry. Support Dr. Reisman’s
R.S.V.P. America program to end Kinseyan
sex ed. Join a no-compromise anti-porn
group. Educate your clergyman. Call the
talk shows. Contact your lawmaker.
It is late in the day. As Dr. Reisman says,
it’s high time we pried the cold, dead hands
of Kinsey off our children.
Dr. Dennis Jarrard taught at the University
of Southern California. His works have been
published by various educational publications
and national newspapers including The Los
Angeles Times.
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http://www.afo.net
click. The Smithsonian. click.
Wall Street. click. England. click.
gambling. click. news. click.
Yankee Stadium. click. movies.
click. health care. click. bombmaking. click. shopping. click.
NASA. click. weather. click.
pornography. click.
On the Internet you’ll find
the best – and worst – of the
human experience, all just
a click away. And that’s the
problem.
How can your family connect to the world without being exposed to all that destructive material?
Simple. American Family Online offers protection from Internet
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American
Family
19
Pornography
Free at last!
■ Two brothers turn their back on the porn industry
Editor’s note: The following was taken
from an American Family Association interview with Mike and Steve Lane, brothers
who left a lucrative and growing career in
pornography when they became Christians.
Mike, 36, and Steve, 32, both served in the
armed forces before embarking on careers
in marketing, management and sales.
nesses in the area. We gave it a very glamorous
and Hollywood appeal. We did everything
in really bright colors and just gave it all the
glitter and gold and made it look like this
AFA: When were you first exposed to
pornography?
Mike: I was first exposed to porn at the
age of six through a friend. His uncle, who
was a Christian and went to church, had
this material in his house.
Steve: It was also a Christian who owned
the magazine I first looked at, when I was
eight years old. Mike was 12 at the time.
AFA: As kids, how did viewing pornography affect you?
Mike: It hardened my heart, to know
that this kind of thing existed. I believe
the actual introduction to pornography as
a child immediately, immediately damages
you, and it damages your soul.
Steve: Well, you gotta figure, I’m 32 years
old, and the first time that I was exposed I
was eight years old, so that’s 24 years ago.
But I can still remember the exact image
that I saw when I was eight. I can tell you
exactly what the pictures looked like. Those
images have stuck with me for 24 years. And
the pornography that I was exposed to then
is nothing compared to the pornography
that is out there today.
AFA: So how did you get involved in
the pornography industry?
Steve: Well, first we published a politically
oriented newspaper and actually we used
to fight organizations like AFA. We thought
that protecting First Amendment rights also
meant protecting pornography.
Then, since we were living in a vacation
hot-spot in Florida, we went into publishing
a tourist magazine that advertised adult busi20
was what the city was all about.
AFA: Were these publications making
any money?
Steve: The money aspect was the lure.
I mean, the sports cars, jewelry, all of the
clothes – I used to go shopping to make
myself feel better. I constantly was in search
of something because there was an emptiness inside. If we didn’t want to leave our
condo to eat we would have taxis go to fine
restaurants and pick up four star meals and
deliver them. But no matter what you do
you still have that emptiness. I may have
been rich in material things, but spiritually
I was dead. And that was the emptiness
and that’s what we later came to know was
missing from our lives.
AFA: How well-read was your newspaper
and tourist magazine?
Steve: Within the first year the newspaper
had as many as 20,000 loyal readers, but after
that year we went straight into the tourist
full-color glossy magazine.
Mike: Evolving from one publication into
another was based on greed. We went from a
newspaper which basically
didn’t have the financial
capabilities of going into
a full glossy and we were
given full support on the
pornographic end of it.
These sexually-oriented
businesses needed a way
to advertise, and we supplied that.
Steve: And within two
weeks of going into business in 1997, 10,000 copies
of the tourist magazine
had already been picked
up. And we immediately
had to go into reprint.
That was during spring
break, and because the
magazine had a Hollywood look, they were being picked up
like candy. Not only that, but because of
the amount of money that we made from
advertisers we were actually able to make
this magazine free. We made sure that we got
it into the hands of everyone, and anytime
someone sees a beautiful, full-color magazine
loaded with pictures of women, and it’s free
of charge, then they take it.
AFA: How did you transition from a
tourist magazine to a full-blown pornographic magazine?
Mike: In the pornography industry,
if you’re willing to publish a magazine, if
you’re willing to become a part of that, there
are plenty of people that are already in the
industry that open their arms to you. And we
were told that our magazine was attractive
because of our beautiful Florida girls and a
catchy name for the magazine. Those in the
porn industry wanted us to just come right
on in and they were gonna take care of us
– all because of greed. Money is the bottom
line in the pornography industry.
AFA: So you were on the verge of publishing your very own porn magazine.
Steve: We started the publication, which
was the pornographic magazine and we
funded the whole thing. My brother and I
were the largest investors. We went through
all of the photography and getting all of the
photo shoots done. But we published it, we
took it to the printers, we had it delivered
on a tractor trailer rig, we off-loaded it on
pallets.
We had fought so hard to see this day
happen and it happened. And there were
all of the magazines in cases, brand new
magazines ready to go out for distribution.
We had a national contract that would
distribute the magazine throughout the
United States and Canada. All we had to
do was sign that contract. The company we
had formed would stand to make $180,000
in the first month.
We put a tremendous amount of work
into it and I would say that the biggest thing
that we didn’t count on was being saved.
AFA: God had other plans, as they
say.
Steve: That’s right. In late October [1998]
my brother was switching through the channels, and came to the inspirational channel.
Mike recognized the man speaking because
he had spoken at a high school. His name
is James Robison. We stopped because he
said the word “pornography.”
And James was talking about the time
he walked into a room in his house and saw
his grandson looking at a lingerie catalog
that had been mailed to James’ wife. And
the boy quickly tossed the book aside.
James said he had seen the shame on his
grandson’s face, and he walked over and
picked up the magazine, and James looked
at his grandson and said, “They’re pretty,
aren’t they?”
His grandson said, “No, no I don’t want
to look at that.” And James said, “No, they
are pretty and God has made them to be
pretty and we should respect that.” He
went ahead and he talked to his grandson
and he never once made that little boy feel
shame, and he told him about the way that
things really should be between a man and
a woman with God in their lives.
I was sitting there thinking, “I can’t
believe that this pastor is talking about
pornography on television.” But he was
telling the truth. And to hear that much
love and that much truth – we watched the
show for three more days.
They put a 1-800 number on the screen
that you could call for prayer and at that
point we realized that we would never sign
the national contract. We would never publish
a pornographic magazine again. And we
turned our lives over to Jesus Christ.
AFA: When did you realize that you
and your brother were going to fight
pornography?
Steve: I later got an opportunity to be
a guest on James’ television program. The
show is taped but it was a live audience,
and I saw Christians coming out of the
audience in tears because they were battling
pornography.
I knew then that we wanted to help
educate people about pornography, to
educate families and to educate Christians
about what pornography has become today.
And also to try and help pull people out of
that industry because such an outreach is
needed. I mean so many people get trapped
in pornography and they feel like there’s
nowhere to turn, but we’ve been there.
We’re not trying to condemn those
involved in pornography, but we want to
be a mirror for people who are caught in
the industry to look and see a reflection of
themselves, and to see that no matter what we
gave up, no matter what amount of money
we passed up, you are richer with Christ than
you’ll ever be with money. I would rather
be poor and live in a ditch and have Jesus
Christ in my life than to be rich, working
for the devil. And I am very happy.
If you had told me three months ago that
I would be sitting here, at an organization
that we used to fight, and quoting Bible
scriptures, I would have said, “You’re crazy.
There is no way, you’ve got me confused with
someone else.” But it’s amazing what Jesus
Christ can do because once the Son sets you
free, you have truly been freed.
AFA: Since you were involved with porn
at a very early age, and having seen the
porn industry from the inside, have you
seen any changes in the industry?
Steve: Oh, the industry has changed
tremendously, and what people don’t realize
is that after Hustler publisher Larry Flynt
won victories in court, the world pretty
much had to accept pornography. So that
opened up the door for other people to
publish pornography in almost every city
and almost every state. At that point then,
thinking that our society had to accept it as
part of the First Amendment, then people
put blinders on and they said, OK, we don’t
have to view it, we don’t have to look at it,
just drive right by those bookstores, don’t
pay attention to it.
Well, while all of the people quit paying
attention, then pornography had it’s first
opportunity to evolve into something that
is five hundred times worse than the porn
that most people think is pornography.
You can log on to the Internet and you
can view pornography that has children
in it, bestiality, sadomasochism, rape sites.
It’s unbelievable how far pornography has
pushed the limits. The pornography that
is out there today is not the pornography
that existed in the ’60s and ’70s.
AFA: What about the women that are
involved in the pornography business?
How does it affect them?
Steve: The women that are used for
pornography are just a product. That’s how
we looked at them. They are being used,
consumed for the greed of others. And so
many girls think that they want to be in
these magazines. Well, I think that if anyone could see a picture of a girl before she
enters the pornography industry and then
you take a picture of her six months later,
you would swear that she had aged 10 years.
And it is a very horrible industry – it’s not
glamorous, it’s not attractive. The truth is
that pornography will destroy you from the
inside out and it will start with your heart
See FREE on next page
21
no god …from page 2
Choosing a long
distance company
is a matter of asking
the right questions.
Question #1: What long distance phone company recently offered
company benefits to the homosexual live-in partners of its
employees?
a. AT&T
b. Sprint
c. MCI d. LifeLine
Question #2: What long distance phone company is the largest
provider of dial-a-porn numbers?
a. AT&T
b. Sprint
c. MCI d. LifeLine
Question #3: What long distance phone company is the carrier for
Working Assets, an affinity phone company that donates part of
its profits to groups like Planned Parenthood, the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force and others?
a. AT&T
b. Sprint
c. MCI d. LifeLine
Question #4: What long distance phone company returns over
$2 million monthly to Christian ministries including American
Family Association; never advertises on objectionable TV
programs; takes a strong pro-life stand and has donated over
$100,000 yearly to elect God-fearing men and women
to political office?
a. AT&T
b. Sprint
c. MCI d. LifeLine
on transnational federal government….
Secular humanism has come a long way
in the past 30 years. One could argue that it
is today the official religion of our society.
Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know
them.” The fruits of secular humanists are
now so evident in every realm of influence
in our society, even the church.
__________________
the sky…from page 24
is the admission that every attempt to construct a comprehensive, utopian world-view
has failed. It is a formalized expression of
despair.
Only one compelling claim to transcendent truth remains, one secure hope:
Christianity. The church has stood unshaken
through the ebb and flow of two millennia.
It has survived both the barbarian invasions
of the Middle Ages and the intellectual
assaults of the modern era. Its solid walls
rise up above the ruins littered across the
intellectual landscape.
The dawn of the new millennium is a time
for Christians to celebrate, to blow trumpets
and fly the flag high. To desert the field of
battle now would be historical blindness,
betraying our heritage just when we have
the greatest opportunity of the century. This
is the time to make a compelling case that
Christianity offers the only rational and
realistic hope for both personal redemption
and social renewal.
Never has it been more important to
remain engaged in the task of cultural renewal – to stay at our posts. And if we are
steadfast, the new millennium can indeed
be a “springtime for Christianity.”
__________________
Free…from page 21
Any other questions?
Switch now to LifeLine. Call
1-800-990-0109
22
and it will work its way through your whole
body and it will ruin your whole life.
Mike: What brings a lot of these girls
into the porn industry is the fact that they
can make so much money. But once they
start making money, I would say 99% of
the girls somehow get involved in drugs.
And instead of making some extra money
to be able to pay off debts or get a car, their
money is consumed within the industry.
The drugs are there and they really don’t
even achieve what they originally wanted
[email protected]
When truth becomes a
word game, we all lose
BY TIM WILDMON • American Family Association Vice President
I have here before me a copy of Time magazine from February
1, 1999. The cover bears a photograph of President Bill Clinton
looking straight into the camera with sort of a half-grin, half-smirk.
That’s my interpretation. The caption reads, “How He Does It:
Inside Clinton’s campaign to survive.” Many thoughts run through
my head as I look at this cover. I don’t trust President Clinton at
all, but that’s another story.
I was born in 1963. (Stay with me here, I’m not going to relive
all 36 years of my life for you here. Though I know you would like
for me to, there’s simply not space.) Basically, I am a child of the
’70s. You know – The Brady Bunch, bell-bottom pants, the energy
crisis and Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter.
There are a few lifelong, vivid memories that we all take with us
from our youth. Just as those who lived during the ’60s remember
where they were when President Kennedy was shot, I remember
where I was when President Nixon announced his resignation
August 8, 1974. I was at my best friend Rusty’s house between
pickup baseball games. Rusty’s mom asked us to be quiet as the
president appeared on national television to make a historic announcement. It was that day President Nixon resigned the office
of the presidency to keep from being impeached and, according
to him, “…to begin the process of healing which is so desperately
needed in America.” As I looked over at Rusty’s mom to see a
grown-up’s reaction to this, she was beginning to weep. That made
a profound impact on me. I was 11 years old and to see an adult
cry made me feel so uncomfortable.
Although I never asked her about it, I sensed that she was shedding tears for America and out of sympathy for President Nixon.
My feelings at the time were sadness as well, because this was the
only president I had really known. But as I listened to President
Nixon that hot summer’s day I also heard him saying he was placing
the good of the country above himself. He was not going to put
America through the anguish of impeachment when he was the
one responsible for the mess in which the country found itself.
As I look back at the Time cover of President Clinton again I
think how times have changed. Here is a man who has committed
numerous reprehensible acts, any one of which is serious enough
to expect his resignation under what was once normal conditions.
But not this president. I watched his appearance before the federal
If you like Tim Wildmon’s column each month, check
out his first book entitled I Wonder What Noah Did
With The Woodpeckers: Tales From the Far Side of
Christian Life. Available in Christian bookstores,
the book is a collection of stories sure to warm your
heart and make you laugh.
grand jury. I saw this president raise his right hand and swear to
tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But then
he spent the rest of the time
obviously trying to play word
game trickery with the people
asking the questions. I watched
as my president worked not to
tell the truth, but rather to beat
the system. It was pathetic. But
I wonder, “Is Bill Clinton just
a reflection of our collective
moral character?”
During the past two years
I have seen five men that I’ve
known well as friends – men
I would have described as
Promise Keeper types – commit
adultery and leave their wives
and children. All were in their
30s or 40s. What strikes me is
not so much that these guys fell into immorality, but rather, when
found out and confronted, they were unrepentant and refused to
be restored to their wives and children. They made a conscious
decision to rebel against God’s law, their marriage vows and what
they professed to be right. One of them said he didn’t care if he lost
his wife, his two little boys, his church fellowship, his job and his
friends. He just wanted to have a woman who was herself another
man’s wife. He even tried to justify it morally.
What upsets me more than anything else is not the sin itself.
I understand that all our hearts are like dry tinder, only a spark
away from bursting into flame. But what bewilders me is when
we turn right and wrong on its head and attempt to paint those
who speak the truth to be the crazy ones.
One common and effective strategy is to call those who stand for
righteousness and morality intolerant, judgmental and hypocritical
no matter how fair-minded, compassionate and reasonable they
are. In the case of President Clinton, I am firmly convinced that
the Republicans would be better off if Clinton had never had an
18 month adulterous affair with an intern and then lied about it
for seven months, even under oath. Instead, now, in the eyes of
many Americans, he’s the victim and the Republicans are the bad
guys. It’s a 1 + 1 = 3 America today. Go figure.
Shame and honor are healthy values in any society. For the
first 200 years of our nation’s history, Americans understood that.
Sadly, we see little of either today. Whether or not we can reclaim
them remains to be seen.
23
Culture
The sky isn’t falling
BY CHARLES COLSON & Nancy Pearcey • Reprinted from Christianity Today, January 11, 1999
The November elections left moral
conservatives perplexed, and no wonder.
Even though 70% of Americans oppose
partial-birth abortion, voters in two states
rejected referenda banning it. Though 65%
of Americans disapprove of the President’s
personal behavior, Democrats made gains
while some pro-impeachment congressmen
were defeated.
The results deepen a malaise I’ve sensed
among evangelicals over our ability to
change the culture. According to exit polls,
religious conservatives dropped from 15%
of the electorate in 1996 to 13% this year.
On all sides I hear battleweary evangelicals
talk about abandoning cultural engagement
and tending our own backyard instead.
I can’t imagine anything more self-defeating, or more ill-timed, for two reasons.
First, it is unbiblical. Scripture calls us to
bring Christ’s redemption to all of life; despair is a sin. Second, to leave the cultural
battlefield now would be to desert the cause
just when we are on the verge of making a
historic breakthrough. I believe John Paul
II is exactly right in predicting that the year
2000 will usher in “a great springtime for
Christianity.” Sound like I’m wearing rosecolored glasses? Consider the evidence.
The revival of moral discourse. Just a
year ago it was nearly impossible to discuss
serious moral issues in public forums. The
consensus was that private morality has no
public consequences. But who would say
that today? In recent months, I’ve appeared
on several national talk shows discussing
repentance and other moral themes.
The tide is turning in the culture war.
Richard Nadler notes in National Review
that most social pathologies are declining:
the divorce rate is down 19% since 1981; the
birth rate for unmarried teens is down 7.5%
since 1994; abortion is down 15.3% since
1990; and there is a whopping 37% decrease
in the number of people on welfare since
1993. Even crime is down, despite a surge
of teens in the crime-prone years.
Believers ought to be cheering. Like other
24
leaders in Christian ministries, I know the
most effective fundraising is to screech that
the sky is falling; but we should resist that
temptation. We should inspire hope.
The gods that failed. The most compelling reason for hope comes from looking
at deeper, long-term historical trends. The
twentieth century was the age of ideology,
of the great “isms”: communism, socialism,
nazism, liberalism, humanism, scientism.
Everywhere, ideologues nursed visions of
creating the ideal society by some utopian
scheme. Whether by revolution or racial
purity or scientific technology, these True
Believers set out to build a modern Tower
of Babel, reaching to the heavens (metaphorically, since most were aggressively
secular).
The attitude was captured in the film
Titanic, when a passenger glances proudly
at the ship and declares, “Even God himself
could not sink it.”
Other idols have sunk just as surely, if
not as quickly. Nazism was forever disgraced
by the horrors of its concentration camps.
The Soviet Union crumbled with the Berlin
Wall. Around the globe formerly socialist
nations are eagerly lining up to establish free
economies. Liberalism, while still powerful,
has lost its luster: American politicians
eschew the label. Even science often seems
a Frankenstein’s monster turning on its
creators.
This is the most significant fact at the
end of the twentieth century: All the major
ideological constructions have failed, tossed
on the ash heap of history. For all were based
on the same underlying theme: Liberate the
individual from the oppression of family,
church, and local custom, and he would be
autonomous and free. But today it is clear
that weakening the moral bonds of family,
church, and neighborhood does not lead
to freedom but to alienation, loneliness,
disorder, and crime – and even to the rise
of the totalitarian state.
The dream of autonomy has turned into a
nightmare of chaos and coercion. Today the
tide is turning as Americans grow desperate
for the security found in the moral bonds
of family and community.
The only remaining “ism” is postmodern-ism, which is not an ideology but a
See the sky
on page 22
repudiation of all ideologies.
Its relativism
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Journal after one year.
Journal • March, 1999

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