Berkowitz-Wildmon's Christ Rt AFA buying up radio stations across the country 
 
Date: Thu, 10 May 2007 13:54:56 -0500 (CDT)


_http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=22325_ 
(http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=22325) 
AFA still cranky after all these  years
Rev. Donald  Wildmon's three-decade old American Family Association develops 
sophisticated  'godcasting' network to activate its community of 'first  
responders'

Bill Berkowitz  
WorkingForChange
05.10.07 
 

    It  has an annual budget of close to $17 million, net assets of more than 
$32  million, owns and feeds programming to nearly 200 radio stations, 
employs  about 100 at its home-base, operates the Center for Law & Policy, a  
high-powered conservative legal enterprise, and has developed one of the  most 
sophisticated communications networks in all of right wing grassroots  Christendom. 
And, after three decades of conducting boycotts, demonizing  homosexuals, and 
railing against the entertainment industry, the Reverend  Donald Wildmon's 
Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association is  as cranky as it ever 
was.  
"Once your Christian religion is exorcised from society, society will  not 
stand," Wildmon recently told The Clarion Ledger's Jean Gordon.  "In a democracy 
you absolutely must have some values to hold you together.  If you don't, you 
end up in chaos."  
According to Gordon, over the years the AFA, founded in 1977 by Wildmon  as 
the National Federation for Decency, has "grown into one of the most  vocal 
conservative Christian groups in the nation, quick with its outrage  about 
everything from homosexuality on TV to a Muslim lawmaker's plans to  take the oath 
of office while holding a Quran." The organization declares  war, rockets 
e-mail to its supporters, and claims victories: In the recent  past it has claimed 
credit for a downturn in the Ford' Motor Company's  fortunes, for convincing 
Wal-Mart not to make donations to controversial  (read that gay and lesbian) 
organizations, and to return to using the term  "Merry Christmas" instead of 
"Happy Holidays" (another victory for War on  Christmas battlers), and for the 
swift cancellation of the NBC  television program "The Book of Daniel" -- actor 
Aidan Quinn starred as a  Vicodin-popping Episcopal priest with a 
dysfunctional family.  
"In the past," Wikipedia points out, "the AFA has promoted boycotts of  all 
television shows, movies, and businesses that have promoted  'indecency,' ... 
launch[ing] specific boycotts against Crest, Volkswagen,  Wal-Mart, Tide, 
Clorox, Pampers, Microsoft, Burger King, the Carl's Jr.,  Kraft Foods, Mary Kay 
Cosmetics, Old Navy, NutriSystem, and American  Airlines. In 2004, the AFA went 
after the movie "Shark Tale," because the  group believed the movie was 
designed to brainwash children into accepting  gay rights. In 2005, it boycotted the 
company American Girl, seller of  dolls and accessories, because of a charity 
that the company supported,  and Target for its lack of the word 'Christmas' 
in its advertising."  
But as Wildmon pointed out, "You win a few small battles. Primarily  what 
we're trying to do is hold a thumb in the dam."  
Some critics and commentators consider Wildmon's AFA as part of the old  
guard evangelical groups. "I would include them in what some have  described as 
'old guard evangelicalism,'" Jeffery L. Sheler, author of the  book "Believers: 
A Journey Into Evangelical America" (Viking, $24.95) and  former religion 
editor at U.S. News & World Report, told  Gordon. "The old guard... focus[es] on a 
limited number of hot-button  issues generally involving things like human 
sexuality including  homosexuality."  
The AFA's agenda may be considered "old guard evangelism," but its  
technological capabilities, media holdings, and its willingness to fully  embrace the 
Internet, makes it a forward looking enterprise. Included in  the AFA's 
operational orbit are several AFA-affiliated state-based groups,  the AFA Foundation, 
the Center for Law & Policy, American Family  Radio, American Family News 
Network's _OneNewsNow.com_ (http://www.onenewsnow.com/)  (formerly Agape  Press), 
and AFA Action -- the legislative action arm of the American  Family 
Association. -----MORE MORE MORE 
_http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=22325_ (http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=22325)  -----

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