American Family Association

The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative Christian organization founded in 1977 by Rev. Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency. Headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, the AFA's stated purpose is "to promote traditional family values." Wildmon serves as AFA chairman; his son, Tim Wildmon, is AFA president.

Goals

The AFA claims that it "represents and stands for traditional family values, focusing primarily on the influence of television and other media—including pornography—on our society."

The organization publishes articles that promote what it claims are traditional nuclear families, promote a conservative brand of Christianity, advocate for Christian missionaries, oppose abortion, oppose homosexuality, oppose pornography and promote clean entertainment, and advocate being thrifty with finances and against excessive debt.

Since Christmas 2005, the AFA has actively pursued retail corporations in their non-usage of the term "Christmas" in their television, radio, or in-store advertising. The AFA has a "Christmas Ban" web page on their site, listing all corporations that refuse to endorse Christmas, including all relevant contact information.

Activism

The AFA has a long history of activism by organizing its members in boycotts and letter-writing campaigns aimed at promoting socially conservative values in the United States. As of June 2006, it is promoting boycotts of Abercrombie & Fitch ("Use of softcore pornography in company catalogs"), Movie Gallery ("distributor of pornographic videos"), Kmart ("Sale of adult-rated music CDs") and Nike ("promoting a back door move to legalise homosexual marriage").

In the past, the AFA has promoted boycotts of all television shows, movies, and businesses that have promoted "indecency". The AFA has also launched 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.

AFA's boycotts have had mixed success. In 1990, Blockbuster Video decided not to stock films that carried the recently introduced NC-17 rating after pressure from the AFA. But a nine-year boycott of Disney resulted in none of the group's demands being met while Disney enjoyed a surge in profits.

The AFA failed in 2000 to persuade Congress to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts for funding a controversial book, One of the Guys, by Robert Clark Young. In March of 2004, the AFA filed suit in an attempt to prevent the city of Seattle, Washington from recognizing same-sex marriages. (see Same-sex marriage in the United States).

Controversial statements and extremism

The American Family Association's many publications and statements claim that homosexuality is a choice and that it can be changed.

In a 2005 AFA Journal article, a writer suggests that a subject's pre-Christian criminality was due to his Jewish upbring and, by extension, his "hostility to Christ".

On the October 11, 2005, AFA broadcast, Tim Wildmon agreed with a caller that cable networks like Animal Planet and HGTV featured "evidence of homosexuality and lesbian people" and added that "You have to watch out for children's programs today as well because they'll slip it in there as well."

On November 28, 2006, following the election of Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, the AFA released an article entitled "A first for America...The Koran replaces the Bible at swearing-in oath". In this article, the AFA, backed by conservative radio hosts such as Michael Savage and Dennis Prager, made the claim that it is un-American to swear an oath on any book other than the Bible, and that such an oath is not valid. This contradicted House procedure, where members of Congress simply stand at their seats, raise their right hand and recite "I do" in unison after the oath is read by the Speaker. The AFA urged members to contact Congressmen to pass a law stipulating that all oaths for federal office must invoke the Bible. However, requiring holy books in swearing in ceremonies would violate Article VI of the U.S. Constitution regarding religious tests for office, according to legal experts like Eugene Volokh. Ellison took a ceremonial oath using Thomas Jefferson's personal copy of the Koran at a photo-op after the session.

AFA California leader Scott Lively is a co-author of The Pink Swastika which claims that many leaders in the German Nazi regime, including Hitler himself, were homosexual. As a member of the anti-gay Oregon Citizen's Alliance in the 1990s, Lively was involved in an assault against participants in a Gay Pride parade. The victims were able to win compensation in a civil judgement against the group.

In 2007 the AFA called for a campaign directed against IKEA for airing a television commerical showing a gay couple with a child that said "Why shouldn't sofas come in flavors, just like families?" The AFA statement said "This is just one of many pro-homosexual ads IKEA airs around the world." and called for members to "Please let IKEA know that the promotion of homosexual couples as a 'family' is offensive and undermines American values."

Critics

The AFA has long been opposed by civil liberties organizations, especially the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and conservative Constitutionalists, both of whom charge that its policies directly violate the First Amendment. They also argue that many legal restrictions on individual liberty favored by the AFA require a loose interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

In 1998, the popular internet filtering software Cyber Patrol began blocking the AFA's website, classifying it as a "hate site".

AFA Operations

• American Family Radio -- a network of more than 150 AFA-owned radio stations broadcasting Christian-oreinted programming.
• OneNewsNow -- A news and commentary website. Formerly called Agape Press.
• Center for Law and Policy -- an organization that "engages in constitutional litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country, and advises state and federal legislators on constitutional, political and legal issues."

See also

• Australian Family Association
• Christian Coalition
• Christian Voice
• Christmas controversy
• Family Research Council
• New Right
• Traditional marriage movement

External links

• American Family Association
• AFA Journal, a publication of the AFA
• American Family Radio
• OneNewsNow
• Center for Law and Policy
• ProCon's AFA Biography