Posted on 06/22/2002 12:40:12 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
I often say I would preach in hell if they promised to let me out. I say this as a way of showing that Christians should never be reluctant to express our faith, even in environments that may be openly hostile to us.
It was this thinking that prompted me to accept an invitation by the Nickelodeon Network's Linda Ellerbee to appear in the "My Family Is Different" special that aired on June 18. In the interview, I denounced those who enact violence against homosexuals and those who disparage homosexuals with demeaning language. I said that all people should be afforded courtesy and respect, even when we wholeheartedly disagree with their behavior. (This should work both ways, I might add.)
In the broadcast, I stated, "It is important to respect one another. ... Hatred, malice, particularly violence, whether it's verbal or physical, is wrong always."
However, I attempted to clarify that, as Christians, we must also honor the biblical values we hold dear. This means that we urge young people to abstain from all sexual activity outside of the traditional man-woman marriage relationship. This also means, if we are to believe the Bible, we must teach that all homosexuality is wrong. (Many in the homosexual-rights community portray this as "hate language," but actually the opposite is true. If I hated homosexuals, I wouldn't be interested in reaching them with the Gospel and pointing them toward true freedom through Jesus Christ.)
That portion of my remarks was largely ignored.
I was willing to give Nickelodeon and Nick News a chance by agreeing to be interviewed so that I could present the biblical point of view. Sadly, my extensive conversation with a Nickelodeon producer was reduced to just a few statements on the broadcast. My perspective that homosexuality is wrong was surrendered to the larger message, which was essentially, "Gay is OK."
The broadcast was flooded with pro-homosexual rhetoric. It featured a homosexual Minnesota school principal, a homosexual New York firefighter, homosexual-rights activist Rosie O'Donnell and several children being brought up by homosexual parents. This amounted to little less than network indoctrination of young minds. Look how normal they are was the message.
Network officials who determined this special was necessary should not have had the subtle purpose of invading the hearts and minds of young Nickelodeon viewers and teaching them that what their parents may believe and what their faith may dictate is not correct.
Most network executives and producers live in bastions of liberalism, and they apparently believe that people across our great and diverse nation should espouse their point of view. They believe that those of us who uphold useless and old-fashioned values based on an old book like the Bible need to be enlightened toward their way of thinking. Hence the Nickelodeon special.
I am now committed to battling Nickelodeon from continuing this type of manipulation of young people on this issue. Therefore, I want to tell you about an Internet petition that may serve to halt this type of programming in the future.
Prior to the Nickelodeon broadcast, the Traditional Values Coalition recruited more than 132,000 people to sign a petition asking Nickelodeon not to air the special on homosexuality. While the network went ahead with the broadcast, the message from the petitioners was clear – many Americans do not want children being indoctrinated with pro-homosexual dogma.
The Traditional Values Coalition has now released a new petition in which they will attempt to send a clear message to the advertisers who sponsor Nick News and other Nickelodeon shows. Believe me, advertisers will take notice if they receive 130,000-plus petitions (or more) imploring them not to participate in these types of broadcasts.
"We need to send a very clear message to them – that homosexuality is a dangerous sexual behavior, not a fixed identity – that it can be healed – and that we don't want any of our money going to support causes that hurt our families," said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the organization.
While the "My Family Is Different" special did not contain advertising, Mrs. Lafferty believes Nickelodeon advertisers need to be made aware of the fact that many parents are dissatisfied with the network.
I fully agree that advertisers must understand that many Americans stand against the homosexual-rights movement. I am therefore urging my friends to visit the ConservativePetitions.com website that will enable you to join thousands of others in appealing to advertisers. As Mrs. Lafferty stated, "We cannot allow homosexual activists to promote this behavior among children."
Once again, please click here to sign this important petition to advertisers.
1. Have all 132,000 petitioners refuse to buy any products advertised on Nickelodeon.
2.Change the channel!
Problem solved.
Seriously, Reverend, there are much more important issues at hand. We'd all be better off if you continue to expose the danger that Islam poses to Americans, and stop wasting our time with these implied attacks on the First Amendment.
Tell that to the thousands of teenage boys who've been raped, sodomized, fondled and spiritually bankrupted by homosexual Catholic priests. Tell that to the parents of those boys.
A) Kids
B) Pissed off "conservatives" who wanted to see what was going to be said.
Things of this sort are not an interest of kids in the age group that Nick is targeted at.
The moral fabric of the nation cannot be destroyed, without morality no nation can exist.
Let me give you an example, If I choose to run a smelter in my backyard, are the people that live around me affected by it? The answer is Yes. Even if they do not choose to run a smelter, they cannot simply choose not to breath. The same applies for attacks on morality. Those who do not choose to watch immoral behavior are affected by those who do.
As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Said way back in 1815.
This court is...invested with power to punish not only open violations of decency and morality, but also whatever secretly tends to undermine the principles of society... Whatever tends to the destruction of morality, in general, may be punishable criminally. Crimes are public offenses, not because they are perpetrated publically, but because their effect is to injure the public. Buglary, though done in secret, is a public offense; and secretly destroying fences is indictable.
Hence it follows, that an offense may be punishable, if in it's nature and by it's example, it tends to the corruption or morals; although it not be committed in public.
Although every immoral act, such as lying, ect... is not indictable, yet where the offense charged is destructive of morality in general...it is punishable at common law. The destruction of morality renders the power of government invalid...
No man is permitted to corrupt the morals of the people, secret poision cannot be thus desseminated.
My only comfort came from the thought that nobody's kids would really want to watch it, except I can imagine die hard liberals and homosexuals MAKING their kids sit down and watch it to prove to them their families are normal, and those poor kids are probably destroyed already anyway.
I might be able to keep my children in the house when they spray the pollution, but they must eventually have to live in the society that has been sprayed.
While we do have to walk a fine line regarding personal freedoms, we do have a vested interest in what all children are taught in this nation - and that includes indoctrination in 'alternative lifestyles.'
People should make no mistake, this type brainwashing is aimed at any child. Children absorb more than you think at any age and it definitely affects their thinking.
Of course, I say, disconnect your cable, satellite dish or antenna - and write the sponsors.
Yes.
JohnHuang2
Linda Ellerbee
Andrea Lafferty
I like Jerry Falwell and his message. He is sincerely, personally, motivated by scripture. He's done more to reach out to the gay community than anyone else on in the religious right.
On the other hand, Andrea Lafferty is nothing but a boob, driven by a desire for money and notoriety. I'm sorry that they are both quoted together in the same article.
What I ment was that I didn't like both of them. The message and the messanger (Falwell). Ok?
Oh, yes it does.
Amendment I:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
That's all that needs to be said: we're talking about speech here, not sodomy. Change the channel, or, better yet, turn off the TV if you don't care to be exposed to it.
The moral fabric of the nation cannot be destroyed, without morality no nation can exist.
I can't disagree with you on this. Yeah, I know: the glorification of the homosexual lifestyle is symptomatic of the erosion of morality. But the process actually started in the 1930's with the advent of socialism in America. That was long before the rise of "maggot-infested, dope-smoking FM types" that Rush often rants about. Morality began to decline when expectations of government entitlements became part of the culture. As the size and scope of government has increased over the years, the American ideals of "rugged individualism" and "individual liberty" have been pushed aside in favor of "collectivism" and "group identity". Homosexuals simply happen to be another favored "group" now currying favor with the political powers that be.
Let me give you an example, If I choose to run a smelter in my backyard, are the people that live around me affected by it? The answer is Yes. Even if they do not choose to run a smelter, they cannot simply choose not to breath. The same applies for attacks on morality. Those who do not choose to watch immoral behavior are affected by those who do.
A strawman argument, because people CAN (and do) choose not to participate in the popular culture. Your hypothetical smelter is causing harm to others by interfering with their breathing: that's why we have zoning laws to prevent such absurd situations. In libertarian parlance, the owner of said smelter is "initiating force" against other citizens, therefore it is morally right to prohibit him from running the smelter. Watching TV is not the same as breathing, my friend.
As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Said way back in 1815.
Come on, get real. Courts have made all sorts of bad decisions, and judges have "legislated from the bench" long before it became commonplace. The U.S. Supreme Court was the source of Roe v. Wade: do you think they did the right thing when they overrode state's rights on the abortion issue? Probably not.
History has proven time after time that morality can never be imposed at the point of a government gun. The Soviet government imposed their twisted morality on the Russian people for 74 years: was the U.S.S.R. a "moral society"? Fanatical Taliban mullahs turned the clock back to the 8th century in the name of morality: was Taliban-controlled Afghanistan a "moral society"? The answers to these questions are self-evident. And if you examine morality in America, you'll notice that the decline in morality is directly proportional to the decline in individual liberties: for every social problem, there's a government-mandated solution that's guaranteed to make the problem worse.
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