Sarah Posner writes about the American Family Association, one of the oldest, most influential and most radical of the nation’s religious-right organizations. Founded in 1977 in Mississippi by Don Wildmon, over the years the organization has become increasingly hateful and intolerant — toward non-Christians, political opponents, minorities and even AFA’s own employees, apparently. Excerpt:
“(W)hile the AFA has long been known for its invective against the ‘homosexual agenda’ and its boycotts of companies that fail to meet its standards of ‘decency,’ [Bryan] Fischer—no policy wonk, despite being director of ‘Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy’—has taken the public rhetoric to a new, ugly level.
According to former employees of the AFA, the views represented by Fischer are not only tolerated within the organization, but any opposition to its anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant invective—including reliance on white nativist sources in the AFA’s media programs—is dismissed. What’s worse, former employees say, anyone questioning such attitudes as un-Christian is denigrated, and in some cases forced out.”
Check out Posner’s insightful examination of an organization that has been at the heart of the religious-right movement for more than three decades.
Posner’s insightful examination will not download. So much for that.
That’s odd. The links are live on our end. Please try again. It’s worth the read.
Worked for me. I had already read it and shared it on facebook. I hope these groups have seen their high-water mark and are in decline.