Tim Wildmon

AFA president

October 2002 – Someone once said, “You win some, you lose some and some are rained out.” Well, that’s the way we feel here at AFA with respect to some of the issues we tackle on a daily basis. 

The issues I am writing about of course are the cultural issues having to do with morality. At AFA, we are committed to standing for what I call biblical righteousness. That almost sounds sanctimonious in today’s overly permissive society, doesn’t it? Many Christians are hesitant to use this kind of terminology, “biblical righteousness.” 

To say it another way, we are fighting for what is right and against what is wrong as defined by the Bible. But we are fighting within the American system. That is to say, writing letters, sending E-mails, making phone calls, using moral persuasion, using economic pressure on companies, educating our supporters on where our elected officials stand and – certainly – sending up prayers to heaven. 

As president of AFA, I do a lot of radio and television interviews. When I am opposed by someone – say, someone from the ACLU or a homosexual activist – they usually say that I represent a group that tries to “ram their very narrow view of religion down people’s throats.” That works with the audience sometimes. After all, who wants to be forced to practice another person’s religion? I don’t. You don’t. But if you think beyond the rhetoric just a little, you will see the fallacy of that statement. The fact that a person takes a stand on an issue based on religious convictions, should not disqualify him from participating in the debate over the rightness or wrongness of an action. That, then, becomes religious discrimination, the very thing liberal, secular activists say they detest. 

However, I think we should think carefully about how we argue our case in the public so as not to give those who oppose us any more ammunition than they already have with the general American public. We can, and should, argue our positions using non-religious language when we can. We do this in an attempt to reach as many people as possible with the rationale of the Christian position. 

For instance, I appeared on CNN recently to give our thoughts on the decision by the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America to force their chapters to accept homosexuals as mentors for young boys and young girls. I could have gone on CNN and said, “Keep the sodomites away from America’s kids! This is a perversion straight from the pit of hell! These immoral people need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb today!” 

I could have done that. Granted it would likely have been the last time I would be invited on CNN, but theologically, everything in those three sentences is correct. Homosexuality is called sodomy in the Bible. The act itself is a perversion of God’s plan for human sexuality. And, homosexuals do need to have their sins forgiven by Jesus Christ, who shed His blood for all sinners. 

Instead, I used words like “unhealthy” and “unnatural” in the short time that I had. Those words are understood by the general public. While most Americans want to think of themselves as being non-discriminatory, they still understand it is not natural for a man to have sex with another man. The body is not designed for such activity. And, as it is in most cases, if a human behavior is unnatural, then it’s also going to be unhealthy. Consider all the sexually transmitted diseases among homosexuals. AIDS gets the most attention, but there are others that are wreaking havoc on that group of people, and on the population at large. 

So if you can register in people’s minds that something is unhealthy, unnatural and even risky, then most would have to reason that this is “bad” behavior – not good for children to be exposed to, and therefore a group like Big Brothers and Big Sisters should not be promoting it. Do you follow my reasoning? 

One other point as we carry on a national debate on cultural issues is that we – whenever we can – turn the arguments of the other side against them. Confound them, if you will. 

For instance, in the BBBS situation I made the point that this group does not even think about allowing grown men to mentor 12-year-old girls for obvious reasons. You don’t put a vulnerable young girl with a grown man to be her mentor. Why then would this same group demand that homosexual men be encouraged to mentor 12-year-old boys? To do this is to invite trouble. 

Having said all this, let me also say that we should never be ashamed to just come out and say that we hold certain positions on issues because the Bible says it’s right or the Bible says it’s wrong. I’ve done that before, too. And when someone says, “See, you are forcing your religion on me,” I simply say, “This is what I believe. This is where I stand and if you disagree, that is your right, but it doesn’t change what the Scripture says.” 

In an ever increasingly secular culture, one that seems more hostile to the Christian worldview every day, Christians need to know what they believe and why they believe it, so that we can communicate it to the world.