Ed Vitagliano

AFA Journal news editor

September 2010 – Maine is a state known for its physical beauty. From its forests, lakes, rivers and valleys, to the Appalachian Mountains that cross the state, and onward to its rugged and beautiful Atlantic coastline, Maine is a wonder of natural splendor.

It’s also a religiously challenging place filled with hurting people, and a state where a natural independent streak provides fertile soil for those who want to sow the seeds of a postmodern morality.

“Maine is one of the least churched regions in America,” Mike Heath, director of AFA of Maine, told AFA Journal, “meaning over 90% of Mainers don’t go to church on Sunday. Maine people are, however, decent, kind and respectful of Christianity. Their Yankee tendency to ‘live and let live’ has been perverted by the political and cultural left. This respect for one’s neighbor now means, in law anyway, that sodomy and abortion are acceptable practices. Most Maine people still find these things morally repugnant, if not downright evil.”

Mike and his wife, Paulie, agreed in early 2010 to head AFA’s new Maine affiliate, capping two decades of involvement in the culture wars of that state.

“Paulie was raised going to church whenever the doors were open,” Mike said. “She sang in nursing homes with her family as a child. She joined with friends from church in passing out Christian literature in public places in Augusta, Maine. We were in the culture war before we knew it!”

Their involvement grew to include critical social issues, and the Heaths got involved with the Christian Civic League of Maine, which had its founding more than a century ago as part of the temperance movement. In 1994, Mike became the executive director of the organization. (It was renamed the Maine Family Policy Council in June.)

“I devoted myself to upholding and representing family values in Maine,” he said.

Mike, who has been a Christian for 30 years, sees Christianity as a faith encompassing every area of life. “Christianity means nothing if it doesn’t relate to all of life,” Mike said. “If Christianity cannot define right and wrong in law, politics and culture, then it isn’t a religion.”

With a worldview like that, it is no wonder the Heaths have wound up working with AFA. In fact, Mike invited AFA founder Don Wildmon to speak at a convention in Maine many years ago.

“I have always admired Don Wildmon’s fighting spirit,” he said.

The culture wars are certainly no place for the timid. Mike said one of the most difficult aspects of what he and Paulie do is handling the blunt-force trauma that comes with the venomous attacks of culture war opponents.

“I am asking Jesus to help me deal with the hostility,” he said. “It helps to realize that all the leaders in the New Testament, including Jesus, were persecuted for taking moral and theological positions publicly.”

Like many in the pro-family movement – and especially those who are vocal – the Heaths have often been maligned by the secular media. “In two decades of public service only one major profile was done about me. It wasn’t that good. I am nearly always cast as the outcast promoting myths, fables and fairy tales,” Mike said.

Nevertheless, he said, compromise is not an option. “I later learned that compromise is not a strategy. It is cowardice. God doesn’t compromise, and politics doesn’t have to be about ‘cutting the deal’ or finding a middle way. Politics is ennobled by truth, courage, beauty and the power of good ideas.”

That view is based on theology. “Every solar system must have a center of gravity, and our sun was to be the Son of God and His Word, the Bible.

“No Christian organization should ever invite discussion on the issues of abortion and homosexual marriage,” he said. “Nor should they use ‘a softer, gentler tone.’ Our compassion must be reserved for the victims of these crimes, not the perpetrators. Compassion may be extended to the thief who repents, not to the thief who is in the act of breaking down a door.”

It is no surprise, then, that Mike’s “signature issue” over the last 20 years has been battling an increasingly aggressive homosexual movement in Maine. In a recent recounting of his culture war years thus far in the Pine Tree State, he said his blunt speaking and writing style when it comes to issues like homosexuality catches some Christians off guard.

“In my own humble way, I try to look at the world as God does,” he said. “I am not sure that when God sees a gay pride parade He sees a group of defenseless victims striving after dubious or non-existent rights. He may in fact be reminded of other times and other places.”

Mike said there is no higher calling for him and his wife than “to fight for Judeo-Christian values in the Northeast.”   

• E-mail: msheath04358@gmail.com.
• Paulie’s music ministry: www.paulieheath.com