It’s quite ironic that the video in question is about promoting tolerance.   Which one of the following two quotes seems to be more pretentious and sarcastic?                                                               

Meph said...
For all y'all who dig Dr. Dobson...wow.  Still want to keep your subscription to Focus on the Family?

 

 

We are Family Foundation
http://www.wearefamilyfoundation.org/

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The Tolerance Pledge (Which is NOT in the song and NOT for distribution to the Schools!)
http://www.wearefamilyfoundation.org/tolerance_pledge.asp

 

Tolerance is a personal decision that comes from a belief that every person is a treasure. I believe that America's diversity is its strength. I also recognize that ignorance, insensitivity and bigotry can turn that diversity into a source of prejudice and discrimination.

To help keep diversity a wellspring of strength and make America a better place for all, I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own.

-------------------------------------------

 

The Southern Poverty Law Center talking about the Christians attacking it:

http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=88

Jan. 21, 2005 -- Focus on the Family and the American Family Association, national conservative Christian groups who oppose equal rights for gays and lesbians, recently attacked a video that features characters beloved by children.

The three-minute video was produced by the We Are Family Foundation, an organization founded by music producer Nile Rodgers in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Rogers wrote the 1979 disco hit "We Are Family," sung by Sister Sledge and popular throughout the 1980s.

 

The conservative groups object to a tolerance pledge on the Foundation's website that includes sexual identity as a difference that should be respected. The pledge was provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which includes it as a "Declaration of Tolerance" in its 101 Tools for Tolerance handbook. The pledge is also posted on the Center's Tolerance.org website.

 

In November, Rodgers brought popular figures from the world of children's television together and recorded their version of "We Are Family," using more than 100 characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Barney and SpongeBob SquarePants. The video, which promotes the importance of togetherness as embodied in the word "family," will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools in March.

 

Focus leader James C. Dobson claims that the video promotes a "pro-homosexual agenda." However, the video does not mention anything about sexual identity, and the Center's pledge is available only through the Foundation's website.

 

Paul Batura, Dobson's assistant, said Focus on the Family stands by its assertions. "We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," he told The New York Times.

 

The We Are Family Foundation's mission is similar to goals of the Center's tolerance education programs: celebrating people's common humanity by creating and supporting programs that inspire and educate individuals of all ages about diversity, understanding, respect and multiculturalism.

 

The brouhaha has created intense media scrutiny, catapulting the "We Are Family" video into the nation's eye and providing publicity that it likely would never have gotten otherwise, said We Are Family Foundation president Nancy Hunt. Its creator, Rodgers, was on this morning's edition of the popular Today Show and is scheduled to appear on several other national television shows.

 

Read more about the controversy over children's television and the alleged promotion of a "gay agenda" from Working for Change.

 

-----------------------------

And...oh, MY.   Let's touch the fear button here...

 

http://www.afajournal.org/
http://www.afa.net/afastatement.asp

 

 

It is as unprecedented as it is cunning, using all the right words and happiest faces in an attempt to speak directly to the nation’s children about "tolerance and diversity." Once again, of course, those ideas include homosexual advocacy.

 

On November 10, a video remake of the song, "We Are Family," was created using the voices and images of over 100 beloved children’s TV characters. On March 11, 2005, the video performance will air simultaneously on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and PBS. A similar video aired on those networks in 2002.

 

The nation’s children will be all too familiar with the characters on the video, incuding those from Arthur, Barney, Blue’s Clues, Bob the Builder, The Book of Pooh, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dora the Explorer, Jimmy Neutron, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Little Mermaid, Madeline, The Magic School Bus, The Muppet Show, Rugrats, Sesame Street and SpongeBob Squarepants.

 

Also in March, the DVD of the song will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools across the country. It will be accompanied by a teacher’s guide, designed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL, www.adl.org), a group that, among other things, promotes the normalization of homosexuality.

 

Driving the project is the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF, www.wearefamilyfoundation.org), which states on its Web site that the song was remixed "to speak the message of diversity and tolerance to elementary school children nationwide."

 

On the surface, the project may appear to be a worthwhile attempt to foster greater understanding of cultural differences among all Americans. However, a short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality.

 

WAFF was founded as a non-profit organization in 2002 by Nile Rodgers, who wrote the song "We Are Family" with his late music partner, Bernard Edwards. The WAFF site says that the group "celebrates our common humanity and the vision of a global family …."

 

The Web site is filled with pro-homosexual materials. A "Tolerance Pledge," for example, created by Tolerance.org, part of the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center, encourages signees to pledge respect for homosexuals and work against "ignorance, insensitivity and bigotry."

 

(Meph's Note: Ok.  It says that the web site is "FILLED" with pro-homosexual material.  Please go BACK to the WAFF website and see what you see!  If I didn't know better I would think that they were counting on people accidently going to THIS site: http://www.waf.org/   Think about it.  Even the site ITSELF now has a DISCLAIMER because so many people have been mistakingly going to THAT website instead of the REAL one! Now, if anyone with a SANE MIND looks at the We Are Family Foundation site, they will NOT see a site that is "FILLED" with pro-homosexual material.  I sense nonsense afoot!)

 

Most Christians are now aware of what those code words mean, said AFA Chairman Don Wildmon. "If you are a person who accepts the homosexual lifestyle, then you are tolerant," he said. "If you don’t, then you are a bigot who is motivated by ignorance and hate."

 

One of the teacher’s guides available online at the WAFF Web site is called "Writing for Change: Raising Awareness of Difference, Power, & Discrimination." Full of politically correct lessons on feminism, it is also a primer for teachers who want to indoctrinate children regarding sexual orientation issues.

 

Lessons include such topics as "Talking about Being ‘Out’" and "Uncovering Attitudes about Sexual Orientation." In these lesson plans, teachers are taught how to introduce students to "the concepts of homophobia and compulsory heterosexuality."

 

According to the teacher’s guide, children should be taught to reject the idea "that women are ‘naturally’ or innately drawn sexually and emotionally toward men, and men toward women," or that heterosexuality is normal and should be the only model for marriage.

 

Students are expected to be influenced by the lesson plans. One of the follow-up questions asks the kids: "How will understanding these definitions change your thinking about compulsory heterosexuality and homophobia?"

The ADL has partnered with WAFF on the "We Are Family" project in other ways. The WAFF site includes the ADL’s pamphlet, "Close the Book on Hate," a diversity tome that normalizes homosexuality. It also contains a reading list for children and adults that includes such homosexual favorites as Daddy’s Roommate, Growing Up Gay, Heather Has Two Mommies, Is It a Choice?, Two Teenagers in Twenty, and What If Someone I Know Is Gay?

 

Wildmon said it is difficult taking a stand against such projects. "Nobody I know has a problem with teaching children to be respectful and tolerant. It is wrong, however, to use such concepts to open the door to a secondary discussion about a controversial subject like homosexuality," he said.

For those people who find it difficult to understand AFA’s objection, Wildmon said they should imagine a scenario in which the shoe is on the other foot. "What if these television characters were singing about personality, but then when children went to the Web site, or when the teacher opened up the accompanying lesson plan, the topic was Christianity?" He said. "A lot of people would be angry with that kind of approach. And that’s why many Christians will be upset with the strategy taken by the We Are Family Foundation."

 

While the March launch of the school project was still a few months away, Wildmon advised parents to be on the lookout to see if the DVD, teacher’s guide, and other WAFF materials find their way into their local schools.

______________________________________

I feel like I'm watching "Teletubbies Nonsense 2005"

 

Notice the "slippery slope-give-them-an-inch-they'll-take-a-mile" ideology. Now, this is my deal.  Even IF Christians like Dobson would want to be concerned about this OBVIOUSLY nefarious plot, was there NO better way to deal with this situation...than to basically LABEL the WHOLE THING a "pro-homosexual video"???  Is there nothing ELSE he or American Family Association could have done to make encourage parents to be aware of this whole thing...WITHOUT stooping to slippery-slope, conspiricy theory type mish-mash?  Seriously!  Instead of AFFIRMING the effort and the work of the WAFF project, while having healthy skepticism about some of the potential issues, and making those concerns known in a way that reflects well upon the Body of Christ, they basically go on a friggin WITCH-HUNT...and bring all this negative attention to the Christian message.

 

Does anyone really want to argue that Focus On the Family and American Family Association truly handled this situation in the best way possible...with godly wisdom and heart?  Come on.  On one hand, they want to talk about the "strategy" of WAFF as possibly being nefarious...while at the SAME time using incendiary pejorations and fear-mongering speak.

Sheesh.  If anyone thinks that me calling Dobson's and AFA's inflammatory actions into question as being liberal...

 

Then to HELL with it. I'll be a friggin liberal, then...

 

 

Post Edited (MephEternal) : 1/23/2005 7:05:03 PM (GMT-6)

Post Edited (JEE) : 1/24/2005 4:33:58 PM (GMT-6)

Post Edited (Violin for God) : 1/24/2005 7:03:37 PM (GMT-6)

   ³“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, VFG.

So often it seems we go from one extreme or the other. I find It toug trying not to be pulled too far to the left or too far to the right.  It's hard, I’m doing all I can to just try and stay God-Centered.

Shalom,

Mark

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 1/24/2005 11:03:08 PM (GMT-6)

JEE said...
If each person possesses unsurpassable worth, then everybody is really worth the same thing, and "unsurpassable" becomes a rather diluted and meaningless term. Everybody's special, just like everybody else.

It’s all about ascribing unsurpassable worth in that very moment of time, an ever increasing scale of love, trailing off into eternity. 

Shine on Bro,

Mark

Post Edited (Violin for God) : 1/25/2005 12:29:27 AM (GMT-6)

JEE said...
Mark said: It’s all about ascribing unsurpassable worth in that very moment of time, an ever increasing scale of love, trailing off into eternity.

Hi Mark,

Only GOD has unsurpassable worth; all other creatures DERIVE their worth from God, and their worth is only meaningful in relative terms to Him. Also, there can be no possible "increasing scale," if the ultimate superlative "UNsurpassable" has already been used. This I would think would be quite self-evident to anyone.

Okay John, Getting off topic a little bit, but here goes.

Life should not be a stagnating walk with the Lord.  We are either moving closer towards God, or away from him each day in our preparation for death.  Hopefully, as we grow/stretch in Christ’s love each day, we are called to reflect that love towards others.  It’s unsurpassable at that moment or point in time, since it’s all the goodness we can give at the time, because it's all we have received from the goodness of God to date.

It’s true, only God is the absolute source of good, without Him we are nothing.  God created us by blowing life into nothing but dirt.  But, he also created us in his image, the imago Dai.  With that said, we all have worth to God, enough for his son to die for us.  Being in Christ, it is our responsibility to reflect Christ’s love to the least of those.  It does not necessarily mean we are to tolerate man’s sin; “tolerance” towards sin has NOT ever been revealed in God character.  With that said we are not God and can not pass judgment on our fellow man's heart or intention.  But on the flip side, it wouldn’t be in love to leave our fellow brothers/sisters dead in their transgressions either.  I agree with Violin For God, look up to God and not down on others. In doing so, I hope we can reflect God’s unsurpassable worth to each other.

If you like, you can ask Greg for a better explanation, I think he coined the phrase.

I gave you my best interpretation and I can’t “surpass” it at this time,   

Mark

Post Edited (sparknheart) : 1/25/2005 5:45:46 PM (GMT-6)

Post Edited (JEE) : 1/25/2005 5:44:01 PM (GMT-6)

Post Edited (JEE) : 1/25/2005 5:54:17 PM (GMT-6)

Post Edited (JEE) : 1/26/2005 9:00:00 AM (GMT-6)