SPEECHLESS:"Christian TV Special Being Stifled"

The American Family Association (AFA), a pro-family group based in Mississippi, has encountered resistance in its attempts to air a television special called Speechless: Silencing the Christians.According to the website SilencingChristians.com, the majority of Americans get their information about the homosexual movement from Hollywood and the secular news media-outlets that deliver what AFA says is a message "tainted by pro-homosexual propaganda."That is why the pro-family group produced the 14-episode Speechless series that initially aired on the INSP Network, and then put together a one-hour special based on the series. AFA is now buying prime-time slots on the nation's television stations to present that special to provide factual, Christian-based information on the topic. But the pro-family group reports it has run up against blatant "silencing" of that message. "There's a real threat to our First Amendment and free-speech rights because Christians are being shut down and shut out and shut up by the very people who say they champion freedom of speech," asserts AFA president Tim Wildmon. For example, WSXY in Columbus, Ohio, has refused the air the program. WSPA in Greenville, South Carolina, aired it, but then ran an apology from the station manager. And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, WOOD-TV agreed initially to air the show Monday evening, then bumped it to Wednesday, then proposed to run it on Saturday afternoon-and now has cancelled it entirely. WOOD-TV general manager Diane Kniowski told The Grand Rapids Press that the station made a "fair offer" to AFA, but received no response regarding the Saturday airing. "Our station is being bombarded with calls and messages, and we find ourselves in the middle of someone else's fight," Kniowski stated. "Ours was a fair offer and we are removing ourselves from this matter." Wildmon sees outright irony in what is happening."It's ironic that the very issue we're bringing up-that Christians are being rendered speechless when they talk about this issue-is actually happening to us when it comes to the program itself,"he observes.Why are stations responding that way? According to Wildmon, they are reacting to complaints from homosexual activists about airing Speechless."The stations are just giving us the runaround,"he says."They've heard from a few of the homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered supporters out there-and so they haven't heard massively from our folks yet."But the AFA president predicts they will. He argues that the TV special simply tells the truth-and he urges people to visit SilencingChristians.com, where segments of the show can be viewed. Wildmon also encourages people in cities where the show is scheduled to contact their local TV station and voice their support for airing it.

By Charlie Butts and Jody Brown

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=418356

As in the days of Noah...