In the wake of the Columbine shootings and other violent incidents in US schools, attention began to be paid to the rising incidences of bullying. This became even more important when youth and teen suicides became a near epidemic. In order to promote greater understanding of differences with young people, it was decided that schools should encourage students to break out of their normal social groups for at least one day a year, called "Mix It Up at Lunch Day".
Awesome, right?
Not for our friends at the American Family Association, who saw it as merely just another plank in The Gay Agenda's insidious plot to Corrupt America's Youth.
More below the Twisted Cheeto:
The New York Times has the report:
The program, started 11 years ago by the Southern Poverty Law Center and now in more than 2,500 schools, was intended as a way to break up cliques and prevent bullying.
But this year, the American Family Association, a conservative evangelical group, has called the project “a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools” and is urging parents to keep their children home from school on Oct. 30, the day most of the schools plan to participate this year.
The charges, raised in an e-mail to supporters earlier this month, have caused a handful of schools to cancel this year’s event and has caught organizers off guard.
I'm sure the AFA has an enormous sad about this, not just because kids and teens might actually find out other kids are actually, you know, human beings and not the Devil's Spawn, but because the Southern Poverty Law Center put the AFA on their list of "hate groups"...that sort of thing is definitely a downer.
Of course the head of the AFA,Bryan Fischer, has to have his say:
Although the suggested activities for Mix It Up at Lunch Day do not expressly address gay and lesbian students, the law center itself promotes equal treatment for gays and lesbians and that philosophy then informs the school program, he said.
“Anti-bullying legislation is exactly the same,” Mr. Fischer said. “It’s just another thinly veiled attempt to promote the homosexual agenda. No one is in favor of anyone getting bullied for any reason, but these anti-bullying policies become a mechanism for punishing Christian students who believe that homosexual behavior is not something that should be normalized.”
Funny, I've gone to church for much of my 53 years (though these days it's hard to get there during football season...and baseball season...and hockey season assuming we get one this year..), and I missed it where Jesus said, "Blessed are the bullies because they are God's champions." He actually made it a point to reach out to the outcasts of His era: tax collectors (seen as evil for cooperating with the Roman occupiers), prostitutes, Samaritans, and other undesirables. I'd have to think that He'd be a joyous participant in any Mix It Up activities.
This hits home for me. I was bullied in junior high school. I wasn't GLBT (heck, I was probably one of the most boy-crazy girls on campus!), but I was fat, socially awkward, and smart...that was enough to make me a target. And the bullying did lead me to attempt suicide, though (obviously) unsuccessfully.
The AFA and similar groups claim that they're standing up for "Christian" principles. I wonder what they'd have to say about my Episcopal denomination which features this prominently in the Baptismal Covenant?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
to which the standard response is:
I will, with God's help.
On second thought, scratch that -- I'm pretty sure I know what they'd have to say. It'd be similar to Pat Robertson, who once said that the Episcopalians and many other "mainline" Christian denominations had "the spirit of the Antichrist", presumably because we didn't hate Teh Gayz enough and that we actually assumed that women could use their own consciences in making vital health decisions.
I'm not sure how, but I grew up learning to treat all people with common courtesy and respect. Sure, there are plenty of people who I'd never consider bosom buddies. I had lots of co-workers who I wouldn't go out drinking with after a long day at the office. But I would never have considered bullying them because I knew we had to work together to get crap done. I've never understood what makes a person a bully...or what makes alleged "Christians" condone such activity.