May 20, 2014
This past week I wrote a Publisher's Note called http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/may/14/afa-bearing-false-witness-against-businesses/">"AFA Bearing False Witness Against Businesses?" about the American Family Association's "action alert" wherein they called the "We Don't Discriminate" campaign discriminatory, despite the very basic tautological problems with their argument. (It seemed to me they were going to have to define "don't" as "do" in order to make their argument make any sense.)
So I was intrigued this week to see the AFA has now edited that exact same alert from its original headline of "A List of Businesses Displaying Hatred Toward Religious Freedom" to the new headline "Businesses Suckered By Homosexual Reaction to MS Religious Freedom Restoration Act."
The alert is otherwise dated the same (suggesting, falsely, that they wrote the current text on May 9, 2014, when it actually sometime between May 16th and 19th), it has the same URL and it still has the title "A List of Businesses Displaying Hatred Toward Religious Freedom" at the top of the window.
Here's a screenshot of the original:
https://jacksonfreepress.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2014/05/20/Screen_Shot_2014-05-14_at_3.14.13_PM_t500x320.png?7dae060de8bfb14ce6fca0467f5306f26605ee65">Original AFA Alert by Todd Stauffer
Here's the new one:
https://jacksonfreepress.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2014/05/20/Screen_Shot_2014-05-19_at_1.47.20_PM_t500x286.png?66ad707471a3dab267b5bb9f94397bb2934678ee">The updated Alert with no change in date or URL by Todd Stauffer
Aside from the fact that replacing their earlier statements and pretending they wrote them 10 days ago once again calls into question this self-proclaimed Christian organization's relationship with the Ninth Commandment, it's also instructive to note where they now pretend their argument has been the whole time -- gays are apparently suckering businesses into putting the sticker in their window.
Again, a reminder: The campaign is a reaction to a law signed recently in Mississippi that may allow businesses to discriminate against other based on their religious beliefs. The sticker proclaims a given business' desire to work with all customers despite that law.
Given that the law -- which AFA, partner organizations and Governor Bryant wanted -- is now in existence, the sticker can help people at risk of being discriminated against know that a business won't discriminate against them.
The sticker doesn't say a darned thing about other people or businesses who don't have the sticker.
That said, this is, at least, a slightly better tactic on the part of the AFA for its own sake, since the original plan (still evident) was to simply castigate the businesses for proclaiming their anti-discriminatory stance.
Blaming the businesses, in hindsight, was pretty stupid, as the businesses have a clear right (a.) not to discriminate against their customers and (b.) to tell people about it.
(Pretending that The Gays are using their convince-o-tron on hapless business owners is, at least, a slightly less stupid tactic. Progress!)
Now, the new text calls on those who read the alert to further the AFA's agenda by asking the business owner if they aware the sticker is "part of a plan to bully, intimidate and demean Christians."
Since it's not, then that's false witness, but the AFA seems to operate with a special exemption from the 9th.
Maybe re-reading Proverbs 6:16-19 would help?
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