The federal courts, and the Supreme Court in particular, have “systematically attacked Christianity.”
—Tony Perkins, president, Family Research Council1
Sex education course materials and instruction relating to sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases should include “emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense.”
—Texas Health and Safety Code 163.002(8)2
America must pursue a civil society “that will democratically embrace its essential moral duties, including … caring for children born and unborn.”
—Proclamation of President George W. Bush, declaring January 18 “Sanctity of Life Day”3
“I personally object to vaccinating children against a disease [HPV] that is 100% preventable with proper sexual behavior.”
—Leslee Unruh, director, National Abstinence Clearinghouse4
“If Marriott wants to make another sizable contribution or to build another building in their name, we want people at Brigham Young University to think, ‘Maybe we don’t want to have a building built with porn dollars.’ ”
—Randy Sharp, American Family Association, which demands that Marriott Hotels, which has given the Mormon University $12 million, stop offering in-room adult films5
After taking Garrison Keillor (!) off the air for reciting two classic poems with the word “breast,” “I don’t question the artistic merit, but I have to question the language. It’s not that he’s behaving like Howard Stern, but the FCC has been so inconsistent, we don’t know where we stand. We could no longer risk a fine.”
—Tom Godell, General Manager, WUKY (National Public Radio)6
“The Parents Television Council does not censor. The First Amendment was instituted to guarantee precisely the type of activities pursued by the PTC: free speech and disseminating information.”
—Parents Television Council, which pressures the government to remove “objectionable” TV shows from the air7
“Hardcore pornography, or material depicting actual sex acts, promotes the idea that human beings can be sexually used and abused without consequences. If we tolerate pornographic material that encourages people to indulge their darkest sexual fantasies, we cannot act surprised when millions do so in real life as well.”
—Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality, Focus on the Family8
“I announce the formation of the Moral Majority Coalition. A primary goal of TMMC is the registration of 10 million new evangelical voters for the 2006 and 2008 general elections.”
—Jerry Falwell9
“We need to yell it to the top of the rooftops that these condoms we’re sending down to you don’t protect you. … [You] have a false sense of security. So I think we’re sending the wrong message when we use taxpayer dollars to give condoms out to these kids and we don’t tell them, ‘By the way, you’ll probably be dead at age 24 by cervical cancer. But we’re giving you condoms, so go do your thing.’ To me, abstinence is the only way.”
—Representative Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), at congressional hearing on cervical cancer and HPV10
“We are trying to create a town [Ave Maria, Florida] with traditional family values and a wholesome environment. That’s why we are saying we will not allow adult bookstores, massage parlors or topless bars.”
—Paul Marinelli, CEO of Barron Collier (The town is being developed through a 50–50 partnership with Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, who is investing $250 million. Barron Collier and Monaghan will control all commercial real estate.)11
Signing the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, “We widen the circle of compassion and inclusion in our society, and we reaffirm that the United States of America is building a culture of life.”
—President George W. Bush (The legislation gives a fetus rights distinct from a pregnant woman)12
“When two people of the same sex … adopt children … I think what you have in many respects is state-sanctioned child abuse.”
—Radio host Janet Parshall, on CNN’s Larry King Live13
“No wonder many in America seem to believe that the Court has become one more inclined to protect pornography than to protect religious expression. Most people in America don’t believe that God is a dirty word. But the sad fact is that some Americans are left to wonder whether the Supreme Court might have greater regard for it if it was.”
—Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), at the Senate Hearings on Judge Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court14
Porn users “give lame justifications for their behavior like: ‘It’s harmless,’ or ‘Everybody’s doing it.’ By doing this, they ignore the effect their problem is having on the people around them. This behavior is not OK, it’s not even almost OK. This habit is a perverse and ridiculous intrusion into [a] relationship.”
—Dr. Phil McGraw15
“I’m always a little bit irritated when I hear the criticism of abstinence, because abstinence is absolutely 100 percent effective in eradicating a sexually transmitted disease.”
—Former First Lady Laura Bush, apparently unaware that abstinence fails in 88% of teens who pledge it16
“Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex.”
—Bridget Maher, Family Research Council17
“It isn’t the American people who are clamoring for more pornography on the Internet and in their communities, and for more sex (including pornography), vulgarity and violence on TV.”
—Letter to President George W. Bush signed by the leadership of Morality in Media, Citizens for Community Values, Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Family Policy Network, American Decency Association, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, American Family Association, and Parents Television Council18
“Procuring stem cells from an embryo destroys the tiny human being.”
—Tom Strode, Baptist Press News19
“If the public can be convinced that condoms offer certain—or nearly certain—protection from pregnancies and STDs, then the [proponents] can argue that the only thing holding people back from free sexual expression is outdated, irrelevant religious restrictions.”
—Focus on the Family, on why they must discourage trust in condoms20
Those who rent or sell adult materials should be jailed, because, “In the Garden of Eden, the virtue of man was stripped away, and the only way that that virtue can be returned is by Jesus Christ being Lord over our sexual desires.”
—Don Kohls, chairperson, Omaha for Decency21
“The sexualization of our young people is perhaps the greatest threat we face in our nation today.”
—Nicholas Jackson, The Conservative Voice22
“For 25 years, I would have said that the pro-life issue is the most pressing threat to America morally, but pornography has overtaken it. More people’s lives are being destroyed on a daily basis by addiction to pornography than through abortion.”
—Rev. Richard Land, leader in the Southern Baptist Convention23
“If my own 16-year-old daughter tells me she’s going to be sexually active, I would not tell her to use a condom.”
—Denny Pattyn, founder of Silver Ring Thing, popular abstinence pledge program24
Gays “know internally, they struggle with, they know the behavior they’re engaging in is disordered … they have disordered sexual relationships.”
—Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel Broadcaster25
Behaviors constituting sexual harassment include “humor and jokes about sex in general that make someone feel uncomfortable.”
—Student handbook, University of California, Berkeley26
“Residents should not be subjected to those obscenities … They do have a right to have peace and tranquility and not to have this exposure to sex in their face.”
—Flint City (MI) Councilwoman Carolyn Sims, considering an ordinance criminalizing playing porn inside a car27
“The purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the free exercise of the Christian religion.”
—Bryan Fischer, American Family Association broadcaster28
“For many perpetrators there is a progression from viewing adult pornography to viewing child pornography.”
—Morality in Media29
Homosexuality is “the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam … it will tear down the moral fiber of this nation. And without virtue this nation will not survive.”
—Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern30
“Sometimes you have to protect the public against themselves. [Sex toys] should be outlawed because they are conducive to promiscuity, they promote loose morals, and they entice improper and potentially deadly behaviors.”
—Rev. Dan Ireland, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Programon why the sale of sex toys is criminalized in Alabama31
“The scientific consensus is that every person’s life began at fertilization. It is not a subjective opinion, rather a verifiable fact.”
—Patrick Johnston, MD, Director of Personhood Ohio, the group attempting to get fetal “personhood” on a referendum ballot32
“As the toxic waste of obscenity continues to spread and harm everyone it touches, it appears the Obama administration is giving up without a fight.”
—Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)33
“Abstinence works.” [So how come Texas has the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S.?] “Maybe it’s the way it’s being taught, or the way it’s being applied out there, but the fact of the matter is, it’s the best form of—uh—to teach our children.” Asked for a statistic about this, “I’m just going to tell you from my own personal life, abstinence works.”
—Texas Governor Rick Perry34
“We’re going to have to choose as a nation between the homosexual agenda and freedom, because the two cannot coexist.”
—Bryan Fischer, Director of Issue Analysis, American Family Association35
“I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the sexual liberty idea … it’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. [When procreation is removed from sex], we diminish the act. You diminish this very special bond between men and women … it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure.”
—Ex-Senator Rick Santorum, seeking the presidential nomination36
“I am not persuaded by the argument that people are more accustomed to hearing these [vulgar] words than they were in the past.”
—Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in FCC v. Fox, blaming TV for “coarsening” public discourse37
“This is just a short note to express my heartfelt thanks to you and the entire staff of Focus on the Family for your help and support during the past few challenging months. I would also greatly appreciate it if you would convey my appreciation to the good people from all parts of the country who wrote to tell me that they were praying for me and for my family during this period. As long as I serve on the Supreme Court I will keep in mind the trust that has been placed in me. I hope that we will have the opportunity to meet personally at some point in the future. In the meantime my entire family and I hope that you and the Focus on the Family staff know how much we appreciate all that you have done.”
—Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, to James Dobson after Alito had been confirmed to the Supreme Court38