General Information

The American Family Association (AFA)

Who is AFA?
Who is Donald Wildmon?
Has AFA Made an Impact?
Does AFA Hate Homosexuals?
Does AFA Support Censorship?
What Can I Do to Help?

Who is AFA?
AFA is for people who are tired of cursing the darkness and who are ready to light a bonfire. We are a non-profit (501(c)(3)) organization founded in 1977 by Don Wildmon. The American Family Association represents and stands for traditional family values, focusing primarily on the influence of television and other media – including pornography – on our society.

AFA believes that the entertainment industry, through its various products, has played a major role in the decline of those values on which our country was founded and which keep a society and its families strong and healthy. For example, over the last 25 years we have seen the entertainment industry "normalize" and glorify premarital sex. During that time we have suffered a dramatic increase in teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and abortion as a means of birth control.

We believe in holding accountable the companies which sponsor programs attacking traditional family values. We also believe in commending those companies which act responsibly regarding programs they support.

AFA supporters receive a monthly letter about a specific issue with a recommended action such as sending a postcard or making a phone call. In addition, supporters receive the AFA Journal with news on various moral and family issues.

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Who is Don Wildmon?
Donald E. Wildmon is an ordained United Methodist minister, having earned his MDiv. from Emory College in 1965. After serving in the U.S. Army's Special Services he pastored churches from 1965 until he founded National Federation for Decency in 1977. NFD became American Family Association in 1988.

Don and his wife Lynda have four children and five grandchildren. He knows first-hand the battle parents face today teaching their families traditional moral values. Don tells in his own words how AFA was founded:

"One evening in 1977 I sat down with my family to watch TV. On one channel was adultery, on another cursing, on another a man beating another over the head with a hammer. I asked the children to turn off the TV. I sat there, got angry, and said, 'They're going to bring this into my home, and I'm going to do all I can to change it.

"I brooded for a while and then came up with a plan for our church to turn off the TV for a week. I sent out a press release and the national media picked up on it.

"Through that 'Turn Off The TV Week' I learned there were literally millions of other people around the country who felt the same way I did. That was the beginning of the American Family Association."

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Has AFA Made an Impact?
The impact of AFA is recognized nationwide. Don Wildmon and other AFA personnel have appeared on programs such as Good Morning America, The Today Show, MacNeill Lehrer Report, Nightline, The 700 Club, Meet the Press, Crossfire, and Focus on the Family. AFA is a long-time member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Disney/ABC cancels the pro-homosexual show Ellen, for "lack of ratings." AFA led the campaign to encourage responsible advertisers to drop from the show.

AFA and other pro-family groups sponsored a rally in support of Judge Roy Moore of Alabama who refused to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom.

AFA leads the effort to clean up Howard Stern Radio Show. To date, over 2/3rds off all advertisers dropped from the show in monitored areas.

AFA promotes Pornography Awareness Week

AFA distributes 400,000 copies of the the "Fight Back Book," a comprehensive resource guide of TV advertisers, products and addresses.

AFA supports and promotes Shatter the Silence, a national observance to bring attention to religious persecution throughout the world.

AFA leads efforts to expose abuses of tax dollars by National Endowment for the Arts.

The 43 Federal Prisons removed porn magazines from their commissaries after efforts by AFA supporters.

The Southland Corporation, owners and franchisers of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, along with 30,000 other convenience stores pulled porn magazines from shelves after intensive boycotting and picketing by AFA.

In 1994, AFA launched a "war on divorce," by helping develop and distribute the Marriage Savers video series.

AFA has promoted successful boycotts of several national advertisers because they were leading sponsors of TV sex, violence and profanity. Because of the boycotts, some companies - including Burger King, Clorox and S. C. Johnson - have changed their advertising policies.

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Does AFA Hate Homosexuals?
Absolutely Not! The same Holy Bible that calls us to reject sin, calls us to love our neighbor. It is that love that motivates us to expose the misrepresentation of the radical homosexual agenda and stop its spread though our culture. AFA has sponsored several events reaching out to homosexuals and letting them know there is love and healing at the Cross of Christ.

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Does AFA Support Censorship?
AFA does not support "censorship." Censorship, by definition is government imposed. What AFA does support is responsibility. Producers and advertisers alike realize that what people see and hear does affect them. (If this were not true, they would not pay the astronomical fees for advertising.) Our belief is that if we can encourage advertisers to sponsor only quality programming, then networks and producers will not have the financial encouragement to produce shows diametrically opposed to the traditional family.

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What Can I Do to Help?
There is much you can do.