By: Robin Murray-o'hair Re: Re: Coors Facing AFA Wrath COORS BREWING COMPANY NOW FACING A.

By: Robin Murray-o'hair
Re: Re: Coors Facing AFA Wrath

COORS BREWING COMPANY NOW FACING A.F.A. WRATH

by Conrad F. Goeringer

   The Coors Brewing Company -- a long-time underwriter for
right-wing political and religious groups -- now faces the wrath
of the evangelical American Family Association for being at the
top of the organization's "Dirty Dozen" list.

   Based in Tupelo, Mississippi, A.F.A. describes itself as a
"Christian organization promoting the Biblical ethic of decency
in American society with primary emphasis on TV and other media."
The group has called for boycotts and censorship in its battle
against homosexuality, violence, profanity, and extra-marital
sex.  The "Dirty Dozen" includes corporate sponsors of
organizations which A.F.A. claims sponsor programs with these
themes.  Other "Dozen" members include Sony, Hormel Foods, First
Interstate Bancorp, Time Warner and Sara Lee.

   Although it leads the "Dirty Dozen" list, the Coors family and
its firm have a long history of association with right wing
Christian movements. Joe Coors was notorious for his battle
against union representation for beer plant  workers.  In 1971,
Coors joined with Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for
Christ) and strategist Paul Weyrich to form a political alliance.
By 1974, the trio had established the Heritage Foundation and the
Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress.  Heritage
Foundation went on to become one of the most influential think
tanks in America, providing support and research for Ronald
Reagan and, later, George Bush.  The Committee was established to
select and fund candidates in Congressional races who represented
right-wing evangelical sentiments, particularly on issues such as
abortion  and Gay rights. Holly Coors was active in funding Pat
Robertson's 700 Club and the Christian Broadcasting Network.  She
served on the board of CBN University as well.

   And Coors was a major backer in Bill Bright's "Here's Life,
America" campaign, an attempt to proselytize Christianity on
college campuses in the tumultuous 1970s.

   A variety of popular programs have attracted the criticism of
A.F.A., especially those appearing on the Fox Network, such as
"Married With Children" and "The Simpsons" (a target of George
Bush in his "family values" theme).

   The "Dirty Dozen" and other offenders are selected on the
basis of counts which tally incidents of sex, violence and
profanity on an hourly basis during prime time.  The monitoring
report which found Coors at the top of the list covered the
period of October 16 to November 12 of last year.  A.F.A.
bluenoses tabulated 8.5 incidents of violence each hour, 14.15
sex encounters, and 22.93 uses of profanity.  "A total of 91
percent of all sex was depicted outside marriage," said A.F.A.

   Imagine that.

   And it's not even counting the soaps.

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