American Decency Association
The American Decency Assocation is a conservative religious group based in Fremont, Michigan. The ADA's chief focus is lobbying against what it perceives as moral evils in mass media programing, commercial venues such as malls, and advertising, particularly those evils characterized by sexual or sexually suggestive content.
Owing to its unabashedly extremist stances, some of the the organization's efforts and statements appear self-parodic, with the various complaints posted on its Web site inlcuiding those against the retailer Victoria's Secret and the ABC dark comedy "Desperate Housewives."
Statement of Purpose
According to the group's Web site:
The mission of the American Decency Association is to educate the general public on matters of decency; to initiate, promote, encourage and coordinate activity designed to safeguard and advance public morality consistent with biblical Christianity. And most importantly, as Christians to love Jesus Christ and to do His will - to “Pursue holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” [Hebrews 12:14]
In other words, the ADA's aim is the broad-brush censorship of retailers' and private citizens' protected First Amendment rights. It can be easily and sensibly argued that to censor some forms of pornography in the name of the Bible is hypocritical, since scripture includes various detailed accounts of unbridled sexual activity, including rape, incest, and other activities which today would classify as sex crimes.
Views on sex
- - The ADA operates under a heavy burden of denial, preferring to believe against all reason that sexual curiosity and urges are not a normal part of healthy human social, physical, and psychological development, most notably in the teenage years. It has escaped the group's attention that the Biblical figure Jesus Christ did not, in fact, implicitly or explicitly condemn sexual behavior in any guise. - - Colloquially, the ADA's spokespersons, to be charitable, are "prudes," and probably meet the criteria for being sexually repressed. The group holds that masturbation, homosexuality, premarital sex, sexual imagery, homosexuality, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, "Grey's Anatomy" (the TV show, not the esteemed medical reference), and homosexuality are evils to be swept under the rug where they cannot be obliterated by dint of bellyaching