OPINION:
It’s encouraging that A&E executives seem to have been converted from bigotry to tolerance after public objections to their suspension of “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson (“A&E chooses profits over gays, Duck Dynasty over GLAAD,” Web, Dec. 29). Now that the network has reversed course, it is readying a charm offensive “promoting unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people.” The planned message “supports our core values” along with those “found in ’Duck Dynasty.’”
Whatever A&E’s previous values were, they didn’t include acceptance of the Christian view of homosexuality that Mr. Robertson expressed in an interview unrelated to the network’s popular program. The network’s retaliation demonstrated bias against a widespread Christian principle based on biblical interpretation. The action rejected understanding of a position contrary to A&E’s own. It showed that the network refused to embrace freedom of speech and promoted division rather than unity.
In the interview in question, Mr. Robertson didn’t — and Christians generally do not — regard gays and lesbians as unequal human beings. He only said that he saw their sexual conduct as sinful, as do probably most evangelical Christians. A&E executives, however, targeted Mr. Robertson for punishment merely for expressing thoughts that neither implicated nor harmed the network.
I hope A&E now sincerely plans to promote the moral values that Mr. Robertson and his Christian family exhibit in “Duck Dynasty.” This would be a refreshing and overdue change from the liberal-minded degeneration prevalent in America’s entertainment industry.
DAVID JOHNSON
Ashburn, Va.
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