Christians Slam Anti-Bully Day Over 'Gay Agenda'

About 200 schools have canceled an anti-bullying program after conservative evangelicals warned that it secretly promotes the "homosexual agenda." The Southern Poverty Law Center says it designed Mix It Up Lunch Day to encourage kids to sit beside someone different—to help break up cliques and ease bullying, New York Times reports. But the American Family Association disagreed, saying parents should keep children home instead.

"These anti-bullying policies have become a mechanism for punishing Christian students who believe that homosexual behavior" is wrong, says an association official. But the two groups were already at odds, because the civil-rights center recently included the Bible-based association on its list of hate groups. Now the fight over Mix It Up Lunch Day. “We’ve become used to the idea of lunatic fringe attacks,” says a director at the center, "but this one was complete misrepresentation.” (More Southern Poverty Law Center stories.)