REDDENING THE BOARDROOMS:

Christian Conservatives Test Boardroom Clout (Alan Murray, December 7, 2005, Wall Street Journal)

Score another victory for the American Family Association, a Mississippi-based Christian conservative group that is successfully bringing America's culture wars into the corporate boardroom.

Last Thursday, the group announced that it was suspending plans to boycott Ford Motor Co. for supporting gay-rights causes and advertising in gay-oriented publications. Ford "has heard our concerns," the group's chairman, Donald Wildmon, said in a news release. "They are acting on our concerns." Separately, Advocate.com, a leading gay news site, reported that Ford had stopped advertising its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications.

Ford doesn't dispute the Christian group's announcement, but says its decision to pull Jaguar and Land Rover ads from gay publications is strictly business.