Chairman of Progressive Insurance Donates $8.5 million to the ACLU-Unproven!

Chairman of Progressive Insurance Donates $8.5 Million to the ACLU-Unproven!

Summary of the eRumor: An alert from the American Family Association says that the chairman of Progressive Insurance has made an $8.5 million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union. The email encourages you to complain to Progressive including canceling any insurance you may have with them.

The Truth: According to both the American Family Association and Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, there has been an $8.5 million dollar donation to the ACLU by Peter Lewis, the chairman of Progressive Insurance. TruthOrFiction.com has not been able to independently verify the gift but Lewis is said to be the single top donor to the ACLU. According to the ACLU website, he gave $8 million in 2003 and $7 million in 2001. The American Family Association is a conservative watchdog organization and the ACLU is opposed by many conservatives. Last updated 12/13/05

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:
Progressive Insurance Chairman Gives $8.5 Million To ACLU In one of his recent columns, Chuck Colson relates the following story. In a Texas classroom, children were told to draw a tracing of their foot, and then put a message on the drawing. One little girl wrote "Jesus Loves Me" on hers. What happened next shows the abysmal state of religious tolerance in America. As Fox news anchor John Gibson relates in his new book, The War on Christmas, the child's teacher ripped the tracing off the board. "Don't you ever do this again," she said. The little girl burst into tears. When her outraged father called the school, nervous officials told the child to make another tracing. She did so-but this time, instead of scrawling "Jesus Loves Me," she drew a tiny cross that was so small it was almost invisible. Behind nearly every such incident you will find the ACLU. According to the New York Times, Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Insurance, believes in the mission and work of the ACLU so much that he gave them $8.5 million. (Do an Internet search on "Peter B. Lewis" and "ACLU." You'll be shocked by how extensive his support is!) Chairman Lewis' gift helps the ACLU promote their anti-Christmas agenda such as: Removing nativity scenes from public property Banning songs such as Silent Night from schools Refusing to allow students to write about the Christian aspect of Christmas in school projects Renaming Christmas break Winter break Refusing to allow a city sponsored Christmas parade to be called a Christmas parade Not allowing a Christmas tree in a public school Renaming a Christmas tree displayed on public property a Holiday tree In addition to their war on Christmas, the ACLU uses gifts like that from Chairman Lewis to: Sue states to force them to legalize homosexual marriage Force libraries to remove porn filters from their computers Sue the Boy Scouts to force them to accept homosexuals as scout leaders Help legalize child pornography Legalize live sex acts in bars in Oregon Protect the North American Man Boy Love Association whose motto is "sex by eight or it is too late" Censor student led prayer at graduation Remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance Remove "In God We Trust" on our currency Recommended action: If you have a Progressive Insurance policy, cancel it. If you don't have a Progressive policy, let Chairman Lewis know you will not be buying one. (We recommend you do not purchase Allstate Insurance. We will explain our recommendation in a future letter.) Click here if you have a Progressive policy Click here if you do not have a Progressive policy Extremely important! Please forward this to your family and friends. The vast majority of them probably aren't aware of Chairman Lewis' gift to the ACLU. Thanks for caring enough to get involved. Sincerely, Don Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!