When Candace Cameron Bure said Great American Family would keep traditional marriage at the core, critics called her hateful. But in a free country, Christians should not be shamed for telling stories that honor biblical marriage, family, and faith.
Update (Jan. 16, 2026): The broader debate over faith, family, and freedom in public life has only grown more relevant. Candace Cameron Bure remains Chief Creative Officer at Great American Media, whose brands continue to describe their content as celebrating faith, family, and country. At the same time, the Trump administration has made religious liberty a stated national priority through the White House Faith Office and the Religious Liberty Commission, tying family, conscience protections, and free speech more directly to the national conversation.
Original: As December approaches, many Americans settle down at night to watch yet another Hallmark movie (or one of the many other iterations) where a blogger/workaholic who isn’t too keen on Christmas meets a man in a snowy town who helps her learn the beauty of the holiday.
The movies provide a familiar lighthearted feeling. Starring in many of these films for years has been Candace Cameron Bure, who rose to fame as a child star of the 1990s sitcom “Full House.”
Though Bure is considered the current queen of Christmas movies and has been fully welcomed into this holiday tradition by viewers around the country, some are now outraged with the actress. Some are even calling her a bigot.
The anger towards her stems from an article in the Wall Street Journal in which she discussed her Christian beliefs and her new role as chief creative officer at burgeoning cable channel Great American Family. Bure said, “My heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them. I knew that the people behind Great American Family were Christians that love the Lord and wanted to promote faith programming and good family entertainment.”
Bure joins Bill Abbott, the former chief executive of Hallmark Channel parent company Crown Media Family Networks who is now the chief executive for Great American Family parent company Great American Media. “Spiritual or faith-based content is grossly underserved,” Abbott stated. He added that the entertainment business is a “sewer.”
Abbott said the channel’s formula is a “soft faith” with a Christian message but avoids preaching. Bure, 46, said that she wants to convey the message to slow down and savor moments with loved ones, adding that she wants to share that message in a way that is beautiful but “not off-putting to the unbeliever or someone who shares a different faith.”
You may be asking, “What are people so upset about?” It was actually Bure’s answer to one question that sent leftist Twitter warriors to their keyboards. Asked if Great American Family would have same-sex couples as leads in their movies Bure answered, “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core.”
In a tweet, actress Hilarie Burton called Bure a bigot, while others claimed that the actress was expressing hate.
Bure responded to the anger by saying,
“All of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people. It breaks my heart that anyone would ever think I intentionally would want to offend and hurt anyone. It saddens me that the media is often seeking to divide us, even around a subject as comforting and merry as Christmas movies. But, given the toxic climate in our culture right now, I shouldn’t be surprised. We need Christmas more than ever.”
Others criticized her response by accusing her of bringing Christmas into the feud. Before we tackle that point, however, it’s important to look at this episode of pro-LGBT anger in its greater context.
For most of Western legal history and throughout the historic Christian tradition, marriage has been understood as the union of one man and one woman. Until the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell creating the right to homosexual “marriage,” the vast majority of Americans still held that view. Even California passed a law outlawing homosexual marriage a few years before that decision. And a few years before that, then-Sen. Joe Biden and then-Rep. Chuck Schumer voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and then-President Bill Clinton signed it into law.
While Bure’s comment may anger some, her embrace of traditional marriage was well within the mainstream less than a decade ago.
Of course, that was before Americans were conditioned to accept gay marriage due to judicial overreach and a virtually nonstop onslaught of media geared towards making various sexual orientations favored. Since Obergefell, Americans who hold to biblical marriage have faced growing legal and cultural pressure. In Masterpiece Cakeshop, for example, the Supreme Court ruled for baker Jack Phillips after finding constitutionally troubling hostility toward his religious beliefs from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
Simply observe the Senate’s passing of the “Respect for Marriage Act” or, as Freedom Center writer William Wolfe coined it, the (Dis)respect for Marriage Act. Congress enacted the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and requiring federal and interstate recognition of same sex marriages. The law also states that sincere religious and philosophical beliefs about marriage are due proper respect. That said, many Christians remain concerned that those protections may prove too thin in practice as cultural and legal pressure continues to build against dissenting views of marriage.
The slander of Candace Cameron Bure shows the intolerance of the LGBT agenda. Simply because Bure wanted to make movies that honored her religious beliefs, they have slandered her as a bigot. Not because she did anything hateful, but because she dared to not further the LGBT cause. Since when did it become bigotry for a person to make a movie that features a heterosexual marriage? When did it become hate to hold to the tenets of one’s religious faith, tenets that go back thousands of years rather than a mere seven?
Returning to the charge that Bure brought Christmas into the fight, we contend that somebody needs to. Christmas isn’t just a movie theme or a feeling. It celebrates the arrival of the promised Messiah, the light of the world and the hope of mankind, as told to us in Luke 2:4-13:
“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Mankind needs a savior because we are sinful, we are lost, and we are enemies of God. Yet despite our depravity, God sent His Son, who humbled Himself to be born as a man and live under dire and impoverished circumstances and who died on the cross to save us from our sins. Homosexuality is one of those sins. Though some may think it bigoted to refrain from showing and celebrating sinful activity in media, that doesn’t make it so. The word “bigot” has no meaning coming from the left, as anyone who disagrees with their views gets labeled.
Bure isn’t bigoted. She’s faithful. Her stance honors God and honors marriage as He created it, and hopefully Great American Family will also. It’s about time someone did.
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