Column
Editorial: Fischer’s Fanaticism is Leaving Idaho
His ideas and proposals consistently tried to legislate rights away from certain groups of people.By Jill Kuraitis, 6-02-09
Bryan Fischer, Idaho Values Alliance director, has announced he is moving to Mississippi to host a radio talk show.
Fischer has hung around the Statehouse a lot in the past few years, lobbying for anti-everything causes. His ideas and proposals consistently try to legislate rights away from certain groups of people, but grant special rights to others. He’s horrified by yet strangely obsessed with
homosexuality, and has tried to legislate it away with his promotion of a successful anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment and his opposition to other legislation.
He also likes to try to link homosexuality to Naziism. In fact, Fischer spends a lot of time writing about Nazis, and his historical interpretations are garbled and without true scholarship.
He’s against Hindus and Muslim congress members, sex education which includes information about contraception, the legitimacy of global warming, the legitimacy of science and scientists, the science of evolution,
Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court appointment, abortion rights, practically all immigration, co-ed bathrooms, hate crimes legislation, and possibly the right to stand still, or so it seems. This list is by no means exhaustive of the things Fischer opposes.
He consistently ignores or misinterprets legitimate scientific research to suit his brand of thinking which, by his own description, is “right-wing extremist.”
It’s hard to tell what he’s for.
Whether Christian, Muslim, or The Church of the One True Everything, religious extremism and absolutism is fanaticism. Fanatics of any kind lead the way to intolerance, which leads to violence. We need only look to the weekend murder of Dr. Tiller in Kansas by an anti-abortion fanatic to see that it’s so. Though there is no evidence that Fischer’s actions have led to direct violence, Idaho has one of the highest teen suicide rates in the nation. Writes state senator Nicole LeFavour, “Typically in any state about 1/3 of all teen suicides are related to teens struggling with coming out or with conflicts within themselves as to whether or not they are gay. If a parent were inclined to be uncomfortable with their child being gay, sure enough Bryan Fischer would be in the paper…” Fischer made it harder and harder for gay kids in Idaho to find acceptance, and for that, his actions are more than deplorable - they’re dangerous.
Fischer takes his fanatical thinking to the political table, where it is illegitimate because it is based on his personal religion. But since he doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state, that isn’t a problem for him. “All political power has been delegated by God,” he says. (That doesn’t seem to apply to the election of President Obama, however.)
Like most people, Fischer is polite. You’d never know he harbors ill will toward so many people without acknowledging it. One example of this occurred in the Statehouse during the 2008 session, when he met then-Rep. LeFavour, who is openly gay, in a hallway. Fischer was involved in passing anti-gay legislation at the time. “Don’t take it personally,” he told her. LeFavour, always ladylike and restrained in personal encounters, stared in disbelief at him before asking him how could she not take it personally, when he was trying to make laws against her individual rights and family life? As for me, how can I not take him personally when he is part of a movement that made my beloved Uncle Karl, a university librarian and scholar, hang himself because of the pain of life in the closet? When he believes my gay friends don’t deserve the same rights as me - and him?
This week, LeFavour blogged, “Nationally, efforts to divide our country over gay people have worn thin but I’m sure Fischer will find others to demean and condemn. I send a quiet apology off into the rain today to the people of Mississippi. I’m sorry you get him now.”
Living an ethical and fulfilling family life without religious belief is not possible in Fischer’s thinking, nor is it a legitimate choice for you – because he can’t fathom such a thing. And he fancies himself the arbiter of what is pro-family and what isn’t.
My own encounter with Fischer, which occurred before I joined NewWest.Net, was along similar lines. At a public event he greeted me warmly. I asked if I could ask him a serious question, and we stepped aside for a moment.
“Why don’t you think I’m pro-family?” I asked. “I’m in a happy 25-year-long marriage. There have been no divorces in two generations on both sides of the family. My parents were married 50 years. We have two children who got good grades and were never in trouble, and we raised them ourselves at home. Our daughter is now in college getting high grades. She does regular volunteer work on campus. Our son is serving in the military, as has almost every male in the family for three generations. Nobody in the family has ever been arrested or on drugs, or on welfare. My husband was a Boy Scout leader and I volunteered in the public schools for hundreds of hours. We give to charity and never miss voting in an election. What about me and my life is anti-family?”
Fischer gave me a polite, blank stare and said something to the effect that we’d just have to disagree.
Fischer’s infected, relentless negativity is apparently part of his temperamental makeup. Claiming he is pro-family and pro-life when his views and his writing is neither is one of his many hypocrisies. His intolerance of our right to have different world views, religious beliefs or lack of them is bad enough, but he closes off any disagreement or discussion of those ideas by running a website he calls a “blog.” Since it doesn’t allow for comments it’s hard to consider it such. As Kevin Richert of the Idaho Statesman wrote, “Fischer recognized the immediacy of Internet politics, but ignored its interactivity. And I think that’s a mistake.”
My tolerance of Fischer’s views is different: I acknowledge and support his right to have them, discuss them and present them. But I don’t acknowledge his right to inflict his religious beliefs on me, especially using the political forum instead of a house of worship.
Fischer has inflicted profound pain on people during his years in Idaho, something he also refuses to acknowledge. Worse, he writes and acts under the name of his God, and Jesus, when the lessons of both preach love, understanding and compassion. But he could even twist that around to claim he is being compassionate by trying to lead people in what he believes to be the only moral direction – his direction.
Those of us who believe that true moral direction can come from many sources, including human thinking and scientific inquiry; that persecution of others is an immoral choice Fischer makes; that mixing religion and politics is an immoral direction; and that he has promoted an atmosphere where it is legitimate to claim something but act differently are relieved to see him leave Idaho. At the same time, we know it doesn’t solve the global problem of fanaticism or the national problem of intolerance, and so the positive work of people who promote the best possible life - for all of us - must go on.
Here is another NewWest.Net writer’s view about Fischer’s departure.
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While I'd never describe myself as "right-wing extremist," I definitely lean "conservative"... more so fiscally than socially. And I've never considered Mr. Fischer to be my spokesman. Obviously you're much more familiar with "The Gospel according to Bryan Fischer" than I've ever been. (However I favored the "Marriage Amendment," as did a majority of my fellow citizens. You can't go changing definitions in the dictionary, just because you don't like the traditional definition.)
Liberals can and should learn something from Bryan Fischer... the zealots and fanatics of their movement are arguably doing more harm than good.
Take the "gay issue," for example.
If gay folks go about quietly living their lives - as do the vast majority of straight folks - most of us "conservative types" are happy to live and let live. In fact, many would support your right to have the same state-recognized benefits as traditional married couples. But when you try to impose YOUR standards and mores upon all of society, or force us to embrace YOUR viewpoint, you're likely to have backlash, whether you're Bryan Fischer or the In-Your-Face Militant Gay Pride Drag Queens On Parade, or whatever.
(No offense intended. I hope my point isn't misunderstood. "Can't we all just get along?")
As well, it is OK to take away the rights of a minority by the majority, just because the bible says so.
While you may not have kept up with him, bikeboy, you echo so many of his posts with alarming alacrity.
As well, I assume that bikeboy is more than up to date on the actual history of marriage, or is he only talking about how the Christian culture has absorbed it and framed it as their own in this country? Maybe a history lesson on marriage might be in order. The current government intrusion into marriage makes it less of a religious matter and more of an equal rights matter. Again, that is another area where Fischer and bikeboy seem to have a willful ignorance of the history.
I have known far more creepy religious zealots than flaming drag queens. It should be no ones business what we think of them unless we are harming fellow citizens. Covert actions against a segment of our population is evil and the Bible tells me so.
And that's why "it's come to this," with same-sex couples demanding "marriage." They tried something lesser and it was just that -- something lesser.
Does that make sense to you?
I witnessed Fischer's peculiar, illogical diatribes in the Legislature on numerous occasions, and remain astounded by his shameless knack for spouting inaccuracies and absurdities with a straight face. The worse part was that so many legislators ate up his vile rants like kids in a candy store.
I strive to respect my adversaries, but found it impossible in this case. Good riddance, indeed.
IDEA: Intelligent Design Education Awareness. Codewords for putting the bible back in the classroom. The majority of its members tend to be somewhat less than honest with their intentions, much like Bryan Fischer and yourself, Bill.
Now, instead of trying to be witty, why don't you try and add actual substance to a New West discussion. A poorly programmed troll bot could easily replace the drivel that you have mindlessly subjected upon the readers of this site.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
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I'd explain the Establishment Clause, but it wouldn't do any good. You'd probably play the same game Bryan Fischer does and claim that it only applied to the US Congress.
Jesus, bikeboy, WTF? Do you typically discuss a matter by referring to polarizing forces? Your set up of the straw man of the gay agenda lacked one thing, an agenda. When you wanna talk about gay marriage try sticking to gay marriage. Or to put a more accurate way, marriage that no longer excludes gay people. Read your comment and substitute in black people to see how bigoted you sound. To paraphrase: "If those uppity gay people would just simmer down and shut up into their closets we'll never notice and therefore tolerate 'em." Well that's mighty hetero of you. What? You worried they're gonna make you think of teh gay sex? I don't think that's their problem so much as yours. And God knows heteros have nothing like a gay pride parade, except, of course, Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Carnival in Rio. If I wanna go see what happens at a gay pride parade I'll go to Clayton Cramer's site.
And if I want hyperbole I'll go to Fox News or follow Bryan to Tupelo. But stick your advice in something combustible and smoke it.
As for Sotomayor, maybe you could explain your problems in a more appropriate venue, instead of an editorial about Bryan Fischer.
Speaking of him, Bryan attempted to rebuff those that are chronicling his less than stellar time in Boise, unfortunately, it appears he couldn't even do that without lying and spinning.
Good Job, Jill. Looks like the bigot finally might be getting an idea of how disliked his particular brand of politics and religion have become.
Wrong. "Nothing of substance" is English for "you didn't use any facts or even make sense."
I'm no leftie. Far from it. But people need to use a fact or two now and again or I'm simply forced to write them off.
If you have information to impart, please do so. If you just want to make snide remarks about people, then others are going to say you have written "nothing of substance."
Because: you have.
But back to the people who ask why guys like Fischer brand others as anti-family. It is a question I wonder about constantly. I've never met Fischer but I know he would not accept me into his "pro-family" fold. Why not?
The reason people like me ask this over and over, ad infinitum, is because we simply can't believe that a prominent person like Fischer seems to have made a profession out of branding decent folks like us as "anti-family." We want justification.
I don't like hearing over and over that decent people I know are considered by a guy like Fischer to be anti-family. It's not right, and I don't think it's reasonable for you or anyone else to expect us to sit quietly and accept it.
Just out of curiosity, Jones, what kind of punishment should there be for women who have abortions, if your kind makes it illegal?
That is a question Bryan never answered, never in his countless posts demonizing George Tiller as a baby-killer and accusing him of genocide or anyone else that stood up for a woman's right to her own womb.
I don't know what Fischer would have castigated you for, but I do know that abortion is a reality that civilization has chosen to live with. Doesn't being pro-life and hitting your head on that brick wall ever give you a headache?
Whereas croke's bias is more like a rabbit punch or a face butt...