Slight correction to ''Farewell''

Note: I may have occasional oppportunities to send out updates during this transitional month. Today is one of those days, although time constraints will limit the inclusion of graphics.

SLIGHT CORRECTION TO “FAREWELL TO FISCHER”

My long-time friend Dennis Mansfield wrote a farewell to me on his blog this week, excerpts of which the Statesman printed this morning. As his pastor and friend, I had the privilege a number of years ago of conducting a ceremony in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem in which Dennis and his bride Susan renewed their vows on their 20^th anniversary, a warm memory which of course the Statesman chose not to include in its excerpt.

Dennis refers on his blog to my testimony on behalf of a bill that gave zoning options to local governments to regulate the placement of transitional homes in residential neighborhoods.

Dennis unfortunately characterizes the IVA’s support of this bill as if it were based primarily on property rights. But it was not. It was based on the impact on ordinary Idaho families of discovering residential homes in their neighborhoods filled with 8 to 12 ex-convicts.

Most families would find this disconcerting at best, and frightening at worst, and the IVA had received calls from many families who were deeply and understandably unsettled when such homes appeared suddenly in their neighborhoods.

The IVA believes that by granting additional zoning flexibility to local governments, the peace of mind of Idaho families can be protected while at the same time the rehabilitative work of transitional facilities can move forward in appropriate locations.

To their credit, the staff at New Hope now meets ahead of time with families in the neighborhoods in which they plan to put transitional homes. This represents a step forward, as part of what alarmed many families was the sudden, almost-overnight appearance of these homes on their streets with little or no advance notice.

We continue to believe that New Hope is doing a noble work and pray that God’s favor will continue to rest on its efforts to help men – and women – find redemption and a fresh start through their faith in Christ.

Idaho Statesman: Other Voices: A farewell to Bryan Fischer

MICHIGAN CITY DEALS WITH ANONYMOUS GAY SEX IN PUBLIC PARKS

My good friend Gary Glenn, Executive Director of American Family Association of Michigan, reports that Lansing police have had to start cracking down on anonymous gay sex in public parks, public restrooms and highway rest areas in Michigan’s capitol city.

Arrests were made, says Lansing’s police chief, because, “The subjects exposed themselves in the park, and there were children present.”

Naturally, gay activists are outraged at this enforcement of the law, apparently claiming that they have a constitutional right to engage in open sexual activity in public places.

One lesbian activist called the arrests “abhorrent,” while another said they were “disturbing.”

Even more bizarrely, gay activist groups actually count legitimate police arrests of homosexuals engaging in public sex as incidents of “violence” against gays, a little-known fact that should be kept in mind next time you read statistics about hate crimes against homosexuals.

Pridesource.com: Lansing Police arrest two, seek a third in sex sting operation

NCAVP: ANTI-LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER VIOLENCE IN 2004 (see pp. 30, 42)

OBAMA’S WOEFUL SPEECH

It’s hard to know where to begin to critique President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world yesterday. To begin with, it was historically inaccurate, as almost nothing in the paragraph in which he listed Islam’s contributions to society is true. For example, Muslims did not invent the compass, algebra or printing (Gutenberg, anyone?), and that’s just for starters.

Further, he claimed that Islam “has a proud tradition of tolerance,” and that “throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.” His speech contained no examples of such tolerance, for the simple reason that there are none.

When and where exactly, Mr. President, has Islam demonstrated this “religious tolerance” and “racial equality?” It is still illegal in virtually every Muslim country to convert from Islam to Christianity, and in 22 Muslim countries – including Saudi Arabia – it is a capital offense.

Far from being a peaceful religion, Europe twice, in 732 A.D. and again in the 16^th and 17 centuries, had to turn away Muslim armies at the gates of Vienna, jihadist armies who intended to subjugate the entire continent to sharia law. Had they been successful, there would be no United States of America.

And when the Muslim armies overran the Holy Land in the 8^th century, they eventually denied Jews and Christians the opportunity even to visit their holy places, an act of tyrannical repression that triggered the Crusades, as Christian nations sought to re-open holy sites to pilgrims.

Imagine that a Western power not only invaded and conquered Saudi Arabia, but denied Muslims the ability to so much as visit Mecca. Would anyone blame Muslims for attempting to use force to reclaim their land and re-open access for pilgrims to their religion’s most holy places?

Further, the president’s understanding of even the recent history of the Middle East is disturbingly wrong. He blames Israel for the woes of the Palestinians. But Arab countries had control of the West Bank and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, and instead of creating a Palestinian state or absorbing its 600,000 refugees, they kept Palestinians huddled in squalid camps so they could be used as propaganda props against Israel.