Bryan Fischer | |
---|---|
Born | Bryan Jonathan Fischer April 8, 1951 [1] [2] Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Conservative radio host, blogger, political activist |
Bryan Jonathan Fischer (born April 8, 1951) is the former Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association (AFA). He hosted the talk radio program Focal Point on American Family Radio and posted on the AFA-run blog Instant Analysis (formerly Rightly Concerned).
Fischer opposes abortion, national health care, gay adoption, [3] civil unions, [4] and same-sex marriage. [5] Fischer's comments about homosexuality caused the AFA to be designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in November 2010. [6] To avoid being classified as a hate group, the AFA has officially repudiated Fischer's views on Muslims, Native Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans, as well his claims that the Holocaust was caused by homosexuals, that homosexuality should be outlawed, and that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian. [7] [8]
Focal Point was abruptly removed from the AFR lineup in 2021 following the 4th of July weekend. AFR offered no explanation for cancelling the show.
Fischer, born in Oklahoma City and later raised in Fresno, California, has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Stanford University, and holds a graduate degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Fischer served at the Cole Community Church in Boise, Idaho and founded the Cole Center for biblical studies and was the church's director for thirteen years. Fischer then founded Community Church of the Valley and was a senior pastor for twelve years.
In 2004, he co-founded the Keep the Commandments Coalition, a group dedicated to keeping a Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park in Boise. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a commissioner for the city's Park and Recreation Department. [5]
Fischer joined the American Family Association in 2009. [9]
Fischer has said that welfare has "destroyed the African-American family" [10] by "offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock" thereby incentivizing "fornication rather than marriage" creating "disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits." [11] The AFA has repudiated the characterisation of minorities as "people who rut like rabbits," [7] as well as the view that immigration should be restricted because Hispanics are "socialist by nature" and vote Democratic because it allows them to "benefit from the plunder of the wealth of the United States." [8]
Fischer has argued that "many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many Native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture." [12] The AFA has repudiated his view that "Superstition, savagery and sexual immorality" morally disqualified Native Americans from "sovereign control of American soil." [13]
Fischer has said that Muslim students coming to US campuses are setting up Muslim Students' Associations, whose "agenda is dedicated to destroy the host country" and compared them to parasites, adding "these university campuses are dangerous places for Islamic extremism". According to him, the only shot at building a democracy in an Islamic land is a mass conversion of its people to Christianity, for which he suggests sending missionaries "right after we send in the Marines to neutralize whatever threat has been raised against the United States". He suggests "returning with lethal force if the forces in your country threaten us again. [14]
He has stated that Muslims are worshipping a demon, [15] and "every time we allow a mosque to go up in one of our communities, it's like planting an improvised explosive device right in the heart of your city and we have no idea when one of these devices is going to go off." [16] He stated that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects only the religious practice of Christianity, writing in a blog post "the real object of the amendment was, not to countenance, much less to advance [Islam], or Judaism, or infidelity... so the purpose of the First Amendment was most decidedly not to "approve, support, (or) accept" any "religion" other than Christianity." [17] Fischer has suggested Jews and Muslims are not included in religious freedom protections in the US, saying: "I have contended for years that the First Amendment, as given by the Founders, provides religious liberty protections for Christianity only." He later wrote: "We are a Christian nation and not a Jewish or Muslim one." [18] He affirmed this belief as well in a 2018 article regarding the First Amendment rights of prisoners to practice their religion under federal law, stating that "religions other than Christianity have no First Amendment rights whatsoever under the federal constitution." [19]
MormonVoices, a group associated with Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research, included Fischer on its Top Ten Anti-Mormon Statements of 2011 list for saying "Mormonism is not an orthodox Christian faith. It just is not ... It's very clear that the founding fathers did not intend to preserve automatically religious liberty for non-Christian faiths." [20]
In a 2015 press release denouncing Fischer's views, the AFA stated "AFA rejects the idea expressed by Bryan Fischer that 'free exercise of religion' only applies to Christians. Consequently, AFA rejects Bryan's assertions that Muslims should not be granted permits to build mosques in the United States." [7]
In 2018 he wrote about the "dangerous trend" of Muslims running for political office in the United States, calling Islam a "scourge" and "the Ebola virus of culture". [21] He further called for states to institute religious tests for those in or running for office, citing examples from some states effective during the late 18th century.
Fischer believes that homosexuality is "immoral, unnatural, and unhealthy". [4] [22] [23] [24] [25] In 2007, Fischer hosted an event with former American Family Association California leader Scott Lively [26] [27] to promote the view that "homosexuality was at the heart of Nazism," [28] a claim which is rejected by historians. [29]
In May 2010, Fischer wrote a blog post on the AFA website [30] and RenewAmerica [31] [32] detailing purported allegations that Adolf Hitler was a homosexual, that "the Nazi Party began in a gay bar in Munich," [33] and concluded by claiming that the Holocaust (which actually included gay victims of Nazi persecution) was caused by homosexuals in the Nazi German military: "Nazi Germany became the horror that it was because it rejected both Christianity and its clear teaching about human sexuality." [30] On American Family Talk radio, Fischer repeated the claim that Hitler was a homosexual, and stated that Hitler recruited homosexuals to be storm troopers, because "homosexual soldiers basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict". [34]
In April 2013, Fischer claimed that "Homofascists" will treat Christians like Jews in the Holocaust [35] and later that year he repeated on American Family Talk that Hitler started the Nazi party "in a gay bar in Munich" [33] and that "[Adolf Hitler] couldn't get straights to be vicious enough in being his enforcers." [36]
The Southern Poverty Law Center, through its Teaching Tolerance program, has encouraged schools across the U.S. to hold a "Mix It Up at Lunch" day in order to encourage students to break up cliques and prevent bullying. In late 2012, the AFA called the project – begun 11 years earlier and held in more than 2,500 schools – "a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools", urging parents to keep their children home from school on October 30, 2012, and to call the schools to protest the event. "I was surprised that they completely lied about what Mix It Up Day is", Maureen Costello, the director of the center's Teaching Tolerance project, which organizes the program, told The New York Times : "It was a cynical, fear-mongering tactic." [37] In October, Fischer was taken off air during a CNN interview with Carol Costello for repeating his belief that "Hitler recruited homosexuals around him to make up his Stormtroopers". [38] [39]
In 2012, as jury selection was to begin in a trial on charges of kidnapping of a lesbian couple's daughter, Fischer wrote on Twitter in support of kidnapping of children from same-sex households and smuggling them to what he calls "normal" homes. [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] Fischer also reiterated his views on his radio show, and on video. [42] [43] [51] In January 2013, he compared consensual sex between people of the same gender to pedophilia, incest and bestiality. [52] In January 2013, Fischer compared the Boy Scouts of America's change in views on gay scouts and scoutmasters to Jerry Sandusky, saying allowing gay scoutmasters was inviting pedophiles into the tents of children. [53] In March 2013, Fischer compared homosexuality to bank robbery when Senator Portman announced his views on same-sex marriage had changed due to having a gay son. [54] Fischer also stated that homosexuality should be banned like trans fats for being "a hazard to human health" [55] [56] [57] and likened homosexuals to thieves, murderers and child molesters. [58]
On January 28, 2015, Tim Wildmon, President of the American Family Association demoted Fischer from being a spokesperson. [59] [60] [61] [62] Fischer went on to state that he will still be hosting the AFA's American Family Talk radio. [63] In order to avoid being categorised as a hate group, the AFA issued a press release denouncing some of Fischer's views, rejecting his claim that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian, and stating: "AFA rejects the statement by Bryan Fischer that, 'Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.' AFA rejects the policy advocated by Bryan Fischer that homosexual conduct should be illegal. AFA rejects the notion advocated by Bryan Fischer that, 'We need an underground railroad to protect innocent children from same-sex households'." [7] [64]
When the Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, Fischer described it as an "a date which will live in infamy", tweeting that "6/26 is now our 9/11" and "the day the twin towers of truth and righteousness were blown up by moral jihadists." [65] [66] [67] Fischer described the Supreme Court justices who voted to legalize same-sex marriage as "rainbow jihadists and they blasted the twin pillars" and described social conservatives as "serfs on a plantation that's being run by cultural elites who wear black robes and use their gavels like the slaveholders of old used to use their whips." [68]
In November 2010, the SPLC changed their listing of the AFA from a group that used hate speech to the more serious one of being designated a hate group. Although these claims have not been confirmed by another group besides SPLC. [69] [70] [71] [72] [73] The SPLC's Mark Potok said that the AFA's "propagation of known falsehoods and demonizing propaganda" was the basis for the change. [74] [75] Fischer's anti-gay comments were given as an example by SPLC in support of the hate group designation. [6] The AFA rejected this notion and responded by calling the SPLC "the most dangerous hate group in America". [76]
Fischer has voiced support for the AIDS denial movement. His guest on the January 3, 2012, edition of Focal Point was prominent AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg; Fischer strongly supported Duesberg's contention that AIDS is not caused by HIV, but by recreational drug use. [77] [78]
In the June 18, 2012 issue of The New Yorker magazine ("Bully Pulpit"), [79] author Jane Mayer featured Fischer in an article describing his influence in the Republican Party and 2012 presidential election. On April 20, Fischer attacked Republican Party presidential candidate Mitt Romney's national security spokesman Richard Grenell for being openly gay. Other conservatives joined Fischer in calling for Grenell's ouster, and by May 1 Grenell resigned from the Romney campaign, in what Fischer described as a "huge win" for conservatives. [80] During the 2012 presidential primaries, Republican Party candidates Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty were guests on Fischer's show, but Romney was not invited.
In the article (the facts of which Mayer says "were ... all checked with Fischer, and where he had factual objections, his caveats were included"), [81] Mayer also quotes Fischer as saying that President Barack Obama "despises the constitution, ... nurtures a hatred for the white man", and aims to "destroy capitalism". Fischer believes that sexual orientation is "always a matter of choice", and strongly opposes what he calls the "morally and intellectually bankrupt theory of evolution". [82]
On the issue of religion and tax policy, Fischer believes that the progressive income taxes and estate taxes violate the Eighth and Tenth Commandments, because (he feels) by taxing the income and estates of the well-off, the government "steals and covets" their wealth. [83]
In April 2013, Fischer commented on the case of Carla Hale, a lesbian teacher fired from the Catholic school she worked for when her partner was named in her mother's obituary, saying that it was right for the school to fire her based on her "immoral sexual behavior". He argued that just as shoplifters are discriminated against, employers should discriminate against those who engage in aberrant sexual behavior and other supposed forms of immorality. [84]
In January 2014, Fischer called the gay weddings at the 2014 Grammy Awards an abomination and said that same-sex parenting is a form of child abuse. [85] The following month, Fischer, in comments about an Arizona bill [86] that would have allowed businesses asserting their religious beliefs to deny service to gay and lesbian customers, referred to those opposing the bill as "jack-booted homo-fascist thugs, who want to use the totalitarian and tyrannical power of the state to send men of faith to jail. That sounds far more like Nazi Germany than the United States of America." [87]
On July 6, 2021, Fischer stated on his Twitter page that "My Focal Point radio program has come to an end" and only referenced his personal social media pages as a way people could now "stay in touch with me." [88] American Family Association President Tim Wildmon also announced the end of Fischer's Focal Point, stating among other things, that “American Family Radio will no longer air Focal Point with Bryan Fischer" and "we want to thank Bryan and his wife Debbie for their faithful service and we wish them well in the years ahead." [89] AFR also released a statement claiming that they would not discuss the reason for Fischer's departure, claiming “Folks, I know many of you are frustrated and miss Bryan, but AFR does not discuss internal personnel decisions. That policy leaves us at a bit of a disadvantage, because it gives people opportunity to gossip and slander." [89]
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, for its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and for promoting tolerance education programs. The SPLC was founded by Morris Dees, Joseph J. Levin Jr., and Julian Bond in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery.
The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical 501(c)(3) non-profit activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against access to pornography, embryonic stem-cell research, abortion, divorce, and LGBT rights—such as anti-discrimination laws, same-sex marriage, same-sex civil unions, and LGBT adoption. The FRC has been criticized by media sources and professional organizations such as the American Sociological Association for using "anti-gay pseudoscience" to falsely conflate homosexuality and pedophilia, and to falsely claim that the children of same-sex parents suffer from more mental health problems.
A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other designated sector of society. According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a hate group's "primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons belonging to a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin which differs from that of the members of the organization."
The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBTQ rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.
The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) was an American conservative Christian organization. It was founded in 1980 at Anaheim California by Rev. Louis P. Sheldon to oppose LGBT rights. Sheldon's daughter, Andrea Sheldon Lafferty, was initially the executive director and presently serves as president. TVC was influential in the 1980s and 1990s in lobbying for government policy based in Christian fundamentalism.
The Family Research Institute (FRI), originally known as the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality (ISIS), is an American socially conservative non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado which states that it has "...one overriding mission: to generate empirical research on issues that threaten the traditional family, particularly homosexuality, AIDS, sexual social policy, and drug abuse". The FRI is part of a sociopolitical movement of socially conservative Christian organizations which seek to influence the political debate in the United States. They seek "...to restore a world where marriage is upheld and honored, where children are nurtured and protected, and where homosexuality is not taught and accepted, but instead is discouraged and rejected at every level." The Boston Globe reported that the FRI's 2005 budget was less than $200,000.
Opposition to legal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people exists throughout the world. LGBTQ rights opponents may be opposed to the decriminalization of homosexuality; laws permitting civil unions or partnerships or supporting LGBT parenting and adoption, LGBT military members, access to assisted reproductive technology, and access to gender-affirming surgery and gender-affirming hormone therapy for transgender individuals.
Mission: America is an American Christian right organization based in Columbus, Ohio and founded in 1995 that seeks to "cover the latest cultural and social trends in our country and what they might mean for Christians." The organization publishes articles on its web site about its views on homosexuality and paganism. Mission: America's founder and president, Linda Harvey, is an outspoken critic of LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage.
Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church that counsels "men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love". Based on a treatment model for drug and alcohol addictions used in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Courage runs a peer support program aimed at helping gay people remain abstinent from same-sex sexual activity.
Watchmen on the Walls is an international evangelical ministry based in Riga, Latvia. It describes itself as "the international Christian movement that unites Christian leaders, Christian and social organizations and aims to protect Christian morals and values in society." According to a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Intelligence report the group's name derives from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, in which the "watchmen" guard the reconstruction of Jerusalem. "The cities they guard over today, say the contemporary Watchmen, are being destroyed by homosexuality."
Scott Douglas Lively is an American activist, author, and attorney, who is the president of Abiding Truth Ministries, an anti-LGBT group based in Temecula, California. He was also a cofounder of Latvia-based group Watchmen on the Walls, state director of the California branch of the American Family Association, and a spokesman for the Oregon Citizens Alliance. He unsuccessfully attempted to be elected as the governor of Massachusetts in both 2014 and 2018.
Abiding Truth Ministries (ATM) is a United States 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Scott Lively in Temecula, California in 1997. The ministry has been based in Springfield, Massachusetts, since 2008. Lively, an American author, attorney and activist, is noted for his opposition to LGBT rights and his involvement in the ex-gay movement. Lively has called for the criminalization of "the public advocacy of homosexuality" as far back as 2007. Along with Kevin E. Abrams, Lively co-authored the 1995 book The Pink Swastika, which states in the preface that "homosexuals [are] the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities." He is also directly linked to pending anti-gay legislation in Uganda, which would, if passed, make homosexual conduct punishable by a lengthy prison sentence or death. The Southern Poverty Law Center regards Abiding Truth Ministries as a hate group.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States, founded in 2002. The group advocates in favor of abstinence-only sex education and conversion therapy, and advocates against vaccine mandates, abortion rights and rights for LGBT people. As of 2022, its membership has been reported at about 700 physicians.
Peter LaBarbera is an American social conservative activist and the president of the anti-gay organization Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH).
Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) is an organization which describes its mission as "exposing the homosexual activist agenda". AFTAH rejects the idea that sexual orientation is innate and believes that people can "leave the homosexual lifestyle". AFTAH contends that there is a fundamental conflict between gay rights and religious freedom. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designated it as an anti-LGBT hate group.
The Illinois Family Institute (IFI) is a Christian organization based in Tinley Park, Illinois. Founded in 1990, its stated mission is "upholding and re-affirming marriage, family, life and liberty in Illinois", and it is affiliated with the American Family Association. The organization's legislative arm is the 501(c)(4) lobbying group Illinois Family Action, founded in 2010. The organization's executive director is David E. Smith, who in 2006, succeeded Peter LaBarbera, founder of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality.
Parents Action League (PAL) is a citizens organization started in 2010 to oppose changes in the Anoka-Hennepin (Minnesota) School District 11 policy which limited discussions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in district classrooms. PAL's roots go back as far as 1994, when one of its most-vocal members, Barb Anderson, successfully influenced the school district's board to exclude homosexuality from its sex-ed curriculum.
Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (HOME) is an American pro-heterosexuality, anti-homosexuality organization founded by Wayne Lela and based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The organization's aim is "to use science, logic, and natural law to expose all the flaws in the arguments homosexuals use to try to justify homosexual activity". The organization has been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center "based on their propagation of known falsehoods".
There is a widespread and long-lasting myth alleging that homosexuals were numerous and prominent as a group in the Nazi Party or the identification of Nazism with homosexuality more generally. It has been promoted by various individuals and groups from before World War II through the present, especially by left-wing Germans during the Nazi era and the Christian right in the United States more recently. Although some gay men joined the Nazi Party, there is no evidence that they were overrepresented. The Nazis harshly criticized homosexuality and severely persecuted gay men, going as far as murdering them en masse. Therefore, historians regard the myth as having no merit.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Scott Lively, an attorney and president of Abiding Truth Ministries, began serving as the California state director for AFA in early April.
In Idaho, Fischer attacked homosexuality with growing fervor. In 2007, he sponsored a summit where he hosted Scott Lively, the co-author of a widely criticized book, The Pink Swastika, which argues that homosexuality was at the heart of Nazism. (In fact, the Nazi regime persecuted gays.) More recently, Lively has expressed support for anti-gay initiatives in Uganda. He has been a guest on Fischer's radio show, and Fischer often promotes Lively's theories. "Hitler himself was an active homosexual," Fischer has said. "Hitler recruited around him homosexuals to make up his Storm Troopers. . . . Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough." On another occasion, Fischer declared that "homosexuality gave us Adolf Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine, and six million dead Jews."
AFA's Fischer, in a 2010 essay slamming the end of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay soldiers, blamed homosexuals for the Holocaust: "Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews."