Bryan's Lofty Flock

Bryan Fischer recently lauded the results of a PEW poll revealing that ‘just 34% of white evangelical Protestants believe that there is solid evidence the earth is warming.’ He then chastises the ‘religiously unaffiliated’ for being ‘the most easily duped.’

[Editors’ Note: Notice that Bryan singles out the ‘religiously unaffiliated’ while failing to mention that every other Christian group reported in the poll is more likely to be well-informed about global warming than his.]

We read the poll data differently, and if Bryan wants to play the comparison game, we’re happy to oblige. The editors offer some other facts about evangelical Christians. We think they shed some light on the subtext of this PEW poll.

For example, evangelical Christians are:

• the least likely of any religious group to attend university, and when they do
• they attend lower quality universities than their peers,
• have smaller vocabularies than their peers,
• are the least likely to be able to engage in ‘critical argumentation about issues in politics, history, ethics [and] sociology,’ and
• are more likely to eschew courses in literature, biology, chemistry and calculus.
  

In addition to having the lowest rates of university attendance, evangelical Christians:

• are more likely to have anti-Mormon attitudes than other religious sects,
• are more likely to avoid habitually ‘African Americans and other minorities,’
• are more likely to ‘hold substantial prejudices toward against ethnic, religious, and especially sexual minorities,’ and
• are the least likely to interact with people outside their churches.

Not only are they a touch provincial, but evangelical Christian teens:

• are more sexually active than their religious peers,
• experience higher rates of unplanned and premarital pregnancy,
• are more likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors when they begin their sexual careers, and
• are, rather sadly, the least likely group of Christians to anticipate that sex will be pleasurable.*
  

We’re not trying to bring down Bryan’s lofty flock, and we know there are always exceptions to statistics, but he initiated the comparison. And Bryan, while you may be proud that your evangelical peers don’t believe in global warming, we’ll maintain some skepticism about who’s more easily duped.

*Which simply begs the question of why they start having sex so early and often? Have modern evangelicals embraced some new form of self-flagellation?

Fischer 'Fesses Up!

Hell must be frozen, because Bryan Fischer has admitted to being a ‘radical’ and a ‘rightwing extremist.’

Last week the Department of Homeland Security released a politically-neutral report warning of an upsurge in rightwing extremist activity in the United States. The document notes that such ‘extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues ... [including] … [t]he economic downturn and the election of the first African American president.’  

Fischer dismisses the report as ‘spooky’ and a ‘piece of crap,’ claiming that there exists ‘no evidence at all’ that such extremist violence could occur. Uh, Bryan, have you heard of the Oklahoma City Bombing? There was no gay sex involved, but it was definitely in the news.

He then attempts to brush off the report as Obama propaganda, ignoring the fact that it originated from a non-political government agency established by Fischer's own beloved President Bush to fight terrorism.

But our favorite part is when Fischer writes, ‘they are talking about you and me, folks.’ 

That’s right! By his own admission, Bryan and his loyal readers are ‘rightwing extremists.’ Yes, we’re as flabbergasted as you.

So does this mean the IVC’s work is finished? Hardly. The fun is just beginning. 

The Misguided Lance of Bryan Fischer

One of Bryan Fischer’s seminal works, and perhaps the best summing-up of his redoubtable raison d’etre, deals with “Why Christians Should Be Involved in Public Policy.”

Most people’s answer to the unasked question of the title would be, “Wait, aren’t they already?” After all, let’s take a look at the top public offices in the country, and see how many are held by Christians:

President: Barack Obama (Christian)

Vice-President: Joe Biden (Christian)

Secretary of State: Hilary Clinton (Christian)

Secretary of Treasury: Timothy Geithner (Christian)

Secretary of Defense: Robert Gates (Christian)

Attorney General: Eric Holder (Christian)

Secretary of the Interior: Ken Salazar (Christian)

Secretary of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack (Christian)

Secretary of Commerce: Gary Locke (Christian)

Secretary of Labor: Hilda Solis (Christian)

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Kathleen Sebelius (Christian)

Secretary of Education: Arne Duncan  (unaffiliated)

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Shaun Donovan (Christian)

Secretary of Transportation: Ray LaHood (Christian)

Secretary of Energy: Steven Chu (affiliation unknown)

Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs: Eric Shinsheki (affiliation unknown)

Secretary of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano  (Christian)

Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel (Judaism)

Clearly, Christians are well represented. As usual, Bryan is playing the delusional Don Quixote, jousting gallantly at the giants of persecution and exclusion that obstinately fail to plague him. (Although, given his attitude toward renewable energy and environmental responsibility, he probably considers windmills to be worthy opponents.)

What Bryan means is that every Christian involved in public policy should be as doggedly dogmatic as he is himself, and should favor fanatical religious convictions over sensible statecraft. 

What’s more, they owe their position not to their constituents or to appointment by the President, as American voters so foolishly thought, but to The Big White Guy in the Sky. “Civil authorities, we are told in Scripture itself, are ‘ministers of God,’” Fischer blathers.

One problem, Bryan: the Constitution provides for the separation of church and state. Next time you eagerly unstick the pages of that august document to drool over the Second Amendment yet again, try to spare a glance for the first.

Fischer and the Law

As we’ve noted previously, Bryan Fischer offers expert advice on a range of subjects, despite the fact that his actual expertise is limited to The Good Book and The Bible. Recently Bryan demonstrated his flimsy understanding of the First Amendment by declaring that ‘people taking off their clothes and having sex on camera is not speech but something else entirely.’

Yes, Bryan, it’s called porn. And despite your cute word-play, it remains a protected form of speech under the First Amendment.

But don’t take our word for it. Take the Supreme Court’s!

See, Fischer is bent out of shape because a group of students at the University of Maryland organized a panel discussion on free speech before screening segments from the adult film Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge. We surmise that Fischer would prefer the students read Ann Coulter and undertake a little target practice with their concealed weapons rather than stage a debate for the principled defense of pornography on grounds that censorship is unacceptable in a free society.

The point is, no matter how tasteless and vulgar Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge may be [Editors’ Note: We recommend viewing Pirates I before watching the sequel.], the students are within their constitutional right to view its content and peaceably assemble to defend that right.

But we have an ideal solution for you, Bryan: if you don’t like it, don’t exercise your constitutional prerogative to watch it.

The Epistemology of Bryan

For weeks Bryan Fischer has championed loudly House Bill No. 216, a piece of dreck legislation which extends to pharmacists the right to refuse medical treatment to patients on the basis of ‘conscience.’

In addition to completely subverting the ethics of the profession, HB216 actively enables medical discrimination on the basis of personal bias. It gives a pharmacist the right to intervene in a physician-patient relationship and refuse any course of treatment he or she dislikes.

Yes, it’s just that bad. It’s so patently silly we can’t bear to discuss it further.

However, Fischer’s support of HB216 offers some intriguing insight into his whacky epistemology.

Bryan has long been a forceful opponent of any legislation that offers what he calls ‘special protection’ to specific communities. For example, any time anti-discrimination legislation for gays and lesbians appears, Bryan bellows to his followers a call to arms.

Fischer justifies his opposition to this type of legislation for two reasons. The first (his naughty secret) is that he hates homosexuals for awkward personal reasons. But the lynchpin of his public argument is that Bryan believes, contrary to evidence and reason, that homosexuality is a choice. According to this logic, if you choose to be something, that something does not warrant special protection.

Based on this, one might expect Bryan to be consistent and apply the same principle to special protection for pharmacists. After all, no one is born a pharmacist. To our knowledge, no geneticists have succeeded in identifying the 'pharmacist gene.' It’s clearly a lifestyle choice that can be overcome with proper support and ample prayer.

Fischer’s inconsistency belies his efforts at logical reasoning. You can’t deny anti-discrimination legislation to gays and lesbians on the basis of ‘choice’ while ignoring that principle for pharmacists.

That is, unless you're a vortex of hypocrisy and this isn't really about protecting pharmacists.

The Rap Sheet

Before he was sacked by his congregation, Bryan Fischer reportedly ruled the Community Church of the Valley (CCV) with an iron fist. The CCV’s bylaws were among the strictest in the Boise-area, and Pastor Fischer rarely hesitated to ridicule publicly the rule-breakers and sinners in his flock.

Fischer has never made secret his views on the expected conduct of true, God-fearing Christians and their leaders. On the public conduct of clergy, he writes recently,

The minimum the Christian church should expect from its spiritual leaders is clear and unapologetic adherence to … biblical standard[s], especially from pastors who tell us that the Bible is the “rule of faith and practice.”

Seems pretty unambiguous. So does Bryan practice what he preaches? Let's have a look:

State of Idaho vs. Bryan J Fischer 12/27/1994
CR-IN-1994-0042484 I49-654(1)
Basic Rule Violation - Too Fast For Conditions
Finding: Guilty
Fines/fees: $47.00

State of Idaho vs. Bryan J Fischer 11/20/2004
CR-2004-0001518-C I49-654(2)
Speeding
Finding: Guilty
Fines/fees: $53.00

State of Idaho vs. Bryan J Fischer 6/13/2006
CR-IN-20060027500 I49-654(2)
Speeding
Finding: Guilty
Fines/fees: $62.00

State of Idaho vs. Bryan J Fischer 3/03/2008
CR-2008-0000703 I49-654(2)
Speeding
Finding: Guilty
Fines/fees: $75.00

Far be it from us to judge. After all, perhaps Fischer was rushing off to a rally protesting gay sex, or to make a speech about gay sex. But to measure him by his own much-abused yardstick, the editors draw his attention to Romans 13:1-5:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves ... Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.

We also draw his attention to 1 Peter 2:13-6:

... submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme ... or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.

About those who would defy the scripture, Fischer writes,

Where are the voices of truth in the pulpits of America to stand against this rapid descent into the darkness? Where? God help us, and God help the United States of America. We’re in deeper trouble than we know.

We here at IVC feel that, given his relationship to the law, perhaps Bryan should be more reluctant to cast the first stone.

The Folly of Sali

Bryan Fischer is a big supporter of democracy; at least when his side wins. The 2008 general election was six months ago, but still Fischer seethes over congressman Bill Sali’s loss to Democrat Walt Minnick. Now a Democrat unseating a Republican in Idaho is about as likely as Brandi Swindell getting a real job, but it happened in 2008. In fact, Bill Sali is the first Idaho congressperson in 56 years who failed to win a second term.

For those familiar with Sali’s record as an Idaho legislator, his loss is no surprise. Known for his blow and bluster, Sali once forced a breast cancer survivor to leave a room in tears following a heated debate over his insistence on discussing a fabricated link between abortion and cancer. His own Republican colleagues have stripped him of a committee chairmanship and multiple other memberships, and former Republican Speaker Bruce Newcomb is on the record calling him an ‘absolute idiot.’

An Idaho Statesman investigation into an insurance claim made by Sali reveals him describing his own mental faculties thusly:


For those who do not know Sali, he’s the kind of guy who farts in bed and traps his wife under the duvet. He’s the gross uncle who picks his nose at Thanksgiving dinner and doesn’t stop giving ‘wet willies’ long after the joke stops being funny. Now imagine he’s a mediocre attorney with no respect among his peers. That’s Bill.

Sali’s three years in congress were a catalogue of tomfoolery and embarrassment for Idaho. He once famously proposed to the House of Representatives a bill to repeal the law of gravity. Within weeks of taking office, he was forced to apologize for claiming that the Founding Fathers never intended for Muslims to serve in congress. Sali also claimed erroneously – and with appalling stupidity – that oil can be extracted from trees.

So relieved were Sali’s colleagues to see him lose that Republican Representative Mike Simpson hilariously offered advice on relocating to Washington DC to Walt Minnick before Sali even conceded electoral defeat.

Yet Fischer continues to propose wild theories on Sali’s loss. In addition to supporting an abstract conspiracy surrounding a powerful cabal of Mexican immigrants orchestrating Minnick's victory, Bryan alleged recently that ‘Minnick essentially bought his congressional seat.’

Yes Bryan, the only reason Minnick won is because he outspent a Republican incumbent in the most Republican disctrict in an overwhelmingly Republican state. Forget the fact that incumbents are almost always outspent by their challengers.

Fischer remains unable to believe that the voters of the 1st Congressional District simply chose to rid themselves of the silly oaf because of his general incompetence and failure to represent Idaho’s best interests.

Face it Fischer, your man lost fair and square.

A Smug 'Hello'

Within four days of the IVC’s inception, Bryan Fischer acknowledged us in his daily newsletter. Talk about a man who likes to Google himself.

Fischer refers to the IVC as a ‘new left-wing blog devoted to the daily monitoring of the IVA.’ Well, you’re half correct, but why must IVC be left-wing? Because we don’t support your ongoing harassment of homosexuals? Because we don’t think Ann Coulter’s writing is the best produced in the last decade? Or is it because we don’t harbor your healthy Evangelical obsession with fisting?

No, we suspect Bryan refers to us as ‘left-wing’ to preempt us. In Bryan-speak, ‘left-wing’ implies we’ve nothing worthwhile to stay. He’s issuing an advance warning. ‘They’re on the fringe!’, he screams.

But let’s reset that compass. Bryan’s a guy who believes university students and professors should carry concealed weapons to class. He’s a guy who dedicates countless hours to attacking homosexuals for no clear reason. He’s a guy who believes, against overwhelming scientific evidence, in a literal interpretation of Genesis.

Perhaps we’re not the ones on the fringe here.

Bryan proceeds to extend to the IVC a warm welcome. With the smugness becoming of a true Christian, he writes, ‘They’re welcome aboard! They’re invited to read anything and everything I have written since we began the IVA in 2005. They might even learn something!’

We’re sure Christ would fully endorse Bryan’s self-righteousness.

As for reading up, we’ve braved the nausea to dig deep. We think you’ll be pleased with what we’ve found.

We Didn’t Start the Fire?

If you’ve ever wondered how Bryan Fischer, an affluent, white Christian living in the United States, has come to conceive of himself as a beleaguered minority, be free of your befuddlement. Fischer has set himself up in opposition to even his conservative Christian cronies in his continuing efforts to divest himself of the taint of rational thought.

The shibboleth separating ideologues still on first-name terms with reality from our friend Fischer is global warming. Under the heading “Reducing CO2: ineffective, harmful to the poor," he claims there exists “a growing realization in the scientific community that climate change is a result of cyclical factors which are independent of human activity.”

The scientific community begs to differ, Mr. Fischer. *

It’s all irrelevant anyway, because “CO2 is not in fact a pollutant - it is plant food.” More plant food means more produce to “feed the world’s poor”!

It would be easy to delve into the dangers of too much of a good thing, but in the interests of holding your attention, Mr. Fischer, I’ll confine myself to clichéd aphorisms: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. For instance, while some people might quite enjoy, say, being fisted, I imagine that you would object most strenuously.

So if you’ll take the liberty of imagining the world as your own rectum, Bryan—may I call you Bryan?—global warming would be the fist.

*In case an actual scientific publication is too much for you, here’s the kid’s page, courtesy of Nickelodeon.

And Christ Said Unto Him, ‘Discharge Thy Weapon!’

The Virginia Tech Massacre may be the greatest tragedy ever to befall a university campus. On 16 April 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate with severe untreated mental illness, killed 32 students and wounded dozens more. The magnitude of the crisis was such that even President Bush moved to strengthen federal gun control laws.

In the wake of the killings, surviving victims and those affected sought the comfort of family, friends, and clergy. Those who turned to Pastor Fischer for solace received the tastelessly titled screed, ‘Second Amendment: Designed for Virginia Tech,’ complete with an inlaid image of a handgun juxtaposed with the Virginia Tech logo.

In his pious epistle, Fischer declares boldly that ‘disarmed Americans are defenseless Americans’ while chiding Virginia Tech officials and Virginia lawmakers for not permitting students and faculty to ‘carry concealed handguns on campus.’

While most commentators questioned how such a tragedy could occur or how a young man’s severe mental illness could persist untreated, Fischer took the high-ground and urged everyone to start packing concealed heat. Yes Bryan, what we need is for university students to carry 9mm Colts.

Kids, just be sure the safeties are securely engaged during keg stands and bong hits.

In our favorite paragraph, Fischer applauds the heroism of Professor Liviu Librescu, who died in the shooting, also noting irrelevantly that he was a Holocaust survivor. Fischer invokes the teachings of Jesus, quoting John 15:13: ‘Greater love hath no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.’ He follows with the observation, ‘It is certainly unfortunate and tragic that the professor had only his body but no weapon with which to defend himself and his students.’

Really, Bryan? You’re quoting Jesus and lamenting that Librescu failed to carry a 12-gauge to class in the same paragraph?

The ICV Editors would like to urge all trash collectors, post carriers, utilities workers, and Democrats to tread carefully around Fischer’s property, lest you spook him into discharging a few Christly rounds from his concealed weapon.

Obama the Racist?

Last January, two days after the inauguration of the man an entire nation is counting on to pull its collective ass out of the fire, the US observed the anniversary of another seminal moment in history: the 1972 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

Naturally, Bryan Fischer could not let such a fortuitous near-conjunction pass without comment, so he weighed in with the puzzling title: "Obama Will Set Black Civil Rights Back Years."

"How" you ask, "could this shiny new president possibly merit such condemnation?" Has he preemptively invaded a sovereign nation with false justification? Allowed thousands of black Americans to remain displaced and homeless in one of the richest countries in the world? Did he vomit on the Japanese Prime Minister?

No. Even worse, Obama voiced support for the Freedom of Choice Act, which expands and protects Roe v. Wade. This is a blow to the black community because, quoth Fischer, 'abortion is wiping out black babies at an astonishing rate.'

It’s all due to the evil folks at Planned Parenthood, which according to Fischer "has located more than 75% of its clinics in minority neighborhoods, almost as if they were deliberately intent on fulfilling founder Margaret Sanger’s ghoulish hopes to ‘exterminate the Negro population.’"

[Editors’ Note: Margaret Sanger actually opposed abortion. She was, however, a staunch proponent of eugenics, and given Mr. Fischer’s ideas about who can and cannot have children, we wonder if he and Ms. Sanger don’t have more in common than he thinks.]

Fischer's article is accompanied by 'a pro-life ad […] celebrating President Barack Obama's mother's decision not to abort the first black American president.' The ad offensively assumes that all black children are on the cusp of being aborted, without observing the obvious: that Stanley Ann Dunham wanted her child. There is, of course, a world of difference between a woman who happily carries to term, and one who has no choice but to complete an unwanted pregnancy.

Dear deluded Bryan: it’s not about race. It’s not about age, socioeconomic background, or even sexual orientation (although, come to think of it, gay couples probably don’t have many abortions; that's a conundrum for you!). It’s about choice, and black women have as much right to make that choice as anyone.

Fischer believes that abortion clinics are like McDonald's – you see those seductive golden arches and suddenly have to have something from the Dollar Menu. Abortions are not an impulse buy. Planned Parenthood is merely providing services where they are most needed.

If you want to reduce abortions, Bryan, how about relaxing your attitude toward contraceptive education? After all, the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization respected and cited on both sides of the choice debate, reports that "eight percent of women who have abortions have never used a method of birth control ... [while] nonuse is greatest among those who are young, poor, black, Hispanic or less educated."

Could it be, Bryan, that your opposition to contraceptive education is contributing to the number of abortions in black communities? Could it be that education and access to contraception might reduce abortion numbers across the board?

Could it be that it's not President Obama, but in fact the Idaho Values Alliance, that's working to set back black civil rights?

The Company We Keep

It is said that Jesus appointed his 12 apostles to learn the way, witness His transfiguration, and serve as missionaries in the early church. They were essential to recording the gospels and making Christianity what it is today. The company Christ kept had a profound effect on the direction of the nascent church.

So whose guidance does Bryan Fischer seek for his godly work? In June 2006 he dedicated part of his newsletter to an enthusiastic endorsement of Ann Coulter, grandly proclaiming in the subtitle, ‘IF YOU ONLY READ ONE BOOK THIS YEAR, MAKE IT “GODLESS” BY ANN COULTER.’

Now, the editors of IVC sympathize that Fischer’s followers mightn’t have the ability to wade through more than one meaty tome per annum, but if they’re to read only one book, surely there’s a better choice than Ann Coulter? Say, perhaps, The Bible? Maybe this had something to do with Fischer being sacked by his congregation.

Fischer proceeds, ‘I’ve begun reading Ann Coulter’s new book, “Godless,” and it is perhaps the most powerful book I’ve read this decade.’ Wow. Really, Bryan? Ann Coulter’s work might be the best you’ve read in ten years? Someone should get the Pastor a copy of The DaVinci Code. [Editors' Note: We’re surprised that, in spite of Fischer’s obsession, The Joy of Gay Sex did not make the cut.]

It’s difficult to understand Fischer’s glowing support of a woman who delights in using the word ‘faggot’ and is unashamedly racist. We suspect Fischer might be unaware of Coulter’s public image, and that perhaps the recommendation stems myopically from his penchant for surrounding himself with chesty blonde apostles.

More recently, Fischer lavishes praise on Rush Limbaugh, calling him the ‘single most influential conservative on the planet.’ While Fischer’s busy taking talking points from Rush, we’ll continue to wonder whether all those half-consumed bottles of expired Oxycontin are ‘family friendly’ enough for Idaho.

The Lady Doth Protest

One of Fischer’s favorite themes is homosexuality. He lives and breathes it. The world could be in the throes of the Rapture and Bryan would still find a way to inject gay sex into a conversation.

Indeed, in May 2006, Fischer wrote extensively about The Joy of Gay Sex in his daily email newsletter. Now, Bryan jealously guards his email distribution list. He refuses even to reveal the number of recipients. But one can imagine the shock and sense of betrayal felt by the list’s genteel matrons and crumbling Christian gentlemen when Pastor Fischer treated them to a vivid description of ‘fisting’ and ‘daddy/son fantasies.’

Commentators who follow Fischer are quick to note his obsession with all aspects of gay life. His favored approach is to paint the gay community as a monolithic political powerhouse that seeks to strip Christians of their rights while recruiting their children in the process. He savors the opportunity to conflate homosexuality with pedophilia, and is wont to establish even the flimsiest links between the two when possible.

Fischer also obsesses over the ‘immutability question;’ that is, whether gays can willfully become straight. Ever confident, Bryan insists that homosexuality can be overcome. In Fischer’s mind, his deluge of harassment is warranted, and perhaps even morally permissible, if gays can change.

Always the bloodhound, Fischer uncovered today an Idaho Statesman plot to conceal the truth about homosexuality. He targets a sentence in an article by staff writer Kristin Rodine on women sex offenders, which reads,

Girls who are abused by women also face an additional issue ... They are much more likely to question their own sexual orientation than are boys who are molested by men.

‘Ah ha!’ thinks Fischer, as he writes, ‘This must have slipped past the normally vigilant editors at the Statesman, since it is a clear admission that lesbians may not in fact be born that way.’

Sorry Bryan. The comment suggests nothing about the immutability of sexual orientation. It merely highlights the fact that many victims of sexual abuse develop layers of mistrust toward members of the offending sex. This hardly precludes trust issues related to sexual intimacy.

But why be so insistent that people can change their sexuality in the first place? The only way a person can truly know this is if he or she has 'overcome' their own homosexuality.

Bryan, do you have something you’d like to share?

Portrait of a Radical Cleric

Bryan Fischer is currently the Executive Director of the conservative activist organization, Idaho Values Alliance.

A non-native Idahoan, Fischer was trained as a minister at the conservative evangelical Dallas Theological Seminary before relocating to Idaho in the 1980s.

For many years Fischer was associated with the Cole Community Church before founding the Community Church of the Valley (CCV). After a rocky tenure at CCV's strip-mall location in Garden City, Idaho, Fischer's congregation voted to relieve him of his ministry and remove him from their church. Following a series of bitter leadership disputes and the eventual concession of a generous severance package, Fischer left CCV.

The newly defenestrated Fischer subsequently founded, with daughter and wife, the Idaho Values Alliance (IVA), whose stated, and rhetorically unclear, purpose is to 'Make Idaho the Friendliest Place in the World to Raise a Family.'

Though it's non-profit, the IVA's work consistently reflects the fringe-conservative religious views held by Fischer. Concomitantly, a bulk of the organization's resources are dedicated to attacking homosexuals, working to restrict women's reproductive health rights, discrediting and dismantling the independent judiciary, working to elect like-minded conservative Christians, fighting to introduce religion into Idaho's public school and university classrooms, and more broadly demonizing those who do not share Fischer's political views.

Occasionally Fischer also comments on national politics.

Though his credentialed expertise are limited to Bible studies, Fischer regularly offers purportedly expert advice on matters of law, science, medicine, psychology, economics, history and public policy. He is frequently accused of intellectual dishonesty and is often reluctant to substantiate in writing questionable data and evidence he proposes as fact.

A capable writer, Fischer's preferred style involves the use of rhetoric to discredit, and frequently demonize, his opponents while supporting his views with carefully selected 'facts' from sources of questionable validity. He also routinely overstates the political power of the communities he attacks to paint them as invidious oppressors who seek to restrict the rights of his followers.

This rhetorical device often leads Fischer to co-opt the political discourse of social progress movements, often employing directly language from civil rights leaders and members of other socially oppressed groups. In so doing, Fischer is rhetorically able to frame his personal social and political positions as those born out of a climate of victimization at the hand of a powerful oppressor.

The IVA is also the Idaho affiliate of the American Family Association, a national conservative religious organization with a similar provenance.