Bryan Fischer departed Idaho about five years ago, but the New Yorker article now out profiling him (“Bully Pulpit”) – the hook was his blast at a Matt Romney spokesman who happens to be gay, resulting in the aide’s resignation – is still well worth the read by Idahoans. He was a significant figure in the state for a number of years, and he had real impact on the evangelical community in the Boise area.

One of the sources for it was Boise’s Dennis Mansfield, who was once close to Fischer but parted ways years ago. (The specifics are detailed in part in the article.”

Mansfield’s blog has a fine post up today reflecting on Fischer. He wrote at one point, “Debating the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality in our culture is something that Bryan Fischer is actively engaged in, and has been for over a decade. You know what? I used to be there too. The term “righteous anger” would have been an appropriate term to describe the ferocity with which I would debate this issue, and others. The problem is that it doesn’t work. Somebody who yells and screams makes for great entertainment, but little else. I’ve found that is is exponentially more difficult to shut my mouth, and listen. It is also exponentially more rewarding.”

He closes with this from Corinthians 1: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”