Kitsap Sun - March 6th 2015 edition
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KITSAP SUN « Friday, <strong>March</strong> 6, <strong>2015</strong> «7A<br />
Opinion<br />
SHAREYOURTHOUGHTS<br />
Respondtoeditorials,letterstotheeditor<br />
and columnists. kitsapsun.com<br />
The law’s hand<br />
just got heavier<br />
What does government<br />
overreach look like? It goes<br />
further than the annoying<br />
nannystatewhichIwrote<br />
about last week. Two prominent<br />
examples of it recently<br />
appeared in the news, one<br />
dealingwithflowerarrangementsandtheotherwitha<br />
dial phone.<br />
When can you be required<br />
to create something artistic<br />
against your will? According<br />
toaBentonCountySuperior<br />
Court Judge the answer is<br />
anytimeyourinactionoffends<br />
another party wanting you to<br />
supporttheiractions,evenif<br />
youdisagreewiththem.<br />
This case has been describedasasimplediscriminationcasebutit’smuchmore<br />
thanthat.In<strong>March</strong>,2013,<br />
RobertIngersoll,alongtime<br />
customer of Arlene’s FlowersandGiftsinRichland,<br />
Washington,askedfloristand<br />
owner Barronelle Stutzman<br />
to create floral arrangements<br />
for his same-sex wedding. She<br />
was aware Mr. Ingersoll was<br />
gayandhadpreviouslymade<br />
holiday arrangements for him<br />
and his partner, but declined<br />
to do so for his wedding because,<br />
“according to her relationship<br />
with Jesus Christ,”<br />
shebelievedamarriagewas<br />
onlyaunionbetweenaman<br />
and a woman. She offered to<br />
sell him flowers if someone<br />
else would arrange them or,<br />
if that wouldn’t do, she gave<br />
him the names of several floristswhowouldbehappyto<br />
accommodate his needs.<br />
Thealternativessuggested<br />
byMs.Stutzmanweren’tgood<br />
enough because Mr. Ingersoll<br />
andhispartnersuedunder<br />
theConsumerProtectionAct,<br />
which prohibits “discriminationagainstcustomersonthe<br />
basisofsexualorientation.”<br />
The Washington Chapter of<br />
the American Civil Liberties<br />
Union along with the State<br />
Attorney General, who also<br />
sued Ms. Stutzman personally,joinedthesuit.<br />
However, she never declined<br />
to provide flowers to<br />
these customers because<br />
they were gay. Creating artistic<br />
floral arrangements would<br />
haveforcedhertoparticipate<br />
in their wedding and she refused<br />
to do so because of her<br />
religious beliefs.<br />
TheBentonCountyJudge’s<br />
opinion will be appealed<br />
by the Alliance Defending<br />
Freedom organization. The<br />
Judge’srulingalsoindicated<br />
Ms. Stutzman can be sued<br />
personally which will financially<br />
destroy her along with<br />
herfamily-runflowershop<br />
of 47 years. It’s hard to understand<br />
how her attempted<br />
accommodation for a client<br />
mayleadtoherfinancialruin.<br />
Apparently the law now commandsparticipationinevents<br />
against the specific religious<br />
beliefsofafellowcitizen.<br />
And it’s heartbreaking her<br />
proposed accommodation<br />
wasn’t met with similar consideration<br />
on the part of her<br />
customers.<br />
———<br />
Morethan20yearsagoour<br />
seven-year-old niece was visiting<br />
and wanted to telephone<br />
herfather.Wehadanextra<br />
hard-wired phone she could<br />
useandaftershowingherthe<br />
EDITORIAL POLICY<br />
The <strong>Kitsap</strong> <strong>Sun</strong>’s editorial opinions are shaped by the editor and<br />
opinion editor in consultation with the editorial board. Editorials,<br />
whichrepresenttheopinionofthe<strong>Kitsap</strong><strong>Sun</strong>,arewrittenbythe<br />
editor or the opinion editor.<br />
LETTERS POLICY<br />
Letters should be 250 words or shorter, neatly typewritten.<br />
The <strong>Kitsap</strong> <strong>Sun</strong> reserves the right to reject, edit or condense all letters.<br />
Mass submissions are not accepted and writers are generally limited to<br />
oneletteramonth.Alllettersmustincludethewriter’sfirstnameand<br />
(for our verification) address and daytime phone number.<br />
By mail: LetterstotheEditor<br />
P.O.Box259,Bremerton,WA98337<br />
Phone: 360-415-2679<br />
EDITORIAL BOARD<br />
Martha Burke<br />
SUQUAMISH<br />
Drayton Jackson<br />
BREMERTON<br />
DAVID NELSON<br />
EDITOR<br />
JIM CAMPBELL<br />
OPINION EDITOR EMERITUS<br />
phonewelefttheroom,only<br />
toseeherwalkingoutwitha<br />
confused look on her face. She<br />
couldn’tfigureouthowtouse<br />
it because she’d never seen a<br />
rotary-dial phone before.<br />
Ithoughtofthisamusing<br />
episodewhenIheardthe<br />
Federal Communications<br />
Commission (FCC) decided,<br />
along party lines, to adopt the<br />
misleadingterm“net-neutrality”toimplementgovernment<br />
oversightoftheInternet,at<br />
this time broadband service<br />
providers.<br />
Their vehicle of choice in<br />
implementingthispowergrab<br />
was reclassifying broadband<br />
access (Internet Service Providers,orISPs)asatelecommunications<br />
service and applying<br />
the constraints of Title<br />
II(commoncarrier)ofthe<br />
Communications Act of 1934,<br />
signed into law by President<br />
FranklinD.RooseveltonJune<br />
19, 1934.<br />
Supposedly this reclassification<br />
was necessary to guaranteethefreedomoftheInternetandtoassureISPsactin<br />
the “public interest” and don’t<br />
engagein“unjustorunreasonablebusinesspractices.”<br />
According to net-neutrality<br />
believers all data must be<br />
treated equally regardless of<br />
how much bandwidth is used.<br />
ButitwastheISPsthatspent<br />
billions of dollars creating the<br />
networks,notthecontentproducers.<br />
There’s hardly a lack<br />
of competition, which was<br />
anotherexcuseusedforthe<br />
regulation.<br />
This once independent<br />
commission appears to have<br />
bowedtothewishesofPresident<br />
Obama who suggested<br />
the FCC pass net-neutrality.<br />
Before that time the FCC<br />
Chairman opposed utility<br />
regulation of the Internet in<br />
keepingwithwhathadbeen<br />
done for several decades. But<br />
with less than two years left<br />
in his presidency President<br />
Obama continues to grab<br />
asmuchashecanoftheenginesofcommercetoputundercontrolofadministrative<br />
regulators.<br />
The FCC said some of the<br />
Title II sections, like price<br />
controls and content oversight,won’tbeappliednow.<br />
But there’s no promise that<br />
won’thappeninthefuture.<br />
It’satragedythesuccessfully<br />
run, innovative Internet now<br />
faces the regulations originally<br />
applied to Ma Bell 80<br />
years ago.<br />
Afterpassingnet-neutrality<br />
theFCCChairmansaid,“This<br />
isnomoreaplantoregulate<br />
the Internet than the First<br />
Amendmentisaplantoregulate<br />
free speech ...” If so, why<br />
didittake332pagestosay<br />
they “won’t” regulate the Internet<br />
and why haven’t those<br />
regulations been released to<br />
thepublicyet?<br />
COMMUNITY MEMBERS<br />
Jim Stark<br />
GRAPEVIEW<br />
PAM<br />
DZAMA<br />
COMMUNITY COLUMNIST<br />
Contact Pam Dzama at pdzama@<br />
gmail.com.<br />
Susanne Hughes<br />
BREMERTON<br />
Bart Kale<br />
SEABECK<br />
Fax: 360-415-2681<br />
Web: www.kitsapsun.com<br />
Email: letters@kitsapsun.com<br />
Spiritualdoubtacceptedmoretoday<br />
Every other Saturday,<br />
this newspaper carries a<br />
column by Bill Tinsley, a<br />
former associate director<br />
fortheBaptistGeneralConventionofTexas.<br />
In his February 14 column,<br />
he wrote about the Ebola<br />
outbreak in Africa and<br />
the panic it caused in this<br />
country when two people<br />
diedandafewotherswere<br />
stricken but recovered.<br />
Oneofthosewhosurvived,<br />
Dr. Kent Brantly,<br />
attributedhisrecoveryto<br />
the prayers of the people<br />
praying over him directly,<br />
tootherpeopleprayingfor<br />
him outside his house, and<br />
to thousands more, maybe<br />
millions, some of whom<br />
were praying via the website<br />
praytoendebola.org.<br />
Therationalmindasks,<br />
How can we be sure it was<br />
prayer that did the trick?<br />
CanGodbetheonlyexplanation,ormightthere<br />
be other causes of the recoveries?<br />
And how can we<br />
explainthethousandswho<br />
were prayed over but who<br />
died anyway?<br />
Tinsley inadvertently<br />
raises a similar question<br />
when he tells the story from<br />
thebookofLukeaboutJesuscuring10lepers.We<br />
presume that Jesus prayed<br />
over the lepers, but how certaincanwebethatprayer<br />
didthetrickwhenthereare<br />
several forms of leprosy,<br />
some of which regress on<br />
their own?<br />
And why didn’t he deal<br />
with some of the other<br />
troublesomediseasesofthe<br />
time — dropsy, epilepsy, insanity,worms,itch,andso<br />
on?<br />
Just below Tinsley’s columnonEbolaandprayer<br />
LETTERS<br />
ROB<br />
WOUTAT<br />
Noel C. Sim, Bremerton<br />
United effort for new<br />
AgatePassBridge<br />
The contrasting impacts, from favorable<br />
to unfavorable, the new Agate<br />
PassBridgemayhaveonentitieswith<br />
linkagetothisspanremindsoneof<br />
theadage,“oneman’smeatisanother<br />
man’spoison.”(“Isalargercorridorin<br />
Bainbridge’s future?” Feb. 22)<br />
Thisproblemwillonlygetworse<br />
withpublicopinion,aseachentitywill<br />
proposewhatbenefitsthemtothedetrimentofothers.Thisisoneinstance<br />
wherethestateDepartmentofTransportationmuststepinandassertits<br />
rightstoensurethatitsactionisforthe<br />
greatest good for the greatest number<br />
of residents in the region affected by<br />
this bridge.<br />
Asolutionisforaunitedeffort<br />
amongentitiesaffectedbythisbridge<br />
— which includes the state DOT, <strong>Kitsap</strong><br />
County, Bainbridge Island, Suquamish<br />
Tribe, etc. — not only to agree<br />
uponadesign,buttosecurefunding<br />
for agreed-upon projects. The<br />
WestSoundAllianceisagoodstart<br />
where all the above-mentioned entities<br />
should bind together and agree<br />
tobeboundbywhateverboard,commission<br />
or authority created for this<br />
undertaking will decide based on<br />
studies and recommendations of the<br />
traffic engineering consultants engagedforthisproject.Inallthese,the<br />
state must exercise leadership in the<br />
COMMUNITY COLUMNIST<br />
is an AP article about John<br />
Delin,alifelongMormon<br />
who was excommunicated<br />
fromtheChurchofLatter<br />
Day Saints for operating a<br />
website (Mormonstories.<br />
org) on which he opposed<br />
church doctrine and allegedly<br />
encouraged others to<br />
doubt.(AchurchspokesmansaidDelin’ssupport<br />
of same-sex marriage was<br />
notthereasonforhisbanishment.)<br />
We adopt a certain religionandchurcheitherbecausewewerebornintoit<br />
or because we find that its<br />
religious precepts and practices<br />
are in line with our<br />
own.Butifwefindthatthe<br />
fitisn’tperfect,whatthen?<br />
The consequences of<br />
heresy vary dramatically,<br />
with the most fearsome occurring<br />
in predominantly<br />
Islamcountries.Although<br />
notstatedintheQuran,the<br />
traditional consequence of<br />
leaving the Islamic faith<br />
isdeath,andanumberof<br />
Quranicverseshavebeen<br />
interpreted by religious<br />
scholars as justification<br />
for executing apostates.<br />
(“Whosoever turns back<br />
fromhisbelief,openlyor<br />
secretly,takehimandkill<br />
him wheresoever ye find<br />
him, like any other infidel.”)<br />
TheTorah,iftakenliterally,isequallyunforgiving<br />
of heretics. If somebody<br />
says to you, “Let us go and<br />
serve other gods … thou<br />
shaltsurelykillhim…thou<br />
shalt stone him with stones,<br />
that he die; because he hath<br />
sought to thrust thee away<br />
fromtheLORDthyGod…”<br />
TheBiblewarnsagainst<br />
“wandering off into myths,”<br />
following false prophets,<br />
and risking “chains<br />
of gloomy darkness to be<br />
kept until judgment” and,<br />
ultimately, destruction.<br />
ButsincetheInquisitionin<br />
Europe and the days when<br />
hard-line Puritans crushed<br />
to death people they believed<br />
to have been seized<br />
bythedevil,mostChristiansandJewshaverelaxed<br />
their hostility toward other<br />
believers, although Jehovah’s<br />
Witnesses shun or<br />
“disfellowship” those who<br />
disagree with their teachings<br />
and consider apostates<br />
as “mentally diseased,”<br />
and polls show that most<br />
Americans still disapprove<br />
of atheists (but disapprove<br />
muchlessofpeoplewhodescribe<br />
themselves as “nontheists”).<br />
Hindus,havingnoconcept<br />
of apostasy, may be<br />
the most advanced and<br />
accepting of all, allowing<br />
the individual complete<br />
implementation of this process.<br />
This approach will attest to another<br />
adage, “Rising tides will raise<br />
all boats.”<br />
JudyArbogast,Port Orchard<br />
Food assistance a<br />
critical need in state<br />
Thisweekanumberofpeoplewere<br />
in Olympia handing out bananas to our<br />
legislatorstoremindthemthatthere<br />
arepeopleinthisstatewhoarefood<br />
insecure. Our Legislature has made<br />
cutsof25percenttofoodassistance<br />
programs. With 30,000 students in our<br />
schoolswhoarehomelessandwiththe<br />
minimumwagenotkeepingupwith<br />
thecostofliving,fartoomanypeople<br />
inourstatearestrugglingjusttofeed<br />
their families.<br />
Childrenofourstatearetheones<br />
who are suffering. The lack of food affectsallaspectsoftheirlife,fromfailuretothrivetolackofconcentration<br />
and inability to learn. Children with<br />
food insecurity are more susceptible<br />
to illness.<br />
The discrepancy between the<br />
wealthyandthepoorisincreasing.We<br />
need legislators who will help solve<br />
theseissuesthroughpolicychanges.<br />
Itiscurrentpolicieswhicharesupportingtheseinequitiesanditmust<br />
be through new policies that we allow<br />
thepeopleofourstatemoreequitable<br />
access to the basics of living.<br />
Wearestilloftenguided<br />
largelybymythsand<br />
afflictedbyprejudice,andmay<br />
always be, but on the whole<br />
we’renotaseagertoteareach<br />
other’s throats out over<br />
differences of belief and<br />
appearance, and that has to<br />
count for progress.”<br />
freedom to leave the faith,<br />
believing that all sincere<br />
faith leads ultimately to<br />
thesameGod.In“Apostasy<br />
in Islam,” Rudolph Peters<br />
andJJdeVrieswrite“…<br />
no country with Christian,<br />
Buddhist,Hindu…agnosticoratheistmajorityhad<br />
anycriminalorcivillaws<br />
forbidding or encouraging<br />
apostasy, or had laws<br />
restricting an individual’s<br />
right to convert from one<br />
religion to another.”<br />
People who keep track<br />
of these things report that<br />
therehasbeenariseinreligious<br />
intolerance in the<br />
most recent years, but over<br />
thousandsofyearsourspecies,<br />
strict Islamists aside,<br />
hasshownsomeimprovement<br />
in its willingness to<br />
acknowledge and tolerate<br />
other religious beliefs.<br />
Wearestilloftenguided<br />
largelybymythsandafflicted<br />
by prejudice, and<br />
mayalwaysbe,butonthe<br />
wholewe’renotaseagerto<br />
tear each other’s throats out<br />
over differences of belief<br />
andappearance,andthat<br />
has to count for progress.<br />
Contact Rob Woutat at<br />
rwoutat@gmail.com.<br />
I encourage everyone to contact<br />
yourlegislatorstosupportastate<br />
budget that will ease this inequalityinourstate.TheHousebillsthat<br />
passed this week for increasing the<br />
minimumwageandforallowingsick<br />
days from work are a start in the right<br />
direction.<br />
Petra Hellthaler, Bremerton<br />
Withoutgovernment,<br />
there’s no Internet<br />
MayIpleasemakeasuggestionto<br />
Dale Harmon regarding his letter “Net<br />
neutralityrulethepreludetotaxes”?<br />
(<strong>March</strong> 3)<br />
He states that “The Internet is one<br />
of the greatest technological advancements<br />
in modern history” followed by<br />
“…withlittleornogovernmentinvolvement.”<br />
HeobviouslyhasaccesstotheInternetandIsuggestheuseasearch<br />
enginetolearnabouttheroleofDAR-<br />
PA,ARPANETandNSFNETandof<br />
governmentagenciessuchastheDepartmentofDefenseandtheNational<br />
Science Foundation in creating and<br />
funding the Internet.<br />
Without the government, there<br />
wouldbenoInternet.AlGore,who<br />
said he “took the initiative in creating<br />
theInternet,”wasreferringtohisrole<br />
asamajorsupporterandleaderinassuring<br />
the funding and development<br />
of the Internet.