Brenda Konkel's Madison

Well Brenda Konkel is fuming mad that employees of the Salvation Army may keep a copy of the best selling book in the history of the world – The Bible – on their desks and, *gasp* follow some of its teachings.

Specifically at issue is how the Christian organization handles same sex couples in its homeless shelters. Is the Salvation Army turning these people away? Not exactly. Rather, Ms. Konkel is furious that the organization has the sheer gal to require that homosexuals not fornicate while using its county-subsidized services.

As Casey Hoff, a Badger Herald columnist, local talk show host and friend of mine notes in his Madison.com blog:

Ms. Konkel apparently believes that the City of Madison and Dane County shouldn't be affiliated or provide support to the evil Christian organization, of which it received over $600,000 and around $13,000 from the city for the operation of its homeless shelter program and "family stabilization services". If Konkel is trying to insinuate some sort of violation of separation of church and state, then that's as absurd as the recent cancellation of the bell ringing field trip at Chavez Elementary where the third graders were going to actually help out the poor by through fund raising.

Again, there is no proselytizing involved with the Salvation Army and their help with the poor. They provide food, aid, and shelter to atheists, agnostics, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and people of all faiths or lack thereof.


Now, for the record, I am not a Christian and personally have no issues with what homosexuals do in private. But so long as the City of Madison is incapable of tending to its homeless population and is reliant on faith-based organizations, it seems only reasonable to allow such groups to operate within the bounds of their causes to a reasonable degree.

What is reasonable? Preaching the Bible is not. Forcing the homeless to take communion before receiving a bed is not. And certainly pushing conversion is outside the realm of fair play.

But what Ms. Konkel is mad about is a religious organization operating based on its belief structure. Nowhere in Wisconsin law that I am aware of is there an entitlement to receive free food, shelter and habitat for fornication.

The Salvation Army is darn good at what it does. If the City of Madison feels as though it can do a better job on its own for cheaper, it should take over. Otherwise, it is high time for city alders to actually be appreciative of the bargain of a service the faith-based community is offering.

What is perhaps more disturbing though is the way Ms. Konkel subtly abuses her power to harass city residents. Her blog post on the issue begins with a rant against a woman who called her:

I got a phone call today from a woman, an alleged "Christian" woman. The first thing she said was that I should stop badmouthing the Salvation Army. I tried to ask her what she was talking about, but she wouldn't really answer. She proceeded to ask me why I hated Christians. Eventually, she resorted to name calling. She kept calling me "nothing". Complained that I worked in a non-profit. Suggested that I put up homeless people myself if I didn't like the way the Salvation Army did it. She continued talking over me, insulting me and calling me anti-Christian and telling me I was "nothing". I tried to explain I wasn't anti-Christian and that this wasn't a very "Christian" conversation, but she wouldn't listen. I finally had to tell her the conversation was over and hang up on her.

So what is so disturbing? The last line of Ms. Konkel's entry is downright chilling:

By the way, if you're going to try to make anonymous phone calls, think a little bit. I was able to get the "Christian" women's phone number off my cell phone, googled the number and got her address. Looked up the address in the voter file and now I have her name. I'm tempted to send her a copy of this blog, but it would probably freak her out too much.

So, to review, Ms. Konkel didn't like what someone had to say to her, so she stalked the person down, using a voter file as part of the process, and is now threatening to harass her.

I only take quiet comfort in knowing that I don't live in Ms. Konkel's district.