Dear Mike Heath:PLEASE, for the love of god, take LaBarbera with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s good that we take note that these people are not unidimensionalEven the Pope isn’t all bad, and while the Catholic hierarchy, at least in Maine, seems to be putting a priority on bigotry over their other pastoral duties, they do pay at least some attention to those other pastoral duties, some of which are good things.
I think it’s wonderful that Mike Heath has finally found a path to follow Jesus in a non-Pharasaical (well, as the Pharisees were portrayed in the New Testament, not the way most of them actually were) way that does not conflict with Jesus actual teachings, and his desire and intent to do good works for the poor in Africa also has the salutary effect of getting him away from oppressing people just because we are different.  He may still be numbered among the goats unless he repents the evil he has already done, but this remains to be seen.

One can hope that all Christians will eventually return to the true tenets of their faithThe fact that Mr. Heath has decided to work on poverty issues proves little but does suggest there are better and more Christ-like pursuits for believers. All true Christians must reject the “lying for the Lord” dogma of the RRW and take up the causes of the downtrodden just as Jesus did in his time.
Remember too that Christianity is a proselytizing religion, and that some very questionable religious leaders in africa have been undermining the message of Jesus in the interest of getting converts and by extension gaining influence along with enrichment of themselves. Poor people, often with poor educations, are easily led and will fall prey to “Christian” charlatans. Africa is the new frontier for those that would use religion as a way to advance themselves and gain riches.  
I hope that Mr. Heath is indeed seeing the light, and returning to the true principal of charity towards others. I applaud any attempt by anybody to help those in need. I hope that is Mike Heath’s sole mission to Africa.

I’ll be cynicalWere Mikey’s true mission and purpose were to help the poor, he didn’t have to even leave Maine. There are communities up here in very desperate situations and have been for awhile now.

Bill Nemitz of Portland Press Heraldgave Mikey a “going away” column…
Some snippets:

His relevance fading away, Heath exits
His exit came quietly. No cheering crowds, no signs decrying the evils of homosexuality, no rhetorical bombs likening the two chambers of the Maine Legislature to “Sodom” and “Gomorrah.”
Just a press release, quietly posted Tuesday atop the Maine Family Policy Council’s Web site, titled “Heath Moves On.”
That’s right. Fourteen years after he took control of what was then the Christian Civic League of Maine – and just six weeks before Mainers go to the polls to decide whether to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law – Michael Heath made it official: His days as the voice of Maine’s religious right are over.
“It’s something I’ve been pondering for some time,” a noticeably subdued Heath said in a telephone interview shortly after the news broke.
No surprise there. To watch Heath these days, sitting on the sideline while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland leads the fight against same-sex marriage, is to see a man trapped in his own irrelevance.
It’s not that Heath, who once made headlines simply by opening his mouth, ever stopped speaking. Rather, most of Maine simply stopped listening.
………………………..
This is also the man who one year later equated gays’ and lesbians’ “desperately evil” crusade for equal rights with the “Nazi tyranny” that led to World War II. To remain “passive” against homosexuals, Heath railed, was to invite the fate of those who failed to stand up to Hitler.
This is also the man who once warned that if Maine passed an equal rights statute, “we may turn a corner, trip and fall into the moral gutter of sexual, relational and legal permissiveness that engulfs Maine’s southern city of Portland.” The law ultimately passed – and everyone’s still standing.
In short, this was a man who, time and again, played to his ever-shrinking congregation of loyalists without noticing (or perhaps caring) that each over-the-top salvo left many more Mainers wiping the soot from their eyes and wondering what in the name of God Heath was doing.

But no worries; he’ll be back!Same column as above:

And now, as he departs, does Heath care to assess the Roman Catholic diocese-led campaign that’s gone on without him?
“I’m not going to discuss or say anything that is going to cast any negative light on the campaign – it’s a very important issue,” Heath replied. “I just can’t comment on the record prior to the election.”
Fair enough. But does that imply he’ll have something to say after the ballots are all counted?
“Yes, it does,” he said.
Meaning there is at least one more headline left in Michael Heath.