Yep, this is, indeed, a Christian nation, and no more proof of that comes from a state that has a bunch of mega-churches and christians.

Arnold Abbott is a 90 year old guy who serves gourmet meals to the homeless in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Unlike a lot of soup lines and food distribution places, Mr. Abbot ads a little class by dressing in his chef’s white apron, and prepares gourmet meals.

For over 20 years he has prepared four-course gourmet meals for the homeless and hungry.

Problem is, Ft. Lauderdale recently passed an ordinance that makes feeding the homeless on the street a crime.

Abbot, along with two local ministers, got arrested as he was serving food, and now the three of them face 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

“One of the police officers said, ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I were carrying a weapon,” Abbott recalled.

Not to be deterred, the charitable trio, Arnold Abbot and pastors Dwayne Black and Mark Sims, were back at it this past Wednesday night serving up chicken-and-vegetables with broccoli sauce and a cubed ham-and-pasta dish.

They were cheered on by approximately 100 on lookers.

“Thank God for Chef Arnold. I haven’t eaten all day. He feeds a lot of people from the heart,” said 56-year-old Eddie Hidalgo, who described himself as living on the streets since losing his job two years ago.

Police spokeswoman DeAnna Greenlaw explained that when Abbot  was called over to a police car parked nearby, he had been issued a citation on the charge of violating the no feeding the homeless ordinance.

The ban on feeding the homeless is obviously an attempt to limit the number of homeless people who hang out in public places, but a more effective way might be to address homelessness more effectively.

The causes of homelessness need to be addressed.

We have people on the streets because they have lost their jobs when they were out-sourced, and we have veterans returning home from the Middle East who are simply ignored because they no longer make for good photo ops, and at least 30 cities have recently passed ordinances that ban feeding the homeless on the street.

Mayor Jack Seiler of Fort Lauderdale said that even though Abbott and the two pastors have good intentions, the city can’t discriminate in enforcing the ordinance. “The parks have just been overrun and were inaccessible to locals and businesses,” Seiler said.

Sometime when I go into Boston, or am in another city, especially in the winter, and I see a homeless person asking people to put change in a paper cup, I will buy them a cup of coffee and hand it to them as I pass by.

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Maybe that’s why I do it, if not just to be charitable.

But I have found that in some cities where I have done that, I could have been cited for violating a no feeding the homeless ordinance.

Here are some examples I found on the internet.

Philadelphia has a ban on all outdoor feedings of large numbers of people on city parkland, including Love Park and the Ben Franklin Parkway, where it is not uncommon for outreach groups to offer free food.

Orlando mandates permits for groups distributing food to large groups in parks within two miles of City Hall, and this is limited to only two permits per park per year.

Houston shut down the “Feed a Friend” effort for lack of a permit. And city officials say the couple who ran this charity most likely will not be able to obtain one.

Dallas has a problem because its action to ban a local minister from feeding the homeless may be a violation of the free exercise of religion, as protected by the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act because the minister’s Christian faith requires them fed he hungry.

Las Vegas was the first major U.S. city to specifically pass a law banning the feeding of homeless people, and restricts the time and place of such handouts. The ordinance has been blocked by a federal judge because it specifically refers to the “indigent” which, I guess, makes it okay to hand anyone else that second Hostess cupcake from the package if you have no room for it, just not a homeless person.

New York City recently started enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters, and this limits donations of food.

I do understand that large numbers of homeless people gathering in public places, especially near businesses can cause problems, but I also understand that this could be decreased by dealing with the causes of homelessness.

But careful remedies take time and effort.

No feeding the homeless ordinances are quick, but they merely move the homeless people to some other place that causes a problem there.

It’s that NIMBY thing.

These ordinances move the homeless around, they do not address the underlying causes.