Anti-gay churchgoers draw ire protesting at soldiers’ funerals
If they were protesting the government, I might even join them. But for them to come during the worst time for this family ó it’s just wrong.
- Danny Cotton
No reasonable, thinking person could ever describe Fred Phelps and his band of Westboro Baptist Church inbreds as anything but a collection proto-Fascist Christian thugs. Yes, I realize that I was raised to believe that our Lutheran God was a just, fair, and benevolent God, which clearly runs counter to the mean-spirited, vindictive, spiteful God that Phelps and his fellow trolls worship. Even so, in the name of all that is good and decent, what person claiming even the smallest shred of humanity takes their protest to a funeral to harrass and embarrass the families of the deceased- and does it in the name of their God, feeling that their narrow, ignorant agenda gives them the right to inflict yet more pain on the families involved?
Of course, Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is little more than a collection of Phelps’ inbred family that feels their beliefs trump anyone else’s and gives them the perfect right to behave however they deem appropriate- no matter how ignorant, offensive, or just plain insultingly beyond the pale that behavior may be. In a perfect world, good and honest Christians would burn Phelps at the stake, but then good and honest Christians understand the concepts of love and charity and even forgiveness.
SMYRNA, Tenn. (AP) ó Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq….
The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps’ children, grandchildren and in-laws.
The church members carried signs and shouted things such as “God hates fags” and “God hates you.”
About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.
The funerals were for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn II, 35, in Smyrna and Spc. Gary Reese Jr., 22, in Ashland City. Both were members of the Tennessee National Guard.
Hundreds of Smyrna and Ashland City residents and families of other soldiers turned out at both sites to counter the message the Westboro Baptist members brought…. counterprotesters in Smyrna turned their backs to Westboro Baptist members until time expired on the protest permits.
Phelps and his collection of inbreds should serve as a warning to all y’all who think that your Christianity is superior to any and all ideologies. Radical Islam is not the only religion capable of producing unbalanced nutjobs whose hatred and intolerance are fueled by pure ignorance and an elevated sense of ideological superiority. There are Christians within our borders capable of the very same behavior- and let’s consider the possibilities here, shall we? Given the righteous fervor with which Phelps and his Wingnuts hold to their beliefs, how long do you think it will be before one of them straps a bomb to their chest and drives into a funeral or a Gay Rights parade?
Don’t say that you haven’t been warned….
There's a really good line in a David Weber book about nutdom:
__"Nuts didn't need religion to make them nuts, Allison had long since decided, but it did seem to give them a certain added sense of commitment to whatever goals their nutdom decided to embrace."__
Allison Harrington
Ashes of Victory
Ordinary nuts are OK, they can serve many purposes, they entertain us, make us feel superior, and sometimes they give us cause to look at things from a different perspective. These nuts though are trying to cause pain and suffering to innocent familys that are already under durress.
That asshole protested a funeral in my hometown, St. Joseph, MO, recently. It was, unfortunately, not a far drive for him. I don't know how he has gotten away so long with doing these protests without getting shot.