God Hates

A few thoughts on Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. I’ve noticed a huge backlash even among theists against Fred and his bunch. It’s easy to trace the backlash to when Fred decided to get some real publicity he would start protesting at soldier’s funerals. While appreciate the push-back from moderate Christian sources against Phelps, I wanted to point out one thing: There was very little push-back when Westboro was only protesting funerals of gay civilians. They protested the the funeral of Mathew Shepard, a gay man who was killed because of his homosexuality.

You must forgive me if I find all the push-back a bit “too little too late” now that Phelps is targeting military funerals. He’s been spreading his hatred for many years now, and moderate Christians didn’t seem to be very concerned about it. Only when they show up at a funeral of a soldier is his message “extreme” or “non-Christian.” I might be tempted to conclude that his behavior was fine with these new critics when he was only protesting the funerals of gays.

As an aside, I can not really see a legal reason why Westboro cannot protest at a military funeral. Free speech is free speech. The only time our commitment to free speech really matters is when someone repugnant like Fred Phelps is speaking. If we only allow speech that we like, than that is not free speech.

I’m pretty sure the extreme reaction to Westboro has to do with the dark underbelly of Christianity that they shine a light on. Their attitude toward gays isn’t all that different than many evangelical’s viewpoint. Sure, they aren’t unsophisticated as to say “God Hates Fags,” but they’ll gladly tell you that God condemns homosexuality and that it’s a “sinful lifestyle.” It doesn’t take an extremely obtuse reading of the Bible to conclude god does indeed hate fags, or at least he’s willing to destroy entire cities to get rid of them. It’s one of they few sins that somehow prohibits you from being a “good Christian.” (Why most of the other sins, like adultery get a pass, I’ll never know.) To be fair, these folks will pray for and try to “save” homosexuals, not spit at them. I do note the difference.

I’ve long been convinced that moderate Christianity provide the setting for the extremists to work in. Sure, they don’t sail the ship, but they help build it. When they don’t do their do diligence in countering extremism in their own ranks, they bolster this perception. Taking a stand against protesting a gay funeral takes a bit more courage than wrapping yourself in the flag and taking a stand at a soldier’s funeral. It’s a nice gesture, but we can do better and stand up for everyone.