I was chatting with an old friend last night. Someone who is religious and kind. I am not religious and can only hope people think of me as kind. I wanted to ask her what she thought about people like the Westboro BaptistChurch, which - in case you have not heard of them - is an Independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals of American servicemen and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is actually monitored by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.
To be clear, the WBC is not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations. They are a congregation of about 40, overseen by an impassioned self-declared "civil rights activist" named Fred Phelps. Phelps is a disbarred attorney who has named one of his websites "God Hates Fags."
I did not know who the WBC was until they decided to protest a Foo Fighters concert in Kansas. The Foo Fighters took an unusual but brilliant approach toward it. Waving their "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" signs, I don't even think they knew how totally ridiculous they looked, unknowingly cheering for the very band they were protesting. Morons. My favorite part is the old lady at the end with her "God Hates Fags" sign who says "I loved that song!" (They're singing about "hot man muffins" - she's clueless.)
FYI, Dave Grohl looks dead sexy in flanel and cowboy boots.
And yesterday, I was reading about the WBC's plans to protest at Whitney Houston's funeral.
Disgusting.
So I asked my friend, how people who claim so vehemently to love God, act out in such terrible ways in his name? How would God feel about that?
Like I said, I'm not religious but I think that if there is a God, whatever or whoever he/she/it is, God would not want that.
Seems like a pretty simplistic statement as I read back over it, but that's all I get out of groups like the WBC.
And my friend said she believes God loves all his creatures. Even those idiots. And all I could think about that, actually, is that God SHOULD love those people. Because they clearly have not had enough love in their lives to know better. I think they probably need God's love more than I do.
I'll step down off my soapbox now. :)
