I will admit, the current “joyous bon voyage” threads for a certain Christian Political personage are rather beyond my feeling of decency. But, I cannot keep this idea to myself.
Eventually, Fred Phelps is gonna die. He will have a Funeral.
So, it seems to me that that day, and that time would be the ultimate “right choice” for an annual celebration of Gay Pride. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, on the street in front of the same cemetery, there should be a parade, with an All Dorothy band, and a special Drag Queen Phred Look alike contest, and every manner of in your face gayness imaginable. Dykes on Bikes, and a free style and hair makeover competition, and leather and lace boutique booths, and . . . well, hell I’m not even gay enough to qualify as an event planner.
But, if you have it, I will come!
Tris
(I am sure the Phelps folks already thought I was going to Hell.)
I watched the Louis Theroux BBC 2 documentary on the Phelps clan. Their basic premise is, anyone who does not actively advocate the idea that all homosexuals are going to hell, is a “fag enabler” and is going to hell. The Phelps claim is, if another church out there was preaching the “true message of god” then they would go to heaven, but the leaders of the church repeatedly say throughout the documentary that no other churches do this, so effectively everyone in the entire world who is not a member of Westboro Baptist Church is hell-bound.
Some of the young girls they showed in that particular documentary couldn’t help but laugh/giggle as they explained their beliefs to Theroux. To be honest I got a weird impression that none of the people in WBC aside from maybe Fred himself takes it seriously, like it’s all some sort of elaborate hoax. Although considering all the hassle all of them go through to perform their ridiculous pickets, I guess you have to believe it’s real.
Paradoxically they also seem to think that people who die randomly died because god was punishing them. Theroux asked one of the women in the church (age mid-20s) if her father would be upset if she was hit by a car and killed and she said “No, because I’d be in hell.” It’s hard to identify logically consistent themes in their belief.
Theroux also asked if they think there are any other parts of Christian theology that are more worthwhile to share versus their assertion that all homosexuals are going to hell, and they replied that that isn’t the case.
If the whole gay thing was such a big hairy ass deal to God, how come it wasn’t included in the Big Ten? Being nice to your Mom is therefore is more important than whether you are gay or not, no?
“You kill or steal, I’m gonna kick yer ass into next week!”
There was a poster in the WBC-picketing-Fallwell’s-funeral thread that made the very interesting point that the entire organization may well be an elaborate cult constructed to ensure the hierarchichal nature of Fred Phelps himself. It’s not devotion to God that they practice so much as Phelp’s own personal interpretation of God’s word - which would explain their departure from pretty solid foundations of Christian morality such as the ten commandments, which of course makes no mention to homosexuality and outlines the ten biggies that all Christians should really worry about (I’m not Christian myself, it just seems to me that the ten commandments are treated as a pretty big deal by some, hence all the court cases as to where they can be displayed, etc.). The underlings of the WBC, while ostensibly spreading God’s “true word”, are most likely just doing what Phelps tells them to, whether they honestly believe it or not. They’ve been so well convinced that they’d go to hell for straying from the narrow church doctrine that they just comply and go through the movements in spite of themselves.
I find it hard to believe that the church would persist in all its glory ( ) after Phelps’ death. Imagine the People’s Temple without Jim Jones or the Branch Davidians without David Koresh.
There’s nothing in Christianity that makes orientation or attraction sin.
Most major Christian denominations do not view homosexuality as sin most view homosexual sexual acts along with extra-marital sex acts as sin, but even that is not universal as some Christian denominations allowed same-sex marriage and homosexual clergy.
Adultery is an action. WBC actually used the same argument when Theroux asked them why the prohibition on homosexuality wasn’t listed in the Ten Commandments.
The commandment on adultery is interpreted differently by all of the Christian denominations and by other religions as well (the Ten Commandments are part of the sacred texts of both Islam and Judaism although they aren’t near as prominent as they are in Christianity.)
IMO the most common interpretation is “Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom at least one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even transient ones - they commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of mere desire. The sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely. The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery; they see it as an image of the sin of idolatry.” Or at least, that’s how the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines it, and Catholics are the single largest group of Christians.
That is not to say that extramarital sexual acts not involving persons who are married isn’t prohibited elsewhere. But generally most mainstream Christian denominations don’t view homosexuality itself as sin, WBC explicitly states that being gay is a sin. They even take it a step further, saying anyone who doesn’t passionately denounce homosexuality and anyone or anything that also doesn’t denounce homosexuality is a sinner bound for hell.
Which applies only to those gays who are so closeted that they’re married and getting their gay sex on the side. Other wise it’s just fornication. Which doesn’t make the top ten list.
Christ did say that if you view someone with desire then you have commited adultery. I figure by that standard I commit adultery about 10 times per minute and I’m not ashamed or afraid of going to hell for it
