http://www.break.com/pictures/westboro-at-it-again439263.html
Protesting Heath Ledger’s funeral. Not because he was gay, cause, as far as I know, he wasn’t. Because he starred in “Brokeback Mountain” as a gay cowboy.
Sheesh.
Nothing that asshole does shocks me. If anything, it’s a badge of honor to have his minions show up at your funeral.
I think it’s far past time we stopped giving him attention and media coverage.
He was interviewed about Heath yesterday on an Australian (tabloid) Current Affairs news show. He’s a total madman.
Don’t blame Phreddy-boy. He’s tried, but he cain’t quit him.
To give the devil his due (perhaps using that phrase a bit more literally than in its usual application), by staring in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ with its sympathetic portrait of gay cowboys, Mr. Ledger could reasonably be argued to have acted as, in Mr. Phelps’ charming term, a ‘fag-enabler.’
This differs significantly from his usual charge of fag-enabling leveled against someone whose only act that Mr. Phelps sees as such is having the misfortune to die on duty as a soldier in Iraq.
Phelps is sick, twisted and batshit insane, but the charge here is at least marginally less batshit insane than usual.
…which, if you think about it, says a lot about what we’ve come to expect from our nutcases.
Fred, I swear…
Well, the mind rottting gossip blog Perez Hilton has been covering this, including the interview Shirley Phelps Roper gave. Seems she didn’t like it when people pointed out she had children outside of wedlock.
He certainly doesn’t seem to be the full quid. I only saw the bit where she said to him “Mr Phelps I hope one day you do get to meet your creator and you can explain yourself to him.” I chuckled at that but he started talking again so I changed channels.
Hell, I’d invite him to picket MY funeral.
I wouldn’t, because I don’t want to put my family through that kind of hateful insanity. 
I wonder…could we sicc Phredd on Paris Hilton?
I mean, if we really tried…
I don’t get Fred & his crew. One the one hand they protest “fags” and “fag enablers” as if they’re trying to change behavior. They’re not. Because on the other hand they preach a strong Calvinist message that we’re all predestined to be as we are. There’s nothing we can do to achieve salvation if we haven’t already been “elected” before birth, according to their doctrine. So why do they waste their time?
Of course the answer is they’re just a personality cult of attention-seeking trolls. They’re ridiculous enough on the surface. But they’re even more farcical given they’re own stated beliefs.
:smack: their
Well, i’m not interested in trying to account for the logic or consistency of the Westboro Baptist Church’s belief system, but it is worth noting that, historically, there are a number of important Calvinist belief systems that saw nothing inconsistent in preaching both Predestination and also the absolute need to obey God’s moral law.
Perhaps the most obvious, in an American historical context, are the Puritans who settled Massachusetts Bay. Like other Calvinist groups, the Puritans were very careful to argue that predestination did not free people from God’s strictures regarding behavior. In his famous “Treatise on the Covent of Grace,” Puritan theologian John Cotton went to considerable lengths to convince his listeners that the Covenant was not a license to disobey the moral law:
So, while obedience to the Mosaic Law (the ten commandments and other Laws of Moses) will not determine whether or not you are saved, obedience is nonetheless required by God, under His commandment.
But—and this is where your critique of Phelps is right on the money—only God really knows who is saved and who is damned. Calvinists like Phelps and co. should know that, just because they think that someone is going to hell for being a “fag-enabler,” doesn’t mean that God has predestined that person for hell. Because for Calvinists, while good behavior will not help a doomed person get into heaven, neither will bad behavior send a saved person to hell. While Cotton argues that all are under an obligation to obey God’s laws, he also says that:
Those Puritans certainly walked a fine line attempting to maintain their Calvinism; i think the uncertainty and anxiety would eventually drive me to drink.
Rather than start yet another thread about Heath Ledger, I’d throw in a mild pit of the media for harassing a young actress who’s just lost a friend or boyfriend. God, I’ve never though the Olsen twins were anything but annoying, but I’ve come to feel kind of sorry for her.
When was the last time they picketed someone who was actually gay? I’m starting to feel left out.
I guess too many of y’all are bears, or consort with bears. They don’t wanna get their asses kicked.
You know, the WBC might be doing Heath a favor here. No one else will possibly join his picket, and so some of the marginally-less-wacky homophobic types might refrain from speaking against Heath Ledger.
A think Fred needs to take a vacation and go hunting and fishing with a buddy.