True enough… but I bet that if they were in charge the free speech part would be the first thing they would abolish.
Nah, the first thing they would do would be to make homosexuality and abortion capital crimes, and execute said offenders. And I’m not joking. If you don’t believe me go to the main part of their website and see for yourself.
Near as I can figure, the line of “thought” for the funeral protests goes like this:
The military allows gays.
Therefore all soldiers are gay.
Therefore this dead soldier was gay.
Now, let’s run through that “logic” for Baptists.
There are surely gay Baptists.
Therefore all Baptists are gay.
Therefore Fred Phelps is gay.
Assuming “God hates fags,” God hates Fred Phelps.
Ah, Christians recognize the Old Testament don’t they? And isn’t Jesus quoted in the New Testament as saying that He came to confirm the law? And doesn’t the law regard homosexuality as evil?
I know that Christians do permit disregarding of some laws, such as the dietary laws, but I don’t think they disregard the law about homosexulality.
I think Phelps is a nut, maybe a dangerous one, and I think Christians can disavow his methods but I can’t see how they can disavow his principle in in the case.
Similarly, he slandered and libelled the Columbia crew, because NASA doesn’t care if you’re gay. Among other statements, he called them ‘arrogant cowards’.
Also, he may see this soldier as being implicated in the defense of the monstrously iniquitous and immoral place he considers America to be. Alongside his notorious anti-gay website, he also maintains “GodHatesAmerica.com”.
Homosexuality is condemned. But “fags” themselves are not the object of hatred. That’s how. Classically, Christians seek to save people from the immorality associated with paganism &/or demonic influence, of which certain sexual perversions are considered a part. Fred Phelps calls for hatred of the sinner, rather than the sin. Very bad.
I had never realized that Fred Phelps was the family-as-cult act. There are other such groups here in the Heartland. I just assumed, with the name "Westboro Baptist Church, "that Phelps had a relatively conventional congregational organization, albeit with an unusual focus of activism.
Recently, my (fundie) mother mentioned that she found it odd that no one had ever claimed that Topeka, KS had something to do with the Antichrist/Great Beast 666, since the city’s 3-digit ZIP Code region is 666. I said, “Well, there’s Fred Phelps.” He could be seen as a minor Antichrist, I suppose, selling a distortion of Xtianity to drive people away from the faith. (How… Discordian.)
Fred himself has said that since 666 is part of our zip codes here in Topeka, that is a sign how evil the city is. Oh, and since the mascot of Washburn University of Topeka is Mr. Ichabod, that’s *another * sign of evil! (Ichabod is a name that’s supposed to mean “God’s glory has departed”). OH, oh, OH, and since Topeka’s official nickname is “The Golden City”(a name for Babylon in Revelations), well, we’re really in the soup.
I wonder is there is a place where the zip code is 00666? Ours just start with 666, such as 66614, or 66618, and so on.