COLMES: You're giving me what sounds like a bunch of talking points. Why would you cause more pain to this community, the Amish community, which, if so not even involved in so much what is considered modern day and these families who have suffered? Do you have any sense of how much additional pain you would be causing these families by protesting at the funeral of these young girls?
PHELPS-ROPER: There isn't any way to fix that situation for them. It's not going to be any less painful if we are there or aren't there. They did that to themselves. And you say they're not involved.
COLMES: What do you mean they did that to themselves?
PHELPS-ROPER: I mean, they sit over to there and create their own form of righteousness, instead of...
COLMES: Did those girls deserve to be killed?
PHELPS-ROPER: Well, they did get killed, and they did that. Who controls the hearts of men? It was at the hand of an angry God those girls are dead.
COLMES: Did they deserve to die?
PHELPS-ROPER: They did deserve to die.
And if that's not offensive enough, check this lady out on some other clips, here and here.
Who is this woman? Well, she's one of a family of Christian right-wing nuts. They call themselves the Westboro Baptist Church. The congregation of the church is almost exclusively comprised of the extended family of the pastor, Fred Phelps. Well, actually, that would imply they're somewhere on the political scale. I don't know that they have any agenda other than hatred of everything except themselves. Their main hatred does seem to be hatred of homosexuals.
From Wikipedia:
The group carries out daily picketing in Topeka (purportedly six per day with fifteen on Sunday, "Lord willing", per the index page of its main website) and travels nationally to picket the funerals of gay and lesbian victims of murder, gay-bashing or death related to AIDS, as well as other events related or appearing to be related to gay people. They have been known to protest outside theaters in Topeka, under the premise that live theatre (Especially musical productions) is a haven of homosexuality. They have also shown interest in picketing productions of the play The Laramie Project. Recently, they have shifted their interest to picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in the Iraq War, believing this to be more of "God's judgment" on America. The FAQ section of the website states that, in their view, soldiers didn't join the military out of a sense of patriotism, but because they are "lazy, incompetent idiots" unable to find work elsewhere. Some states, including Kansas, have passed laws prohibiting picketing at funerals.
The virulence of their hate is unbelievable! Let's see some facts about them:
The group has also picketed Billy Graham revivals, alleging that the conservative evangelist will burn in Hell for failing to propagate the "God Hates Fags" doctrine. In October 2004, the group protested Graham's mass meetings, calling the 85 year-old preacher a "Hell-bound false prophet".
"On Pope John Paul II's watch, the Catholic Church became the church of the holy pedophiles. And sodomite feces replaced the wafer for their communion service. And Sodomite semen replaced the wine that the Pope drinks".
Phelps Sr., his supporters and members of his church attend the aforementioned gatherings, as well as other gay-related events, with signs bearing anti-gay slogans. Phelps Sr. has characterized the AIDS Memorial Quilt as "100,000 living fags slobberin' around 45,000 dead fags".
The Southern Poverty Law Center counts them as a hate group.
This just goes to show that we need to realize and worry about the real hate that we have here at home, not the abstract kind we're so afraid of outside the US. For those who have doubts that it's a serious problem, just check out some of the statistics.
8 comments:
That is pretty amazingly far out there. Even the most conservative of conservatives won't buy into that crap. But to think that these people are not part of a larger problem of hatred towards gays and minorities (or with these people, anyone apparently) would be a mistake.
You don't even have to be a Christian to realize that these people aren't Christians. They're full of hate and as far from the Christian message as it's possible to get while masquerading as Christians. They're just impostors.
There is nothing Chritian about that group. Bible based Christians are instructed on how to live, hate is not one of those. Christ's teachings and the teachings of the disciples are focused on good, following his laws, and leaning about him and how to live a healthy happy life through him. Nothing this hate group does resembles his teachings. You can't just pull out a verse and take the words and use them to your will. They are part of a larger picture that needs to be understood in it's total, the Bible.
I'm not sure these people even use the bible. I didn't hear their spokeswoman quote any scripture.
That's because there is no scripture that says "And the Lord saith if you do not hate the fag, thou shalt surely die, lo even though thou may be but a child."
Are you sure about that? It sounds awful familiar...
What I find obscene is that Fox news gives them a platform from which to spew their filth and then has the gall to feign outrage at what they say!
Fox has had them on before. They know what these people are like.
Don't give them the publicity. They are despicable.
You know Dee, that's a good point. Fox puts these people on because they know they're outrageous, and they want the ratings, and then yes takes the easy out by attacking them for what they say. As you say, don't give them the publicity in the first place.
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