LJWorld Reader blogs

A recently posted flyer on the Westboro Baptist Church website www.godhatesfags.com announced that Pastor Fred Phelps is sending one of his (un)holy hordes from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka to picket some of the local churches in Parsons in Southeast Kansas on Sunday, June 19th; Father's Day of all days. One thing that bothers me about this is that the Pastor himself most likely won't be there, as he has a habit of sending members of his congregation and their young children to do his dirty work for him. This should come as no surprise, though. The man has built his so-called "ministry" on hatred. Hatred is born of fear, and Fred Phelps is a coward. He's "brave" enough to spew his verbal filth and make his proclamations of condemnation from afar through his hideous website and his press releases (he is an attention-hound after all). But when it comes to actually confronting those he condemns he hides away in the safety of his little church in Topeka and sends innocent brain-washed children who are too young to know what they do or do not believe to stand out in the heat or cold holding signs that are bigger than they are and shout words that any true Christians would never allow their children to utter. This exploitation of children borders on religious abuse and one would think that SRS would have intervened by now, especially since its main office is in Topeka. And what kind of people are these children going to grow up to be? I shudder to think!Fred Phelps openly "thanks God" for every American soldier killed in Iraq. Any American, especially any military person or family member who has a loved one in Iraq should be deeply offended by this. Fred Phelps also thanks God for 9/11. Every American should be offended by this. Regardless of what you believe about homosexuality: if you believe it is biblically an abomination in God's eyes, are repulsed by it, or simply uncomfortable with it: the same Bible that says (in Leviticus) that homosexuality is an abomination also says (in Leviticus) that eating shellfish is an abomination. Why isn't Pastor Fred and his cult of feeble-minded fanatics in every city that has a Red Lobster picketing and shouting "God hates Shrimp-eaters!" to everyone who enters the restaurant? I have seen his minions on the corners of Topeka near the State Capitol, small children yelling obscenities and holding offensive signs. I understand the concept of freedom of speech. But it is interesting that they do not extend that same freedom to people who speak out in disagreement with them. I am bound to get a lot of grief just for writing this. For speaking my mind. For speaking the truth. They can assault, threaten, intimidate people and infringe on their civil rights, but so much as say "boo" at them and you wind up in court. Which makes me wonder if Phelps has friends in high places. I am certain the Person in the Highest Place is no friend of his. But in Kansas, it's all about who you know. He obviously knows the right people - from what I hear he is related to most of them. How convenient.I hope Pastor Phelps can muster up the courage to bring himself down to Parsons for this little "event" he has organized. I'll be there waiting to share the real Gospel with him and his people. It will probably be the first time they have heard it. Psychologists say there is an inner defense mechanism in some people that helps them to deal with inner impulses or desires they find morally unacceptable by focusing aggression and hostility toward people who outwardly manifest those same impulses or desires. Could that be what Pastor Fred's problem is? Maybe he should spend some time on the couch, talk about his longing gazes in the locker room as a schoolboy. Get in touch with his inner homo. It is definitely time for more Kansans to take a stand and speak out against Phelps and what he does. What he does is wrong. He makes Kansans look like a bunch of backward, bigoted, ignorant people to the rest of the civilized world. Is that the impression that we want our fellow Americans to have of us? Phelps dupes enough people into funding his hate crusade that he is able to send groups of his people all over the country. They don't just protest homosexual funerals. They disrupt and ruin high school graduations and other events that should be the happiest days of people's lives just so they can spread their poisonous message of hate, get a bunch of media attention and make as many people miserable as they possibly can. And where does their hatred stop? Are their beliefs so twisted that they believe people with disabilities deserve their disabilites because of their sins or because God is punishing them for being part of this "nation of sodomites?" Obviously no one from the WBC has ever stopped and asked his or her self the rather over-used but still relevant question: "What would Jesus do?" I can guarantee you this: He wouldn't be doing what they are doing.