Westboro Baptist Church

I have had the enlightening experience of being both Christian and atheist in my 31 years on this planet, so I am able to look at the Westboro Baptist Church through both sets of eyes.

I followed the WBC story as I have always been intrigued by cults; particularly the way in which cults snare high functioning intelligent adults. Through my own studies regarding these issues, I came to the realisation that, as a Christian, I too was in a cult. I am now an outspoken atheist, free from the shackles of religion.

What I realise now when I look at the world's reaction to the WBC, I see that the people they anger the most, are indeed other Christians. I look upon the WBC's actions with utter disgust. But I don't believe that they are twisting the word of God. They are following the word of their god to the letter, as all Christians are supposed to do. And Christians get upset about this because they have been raised in differing sects of Christianity which have been designed and redesigned to suit the feelings and lifestyles of those who were not willing to follow every single word of God; but who rather chose to follow certain words of God. That is; the words of God that suited them; the words of God that could fit comfortably into their lifestyle.

The WBC do not do this. They follow the bible to the letter, and no one can deny that they are all well versed on their scripture.

Don't look at the WBC as hate-mongers, as psychos, as brainwashed freaks... view them as they are: true Christians. And then look at the ludicrously of Christianity as a whole. The God of the bible does not allow for selective judgement on his words. He has given his people free will to either follow him or reject him. He is not forgiving of middle ground, of luke-warmness, of selfish personal interpretation.

The Christian god is nasty, hateful, and jealous, as are his true followers, the members of the Westboro Baptist Chrurch.

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Comment by Strega on January 15, 2013 at 12:56pm: Lovely post. I have never been a Christian (or any other "---ian" as far as religion goes) and I had not therefore looked at the WBC as anything but lunatics in search of attention. I think you are right, though. If you followed the letter of the bible as closely as you can (bearing in mind contradictions) then you would end up like the WBC. And it is a marvelously unarguable point.

Thank you for that, I shall file it in my head, for later and frequent airing :)

Comment by Val Wuthrich on January 15, 2013 at 3:30pm: Well said. The whole law of the Holy Bible still applies today, as God says in the, you guest it, the HB. I haven't seen so much schism as I do in the Christian faith, which I'm very familiar with. Why so many? You can hear one of the sides at CSN radio, worth a listen, would like to know what you think!

The schism of religion with science and reason started when we reasoned and realized we aren't at the center of Gods creation.

Comment by _Robert_ on January 15, 2013 at 7:30pm: Thanks Arch, I needed a laugh !

Brenda is correct. We are lucky that most Christians do not practice what is preached. I don't think the WBC will end with machine guns or cool aid, but you never know!

Comment by Dale Headley on January 15, 2013 at 7:40pm: Brenda; I certainly agree with your assessment of the WBC. They do, in fact, follow a literal, albeit selective interpretation of the Bible, which says a lot about the Bible, doesn’t it?

I do, however, disagree with you on one point. I absolutely DO believe that this vicious family's prime motivation is hate. I think they cite the worst excesses of Old Testament theology in order to provide justification for their despicable brand of bigotry. In the U.S., though, this is pretty much true of most of the evangelical, fundamentalist communities, though perhaps not taken to the insane extent as do Fred Phelps and his inbred kin.

Judging by your spelling, I assume you’re a Brit. So you folks over there are aware of our shame: the WBC.

I would be equally interested in what you think of our greater shame: a cowardly acceptance that shooting people down in multiple numbers in schools, theaters, malls, businesses, and streets with military-style weaponry is a cultural norm to be celebrated in our “exceptional” country. The Bible-thumping right wing in America believes that the ripping to shreds of 20 helpless, innocent babes is a small price to pay for maintaining the fiction that the 2nd Amendment was intended by old slave-owners in powdered wigs to assure that everyone (except slaves) had unhindered access to whatever weaponry they desired, aside from the muskets stored in a central armory for the use of a well-regulated militia in each state.

Fred Phelps and his odious clan are almost as low as you can get - almost as low as the NRA, which gleefully sacrifices little children to the greed of the manufacturers and sellers of weapons and ammunition.

Comment by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on January 16, 2013 at 4:54am: @Dale Headley@Brenda Lee

One man, Fred Phelps, has a mental problem. Why pick just one rule in the bible. Why become fixated with just one. His Atheist son, who left the group of about seventy, was asked 'Did he think his father was gay", and the son said, "I don't think so". Yes he is full of hatred, but I think there is another agenda here. He is certainly more outspoken about gays, with his placard drawings etc. and he loves the limelight, he loves the power he has over his congregation. To me, he is a typical theist, just more outspoken, and by being so hateful and vicious, brings sane people together. Theists agree with Fred, just not so vocally. It is also when he goes overboard by picketing funerals of soldiers etc, he is mentally unbalanced.

The god of the bible does not allow for selective judgement - but that is exactly what Fred is doing. His daughters and wife do not cover their head, as they should

- For if the woman is not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. This is just one many things Fred and followers do not follow.
Cor 11:6

Following the bible, certainly, but he is still mentally unbalanced, the rest of his group, the usual brainwashing from the time they were babies.

It would be a good idea if he played with snakes and drank poison to prove his faith - Mark 16:18

Comment by Yahweh on January 16, 2013 at 6:15am: "The Christian god is nasty, hateful, and jealous, as are his true followers, the members of the Westboro Baptist Chrurch. "

Not only followers of WBC exhibit hate like their god. It goes the same to all christian faith. I've been saying this all along, that if you believe in something so terrible, then you're the same type of person. Besides, their god is a representation of who and what they are. They're not fooling anyone when they say they're not hateful and deceitful.

Comment by onyango makagutu on January 16, 2013 at 6:22am: Yahweh is this true about you lol?

ION, christians are better despite their god's law. if they lived according to that god's law, there would be no one left except pastors

Comment by Logicallunatic on January 16, 2013 at 7:16am: I think the whole thing is probably a charade to make money. The vile cretins are mostly made up of lawyers I believe.

http://kanewj.com/wbc/

Comment by SteveInCO on January 16, 2013 at 8:02am: Not only followers of WBC exhibit hate like their god. It goes the same to all christian faith. I've been saying this all along, that if you believe in something so terrible, then you're the same type of person. Besides, their god is a representation of who and what they are. They're not fooling anyone when they say they're not hateful and deceitful.

[emphasis mine] It's funny how god always agrees with his believers' prejudices Darkmatter2525 has an interesting theory. (I heartily recommend his entire channel, much of it is humorous though this particular one is in dead earnest.)

Comment by Louis on January 16, 2013 at 5:03pm: Yahweh, you made a great point about their god being a representation of who and what they are. Also, this was a great post by Brenda Lee. It's funny to think that many christians will look at these people and think they're lunatics because they follow the religion and bible to the letter when they too consider themselves to be members of the same religion...but they decide to pick and choose which parts of the religion they are willing to follow. So I guess many christians have a problem with those who are "too christian" as well as those are not christian at all lol.