Wesboro Church- Pickets Soldiers Funerals

Heard about this church on the radio, now found an article.

news.yahoo.com...

Basically the church protests funerals of fallen soldiers because they defend a country that defends homosexuality. This church is small but very real.
I can't imagine anyone condoning this but can anyone here even come close to rationalizing it, or explaing the church's viewpoint?

I dont even begin to take these people seriously but I cant even understand their angle.

Im not into organized religion and I have no care if people are homo or hetro but if I was a person who thought homosexuality was a sin I 'd imagine their would be more logical forms of protest?

Why not protest God itself for letting Homosexuals exsist in the first place?

Why not move to or support countries where Homosexuality is more taboo (Arabic nations come to mind)?

Many other points come to my mind but a Pro-Gay, Pro-Military rally would be interesting, talk about strange bedfellows!

Anybody have some thoughts, is this just a big cry for attention from this church?

Hey,

The closest I can come to understanding these folk's mindset is that they believe God punishes nations corporately for what they view as individual "abominations".
In other words, God will refuse to bless a nation which allows "un-Godly" behaviours to take place in it's midst.

Thus, they show up at the funerals of Gay people with placards reading "your loved one is now burning in hell", and other such compassionate remarks.

I believe this was their behaviour at the funeral of that young man who was murdered up in Wyoming.

In my opinion, it is a form of Populist hatred operating on the fringes of Fundamentalism.

Chip Berlet has written extensively on this; you can find his stuff at the following site:

www.publiceye.org...

Thenks for the link. Lots of info on the site.

I agree with your viewpoint. What is strange about this partucular church is how they pinpoint their judgement, going to soldiers funerals.

Imagine all the countless other things in their daliy lives that interact directly or indirectly with homosexuality.

I agree; as you noted in your first post, their focus on soldiers is apparently symbolic.

I think a significant portion of this group is composed of an extended family whose patriarch, Fred Phelps, is also the "pastor". It is his interpretation of scripture which sets the tone for the group.

While I definitely come down strongly on the side of what I believe are fundamental principles of Liberty when it comes to the right to gather in peaceful protest, I also believe just as strongly that there are times when a person has the right to be let alone.

Such as funerals.

if you check out their wrebsite they have a photo gallery of their protests. In all the images are the same protesters, the family members themselves.
I guess the media makes the church appear much bigger than it actually is.

Amazing what feeds some peoples ego.

Yes, this is the same group that went to Matthew Shepherd's funeral. First, Matthew was killed by a group of gay-haters and then the family had to put up with these idiots. I'm not Christian, but I know enough to know that Jesus taught love, not hate, anger and violence. How can these people call themselves Christians? All they do is give a bad name to other Christians who are truly serious aboaut practicing Jesus's true teachings. My question to gay-bashers is this: How can genuine love ever be wrong???

I agree, I think it is wrong for them to protest at a funeral, for cripes's sake. THat's just plain cruel and should be illegal, as should any form of hate speech. All it does is get people whipped up into an angry frenzy, like in Nazi Germany, Hitler was so good at it.

I pray for the families that have had to endure such cruel and inhumane behavior from persons hiding behind the label of "Christian".

-Forestlady

if this is the same group that i'm thinking of then they recently planned to protest a local soldiers funeral in kokomo, IN. there is a group of veterans and bikers that goes to every fallen soldier funeral in indiana to keep idiots like them away. so far the bikers are up 2-0. at least with the freaky church people from kansas.
it bad enough to lose a loved, families shouldn't have'ta have someone pickitting they funeral services.

go soliders. go bikers.

Yes, it is the same group. They never showed at the Kokomo funeral, nor the one in Southern Indiana a week or so ago, nor the one a few days ago here in Central Indiana. The cops were out in force, shutting down intersections for the funeral procession and to slow any protesters to the funeral, but it wasn't needed.

Dirty boots -

You and I are very close in geographical location. About 45 minutes apart. Does "BSU" ring any bells?

JDub

Westboro tried to picket here back in Janruary when the memorial service for the twelve miners that were lost was to go on. The Patriot Riders of America, I believe that's what their name is, said "That if Westboro shows up, so do we." What surprised me about this is that the Buckhannon Police, Upshur County Sherrif, and the W. Va. State Police agreed with the bikers. Members of the Westboro "Baptist Church" show up, so do the bikers and the cops.

Gimmefootball, what possible reason could Phelps have for picketing the coal miner's funeral?
Thumbs up for the bikers and the vets!

-Forestlady