I've seen stories about this sick group in the past. Operating under the veil of a "religious" organization, The Westboro Baptist Church is anything but Christian. They're planning to protest at the Virginia Tech memorial service on Monday.........
Fred Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church which boasts a membership of 71. 60 of those members are direct descendants of Mr. Phelps, either through blood, marriage or both. This organization has absolutely no affiliation whatsoever with National Baptist Association, and I have no understanding as to why they can even include the word Baptist in their name.
Doing some research on the group, and it's various websites turns up some shocking information, and horrifying ideology. Their primary hatred is spewed at the gay community, but they essentially hate America, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Canada for starters.
Their "church" website can be located @
www.GodHatesFags.com.
They are known for preaching with slogans and banners denoting phrases such as "God hates fags," "AIDS cures fags," and "Fags die, God laughs (or mocks)," and claims that God will punish homosexuals as well as people such as Bill O'Reilly, Coretta Scott King, and Howard Dean, whom the church considers "fag-enablers." They also make it a point to protest at the funerals of our lost soldiers and post the dates, times and locations of such on their website under the heading "Love Crusades".
The planned protest at the Virginia Tech memorial service is said to be necessary because Mr. Phelps and his Church
believes the United States has condemned itself to destruction by accepting homosexuality and other “sins of the flesh."
Phelps’ daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the Virginia Tech teachers and students who died on Monday brought their fate upon themselves by not being true Christians. Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech student responsible for the killings who took his own life after the shootings, was sent by God to punish those he killed, and America as a whole, for moral decline, said Phelps-Roper, while adding that she believes Cho is also in hell for violating God’s commandment to not kill.
“He is in hell,” Phelps-Roper said. “But he was also fulfilling the word of God.”
Fortunately, the families, students and faculty may have the law on their side. In 2006, in response to protests at the funerals of dead U.S. soldiers, Virginia enacted a law that added funerals and memorial services to the state’s disorderly conduct statute. Other states have adopted similar measures to allow police to keep WBC protesters out of earshot.
My heart grieves for these families. I was listening to The Patriot today and they were discussing what horrible judgement has been used by NBC News to immediately release the videotape of the monster that murdered 32 people, showing absolutely no regard for the feelings or welfare of the surviving members of the deceased! This horrendous act has been turned into nothing but a media circus, with each news affiliate striving to dig up more new and fresh dirt on the homicidal maniac that killed these young people in the prime of their lives.
Do we really need to know the nitty gritty details of what made this lunatic kill the way he did? What purpose does it serve really? What is the message that the media is trying to get across? How must the children of these slain men and women feel watching a crazy man on TV spew hatred? Think how horrible this must be for these people.......
And, think of the other "crazies" out there. They now realize that this will certainly make them infamous as well. The "copy cats" are probably already producing their own set of videos, writing their own manifestos and planning a massacre even greater than this one! Sort of a twisted spin on the Guiness Book............how sad is that?
From my vantage point, there is no message in the way the media is covering this event. It is merely the equivalent of the "rubber neck" syndrome - you know, when you are driving down the freeway and you come upon a car wreck. In spite of yourself, you slow down to look, maybe catch a quick glimpse at the carnage. You are alone in your car, no one can watch as you "sneak a peek". Now, imagine that the families of these helpless victims have to sit and watch as the entire world "sneaks a peek" at the murders of their children. How sick is that?
And now, an ugly, hate filled group like the Westboro Baptist Church is planning a protest under the guise of Christianity - only deepening the pain and sorrow of the families involved.
I know, as an American, how very fortunate we are to have the freedom to express our views, speak our minds, rally for our beliefs. But with every good, there is an evil right beside. This "Church", (though it is difficult for me to call it a Church) is exercising their right to free speech in America. I just pray that anyone watching, or if the media chooses to cover their protests, they make it vehemently clear that these people in no way represent the Christian Religion. They are hate mongers and disturbed people. Our Lord in Heaven does not recognize a single one of them!
