The war in Iraq and the battle over gay rights were two of the top issues of 2005. Making headlines now, however, is a religious group so overzealous in its beliefs that it has confused and combined the two issues into offensive and misguided protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers.
The Westboro Baptist Church, founded in Kansas by Reverend Fred Phelps and consisting mostly of Phelps' family members, proclaimed nationwide that all soldiers' deaths are justified as God's wrath for supporting the United States, because the country 'harbors gays.' Armed with signs reading 'Thank God for 9/11,' 'God Hates America' and 'Fag Troops,' this church founded on hatred for gays falls far from decency, logic and mainstream Christian principles.
Rev. Phelps and his followers desperately need to come out from the rock they have been living under and realize a few important details.
First of all, the war in Iraq has nothing whatsoever to do with gays. I do not recall Bush ever stating that our nation was engaging in combat to rectify the liberties of gay America. In fact, our commander in chief and his conservative cronies are the prime supporters of gay marriage bans across the nation. Therefore, there is no logical reason to combine gay rights and the war in Iraq together in this context.
Additionally, the United States military'though it adopts the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy'is notoriously homophobic. I seriously doubt that any red-blooded, jar-headed, Hoo-ha-yelling Marine picks up his AK-47 and thinks as he pulls the trigger, 'this one's for all the gays and lesbians back home.'
Whose side are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church on? They supposedly hate the United States and all it stands for, yet they forget one vital element: They are American, not only by birth, but by the action of public demonstration. By engaging in their public displays the group exercises their right to protest freely, thus symbolically participating in one of the greatest and truly gracious acts our country provides for its citizens. To proclaim one's beliefs in a forum of public opinions is truly unique, and the most American thing there is.
However, the Westboro Baptist Church is so deeply steeped in its own hypocritical and falsified virtue that it only appreciates selective freedom'freedom of speech'when it benefits their strategies of sabotaging other citizens exercising the right to peacefully mourn. When a group outlandishly utilizes this top American virtue, why would they not cherish and support the United States for constitutionally protecting their precious protests?
Oh wait, that is because the Westboro Baptist Church is supposedly on God's side'??he hates gay-infested United States, too. How ironic then, that in our country's Pledge of Allegiance each American swears alliance with 'one nation, under God.'
I am certainly not a biblical scholar, but the last time I checked, God wanted people to love one another. Yet, this religious group's website is www.godhatesfags.com. The web address alone is evidence enough to confirm the group's pitiful facade. The Westboro Baptist Church is simply a hate group operating underneath religious pretenses.
God might be 'sending a message to Americans by killing troops with improvised explosive devices,' as Shirley Phelps-Roper, legal representative for the church, stated. Yet, the United States has a message for the Westboro Baptist Church: the only legitimate grounds on which to argue that soldiers are 'sinful' for serving the U.S. government are in regards to peace and respect for human life'concepts that this supposedly Christian group desperately needs help grasping.
