I’ve long wondered about these ass-clowns at the Westboro Baptist Church, and what makes them tick.
Recently, I wrote to a friend of mine and asked him for his views on the matter. My friend is a bit of a spiritual coach for me. He is a devout Christian, and one of the best men I’ve ever had the good fortune to know.
My question to him was:
“When you have time…help me wrap my brain around the whole Westboro Baptist Church thing. Are they simply our equivalent of extremists, like the terrorists are to the Muslim faith? When you have time, no hurry.”
Several days later I received the following reply. I felt compelled to share it here. I know we’ve somewhat avoided religious topics on this blog, but I found his insights quite helpful.
“Stu,
Long time no chat. Hope things are well with you and yours. Incredibly the summer is almost over (…but then I guess we say that every year about this time). It just seems to happen a bit quicker every year!
Anyway, sorry for the delayed reply on this. It’s a very good question so I’m glad to give you my perspective on it. Every time I see a piece on the news or an article regarding Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church I cringe. It seems rather evident that they traffic largely in hatred and sensationalism, freely declaring to one and all (as if appointed to do so by the Lord Himself) that God hates this and God hates that.
While there is absolutely no doubt from many references in the Bible that God is all powerful, all knowing and above all holy, in telling us about God’s character one of the primary ways He is described in several places in The Book is that ‘God is love’. Never do we find a description that states God is hate, yet if you were to learn about God only from these folks that’s what you would likely conclude.
A while back I did a bit of searching and reading about Fred Phelps and all indications are he had a very troubled upbringing in a very dysfunctional home. He had a few semesters in the Seminary then eventually became an attorney and from the outset took a very combative approach to practicing law. Eventually he was barred from practicing law in his home state and then some time later on the federal level as well, essentially for using overly aggressive and unprofessional tactics which employed personal attacks against his adversaries, an approach he still uses today. And although I have certainly never been present in his home, reports indicate that he behaves in a similar way toward his family with both verbal and physical abuse.
All that to say he appears to be an individual with some severe dysfunction in his life and he appears to have turned that anger and vengeance on the world, and done so in the name of God. Although God is indeed holy and His Word is clear that He will judge sin, the primary point of judgment of mankind will be whether we have surrendered our life to the Lord Jesus Christ, accepting His death in our place on the cross and endeavoring to live in obedience to Him, or if we have essentially ignored Him (however politely we do it) and have lived our life independent of Him thereby having no covering for our sin when we eventually enter His presence. Obviously the first condition results in being welcomed into God’s presence for eternity and the second results in eternal separation.
The true character of God can be seen in the infamous John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life”. Elsewhere the Bible says that it is God’s will that none should perish but that all would come to repentance. While on earth Jesus clearly demonstrated His tender heart toward lost humanity when He wept over Jerusalem, lamenting their resistance to all the times He had attempted to draw them close to have a real relationship with Him (Mt 23:37).
This heart for the lost is supposed to be in clear evidence in the lives of the followers of Christ as well. It was Jesus who said ‘by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another’. In 1st Corinthians 13 we are told that the greatest characteristic we are to exhibit is love. And not just love toward others of faith but how much more toward those in unbelief and lost in sin. How are the lost ever to be attracted to a relationship with the only One who can forgive and save them if they are repeatedly told that He hates them??
In Jesus’ day, the folks He was consistently the hardest on were certain of the religious leaders, the ‘holier than thou’ Pharisees who looked down their noses at others quite confident in their own self-righteousness. But it was these very leaders that Jesus told His followers to beware of and do not be like. How can this be? The Big Kahuna’s? Their fatal flaw was their pride and trusting in their supposed ‘righteous living’ oblivious to the fact that we are all lost without humbling ourselves before God and receiving His forgiveness.
These same religious leaders lived in expectation of the coming of the long promised Messiah, yet when they looked directly into His face not only did they not recognize Him, but it was they who plotted His execution to remove the bright light of His life which had exposed their utter hypocrisy and their lost condition.
The time will indeed come where God will judge sin but He certainly doesn’t need man’s help to do it. Until then followers of Christ are called to be His ambassadors reaching out to the lost in the love of God to encourage them to reconciliation with Him. The Westboro folks never exhibit any of this compassion for the lost that I have seen, only the condemnation that the Pharisees of old so quickly displayed. There appears to be no evidence that they, like Christ, genuinely love the lost and desire to reach out to them to help them come to know Christ so they can become free from whatever ensnares them.
The Apostle Paul exhorts us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness & faithfulness” In other words a genuine disciple of Jesus will demonstrate these characteristics. Elsewhere he tells us that “by their fruits you shall know them”. I’m certainly not Mr. Phelps’ judge, but from my observation I am not seeing much of the fruit of the Spirit in his life.
We have all seen people in this life who thirst for and thrive on controversy. But, the fact that they may do it from a pulpit doesn’t necessarily make them legit. To be sure, the true preaching of the Gospel will always be controversial because God does call us to repent, to turn away from sin and serve Him, and quite frankly humans do have an appetite for sin of all kinds. But when the message is consistently delivered with so much apparent anger and hatred you can be sure this is not a reflection of God’s heart of compassion. God calls man to repent because He loves us and knows that sin will ultimately have devastating consequences, and not because He hates one group or another.
As for the similarity between Phelps and Muslim extremists, I would say that there are numerous verses in the Quran that authorize hatred and violence against ‘the infidel’ whereas that is not the case in the Bible. Therefore when certain Muslim ‘extremists’ carry out violence they believe they are duly authorized to do so, but when people like Mr Phelps act hatefully they do so based on their own very distorted interpretation of the Scriptures.
Sorry to give you such a long dissertation but I thought it was important to lay out some of what the Bible says on the subject to put things in proper perspective. Hope this helps.
Blessings my friend,
Tom”
Muzzammil and Aasiya Hassan
The Associated Press reported yesterday that, “The founder of a Muslim-oriented New York television station was convicted Monday of beheading his wife in 2009 in the studio the couple had opened to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims…”
The report went on to state that Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan never denied beheading his wife, which took place inside the offices of TV station in which they also lived.
Police reports indicate they had responded to calls for domestic abuse at this location prior to the incident.
The Hassans had 2 children, ages 4 and 6, who were left waiting in a van parked outside the police station while Hassan went in and calmly reported he had just beheaded his wife.
The practice of “Honor Killing” is still an accepted practice among some fanatical Muslim men, including in Hassan’s native Pakistan, when they feel betrayed by their wives.
Nice job of helping to counter the negative stereotypes of Muslims there, Hassan. I know I feel a lot better now.
Something I dropped into our blog discussions a while back is coming around, only this time, it can’t be ignored. It’s just too big and too ridiculous to ignore now. It just is what it is. It’s not something manipulated in the heat of elections or protests. It’s just a fact.
Last night, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, skewered Fox & Friends for connecting the dots and failing to see the big picture they had just put together. They had spent a portion of their show going after Imam Rouf, the Muslim diplomat who wants to head up the community center that’s in the middle of the controversy at Ground Zero. He receives “terrorist funding,” according to them.
Much of the money he’s raising for construction of the much-feared “Ground Zero Mosque” comes from…wait for it…Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of Rupert Murdock’s partners in News Corp, FOX News’ parent company.
How ironic is it that the FOX News, where Sean Hannity has been howling about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf wanting “Sharia law” to replace our existing laws is the very same FOX News whose parent company, the Rupert Murdoch- controlled News Corporation, that has as its second largest shareholder, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal? It was 19 Saudis that conspired to fly planes into the Twin Towers.
There’s a fox in the henhouse and a Saudi/Sharia prince in the FOX House!
How stupid do those protesters at Ground Zero feel this morning? As Stewart showed last night, if you watch FOX News, you are contributing to their viewership numbers which bolsters their ratings and increases their advertising dollar revenues. Then, as a shareholder, the Saudi/Sharia prince takes his FOX earnings and sends them to build a mosque…the much-feared “Ground Zero Mosque.”
So, FOX News fans, you are eating your own tail. When you reach your butthole, stop chewing!
Recently, a comment on this blog pointed out that the Obama Administration was sending the Imam associated with the much-feared “Ground Zero” mosque on a talking tour of Middle Eastern countries. The notion was that, somehow, Obama was spending taxpayer dollars to fund this diplomatic sojourn by a Muslim radical cleric or something to that effect. And, of course, this all lays more fearful pipe for the idea that Obama is trying to cozy-up with our enemies who happen to be Muslims. If I recall accurately, the notion was presented by critics that U.S. taxpayers were paying for this individual to travel and collect funding from Muslim countries for the construction of the mosque.
Reality sucks. This from TPM Muckraker:
‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Imam Was A Bush-Era Partner For Mideast Peace
“Tuesday, Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) called Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf — best known for his work with multicultural Cordoba Initiative to build a mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan — a “radical” and criticized the Obama Administration for including him on a Middle East speaking tour. That tour, which includes stops in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is designed by the public diplomacy office to explain to Muslims abroad what it’s like to be a Muslim in America.
Outside of how getting constantly called a radical by American politicians busy flacking the proposed “Ground Zero mosque” for political purposes might affect Rauf’s view of what it’s like to be a Muslim in America, there’s one other big problem with King’s and Ros-Lehtinen’s accusation: Rauf already represented America in this way, under the Bush Administration.
State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley responded to the accusations Tuesday:
“His work on tolerance and religious diversity is well-known and he brings a moderate perspective to foreign audiences on what it’s like to be a practicing Muslim in the United States,” State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said Tuesday. He added that the department’s public-diplomacy offices “have a long-term relationship with” Rauf – including during the past Bush administration, when the religious leader undertook a similar speaking tour.
If one were to hearken back to the halcyon days of the Bush Administration, one would remember that, when Bush adviser Karen Hughes was appointed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, the Bush Administration saw improving America’s standing among Muslims abroad as a part of its national security strategy. And, as such, Hughes set up listening tours, attended meetings and worked with interfaith groups that — shocking, by today’s Republican standards — included actual Muslims.
One of those people was Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
Contemporary press accounts indicate that Rauf and Hughes were part of the February 2006 U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar. He was part of a delegation that met with her in March 2006 and held a joint press conference. A letter to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in November 2007 indicates that contacts with Hughes and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns had continued apace.
And, of course, an interview with Foreign Policy in 2007 explored both the depths of his ongoing contact with the Administration and his so-called radical views.
I have had meetings with Karen Hughes. However, I would welcome the opportunity to have further, deeper, and more nuanced discussions with other members of the Bush administration on how they need to understand religion and how it intersects with political affairs. To not understand the role of Islam and faith as a motivator is to be incapacitated in shaping a foreign policy that achieves the objectives of the United States.The perception in the Muslim world is that the West wants to impose a secularism upon it, which to them is equivalent to the erasure of religion in society. As an American, I know that is not the intent of the United States at all. But thats the perception. The perception in America is that when people say they want an Islamic state, they want something like the Taliban. And that is not true at all.
Rauf added that, during Ramadan, it was important to remember the love that Jews, Muslims and Christians agree that their gods preach, adding, ‘It also means do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you.’ Guess that’s one thing Rauf’s critics forgot.”
Randy posted the following video in the comment section of my recent post regarding Muslim Family Day at 6 Flags Theme Park near Chicago. It discusses the plans to build a mosque at ground zero in NYC, supposedly scheduled to open Sept 11th, 2011. I thought it deserved its own thread.
Interesting to note there’s already a number mosques and/or islamic centers in the area. Click here for a map.
A Six Flags Theme Park near Chicago, Illinois will be hosting a, “Muslim Family Day” on September 12th of this year.
Supporters point to the fact the date coincides with the end of Ramadan 2010, and that the annual event pre-dates the 9/11 attacks.
Opponents claim the date of the event is insensitive at best, and that the group coordinating the event (the Islamic Circle of North America or “ICNA” has alleged ties to terrorist groups and may have helped fund the 9/11 attacks.
Click here to watch a 3:59 news clip (following a 30 second commercial).
According to the ICNA website their goals include, “…To oppose immorality and oppression in all forms, and support efforts for civil liberties and socio-economic justice in the society. To strengthen the bond of humanity by serving all those in need anywhere in the world, with special focus on our neighborhood across North America. To cooperate with other organizations for the implementation of this program and unity in the ummah.”
However, David Horowitz’s Discover The Networks website paints a decidedly darker picture of the ICNA.
The American Family Association, a religious right group, is urging that Tilikum (Tilly), the killer whale that killed a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, be put down, preferably by stoning. Citing Tilly’s history of violent altercations, the group is slamming the park for not listening to Scripture in how to deal with the animal.
The American Family Association, the powerful right-wing Christian political organization, blogged that, “If the counsel of the Judeo-Christian tradition had been followed,” Beancheau (the trainer)would have never died. AFA blogger Bryan Fischer reasoned that according to Exodus, an animal like Tilikum should have been stoned back in 1991, and if biblical law were to be followed, the owners of Tilikum should be put to death:
“Chalk another death up to animal rights insanity and to the ongoing failure of the West to take counsel on practical matters from the Scripture. [...] So, your animal kills somebody, your moral responsibility is to put that animal to death. You have no moral culpability in the death, because you didn’t know the animal was going to go postal on somebody. But, the Scripture soberly warns, if one of your animals kills a second time because you didn’t kill it after it claimed its first human victim, this time you die right along with your animal. To use the example from Exodus, if your ox kills a second time, “the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:29)
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