Fred Phelps is dead

[River Jordan]

Fred Phelps, the founder and leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, died today. As most know, WBC was infamous for their protests of events like funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, where they would hold up signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and.....well, if you want you can CLICK HERE to view pictures of their signs.

Now that the founder of WBC is dead, there's a lot of discussion about his legacy and what he accomplished. One news article I read today had a link to THIS POST at the liberal blog Daily Kos. The author makes the overall argument that by aggressively and publicly pushing his anti-gay hate, Phelps' church forced the American public to confront the issue, and because the WBC expressed their views in such an ugly and nasty way, they created a backlash that played a role in the rapid spread of gay rights across the world.

The post ends with...

"His legacy of hatred and harm lie in his past. Because of his evil, those who represent love, caring, and hope found a voice. They refused to back down. They shined a light for those who needed it. They sang for those who suffered sorrow, they held hands with their fellow man and said: these aren't just words, I believe in you and I will act to protect you.

Phelps may have been a monster. But because of him, I'm glad to say I've had a front row seat to watching people find humanity and compassion. Because of his hatred, people stopped sitting on the sidelines and found the fight to ask for something different.

Goodbye Fred. Maybe the most fitting thing I can say for all your hate is that the legacy you will receive is the exact opposite of what you had intended."

Ironic, isn't it?

 

[aspen]

yeah Fred is a real motivator to love and protect our neighbors.

 

[HammerStone]

I'm tired of hearing of this man. He was given way too much publicity during his life (his actual church membership is quite small, some suggest as few as 25 actually attending) because he was a convenient boogeyman. I reject everything the man did, but to paint him as somehow representative of any sizable portion of Christianity is a false narrative.

I express regret for any lost soul, regardless of the sin.

 

[aspen]

i met some of his followers who were picketing a presbyterian church i was attending because they ordain women. when i approach them to talk - they pushed me aside to take with the local media which they had notified days before they arrived. They were just a mobile version of Jerry Springer - media whores. Speaking of Jerry - i saw a recent interview with him where the reporter asked him what direction he was planning to take his show in the future - his response was "to the bank" - phelps was cut from the same cloth.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

the heavenly realms probably wish they could send him back

 

[River Jordan]

But what about the point raised in the OP....that by expressing his hate in such an ugly way, he galvanized people who otherwise wouldn't have bothered, to become active on this issue and support gays?

IOW, by being so over-the-top ridiculous, he ended up accomplishing the exact opposite of what he wanted. IMO, there's a very good lesson to be learned there.

 

[aspen]

i think his hate ended up polarising people, to be honest.

 

[River Jordan]

Of course there's always the rumors that Fred was himself, gay, and that self-hatred and an inability to cope were the reasons behind his extremes. So maybe.....he ended up accomplishing what he subconsciously wanted all along (greater public acceptance of gays)?

 

[aspen]

could be. i think he was just narcissistic and antisocial.

 

[Dan57]

Someone should protest that idiot at his funeral. jmo

 

[ChristianJuggarnaut]

Hammerstone,

Excellent point. This "church" is made up of basically one family.

Due to the media addiction to everything they did, it is nearly impossible to hold a biblical view of homosexuality without being compared to them.

That is at least part of his legacy.

 

[JPPT1974]

Really the guy if he really, really was a believer in Christ, would preach about love, not hate. As he did this to himself. And others around him. As really very sad the way he turned out. Church is made up of the Family of God through Jesus Christ! Christ preaches about love, not hate. If he really was a Christian, Phelps would had preached about loving people as themselves. Now he has a lot of explaining to do on why he hated.

 

[Arnie Manitoba]

Phelps called himself a Baptist yet most Baptists disown him .... Phelps is a stain on christianity.
If indeed he was even a christian in the first place
He acted more like a seething angry Pharisee

 

[aspen]

he just craved attention. He would love to have people picket his funeral.

 

[This Vale Of Tears]

he just craved attention. He would love to have people picket his funeral.

I'm less disturbed by the man and more disturbed by the following he was able to attract. It really says a lot about society when somebody can take a strong stand for hate and bigotry and people flock to him. It means there's a systemic sickness that goes well beyond just one man.

 

[Wormwood]

I'm less disturbed by the man and more disturbed by the following he was able to attract. It really says a lot about society when somebody can take a strong stand for hate and bigotry and people flock to him. It means there's a systemic sickness that goes well beyond just one man.

I don't think anyone was flocking to him. His church consisted primarily of his family members. Most churches would have exploded with all the national media that group received. If there is a "systematic sickness" in our culture, it does not belong to ideology Fred Phelps was promoting.

 

[KingJ]

I don't judge Fred harshly at all. A mad world drove a once sane Christian over the edge. This world is evil. It can do that to us.

Makes me wonder how many of us are ready to be delivered up to the authorites for our beliefs? Or are we too liberal for our own good? Too liberal to appear on the future Nero / anti Christs radar.

Matt 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

That is the test of Christianity en route to all of us. Fred would have passed it, you?

 

[River Jordan]

I don't judge Fred harshly at all. A mad world drove a once sane Christian over the edge. This world is evil. It can do that to us.

Makes me wonder how many of us are ready to be delivered up to the authorites for our beliefs? Or are we too liberal for our own good? Too liberal to appear on the future Nero / anti Christs radar.

Matt 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

That is the test of Christianity en route to all of us. Fred would have passed it, you?

The problem I've seen is that some Christians take that passage too far and figure if they're not being hated or persecuted, then they're not doing it right....so they go out of their way to stir up hatred.

That passage means that some day we will be hated merely for being Christian. That day isn't today.

 

[KingJ]

Of course we musn't go out of our way to make ourselves martyrs. But where do we draw the line? Opposing homosexuality = opposing homosexuality. Not getting drunk = not getting drunk.

 

[River Jordan]

Of course we musn't go out of our way to make ourselves martyrs. But where do we draw the line? Opposing homosexuality = opposing homosexuality. Not getting drunk = not getting drunk.

Homosexuality just happens to be the sin of the times. Scripture is far more clear about the sin of greed and the love of money...even Christ spoke directly against it....yet greed and the love of money are woven into the very fabric of western society, to the point where many of our churches wholeheartedly embrace it.

When I see Christians picketing against Wall Street investment firms the same way they do against gays.......ah, never mind....that's not gonna happen.