Church That Picketed Gays "Thanks God" For Tsunami

[ruggerson]

http://rawstory.rawprint.com/1204/westboro_tsunami_statement_1230.php


Thursday, December 30, 2004
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RAW STORY has discovered that the Westboro Baptist Church leaders known for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the young college student brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998, have released the following statement regarding the tsunamis which hit Southeast Asia earlier in the week.

The statement, which was posted on their website Wednesday alongside dozens of other archived "press releases," thanks God for the tsunami and for the death of any gay Swedish vacationers who perished at the time.

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Ya gotta love those religious rightwingers. Where would our country be without em?

[yardwork]

1. This is so offensive it's mind-boggling

Who the hell do these people think they are? I really hope that the FBI is keeping an eye on them as a hate group (not that I have a lot of faith in the FBI these days but somebody needs to be keeping an eye on them. Who knows what they'll do next?)

[Judi Lynn]

37. Yeah, you DO have to wonder what's next on their agenda.

They've just about covered destroying all known acceptable standards of behavior.

The next step would have to be even worse, as you know they're not going to get a grip.



Can you believe this is the way they actually choose to spend their lives? My god.

[bumblebee1]

44. Fred Phelps

Now, there's a disgrace to the ministry profession. He gives good ministers a bad name.

[shadowknows69]

48. Wow, just speechless

[nashville_brook]

64. OMG! Christopher Walken is a minister. In Montana!

[bettyellen]

2. Oh they are horrible people, nasty stupid freaks! just hateful!

[VegasWolf]

22. but, they are SAVED!!! They can say anything they want. n/t

[podnoi]

25. Imposters, not "Christians" Nothing to do with Christ

[VegasWolf]

26. They claim they are christians. This is the problem with any religion

there are no objective stands, everything is subjective
and based on belief.

[noshenanigans]

3. Is that true?

I mean... just, wow. That makes me so, so sad that people can be that cruel and miserable.

"Cruel" is the best term for it. Who can say things like that and still consider themselves as living "of Christ"? I was Southern Baptist until I was 13, and I never saw that amount of callousness.

[juliagoolia]

4. These people are dangerous

And could probably be put in psychiatric wards if the local judge had some cajones.!

[InvisibleBallots]

38. not dangerous at all

These people are trolls, nasty mean trolls, and perfectly harmless. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say they are doing this to scare away the right-wing Christian movement from the most extreme anti-gay positions. This guy was actually a prominent supporter of Civil Rights back in the 1960s. Perhaps he's smarter than we give him credit for? Then again, perhaps not. :shrug:

[Occulus]

52. if he "comes out" on his deathbed

(although, if we are to believe another poster somewhere here, who actually saw a man matching Phelps' description coming out -if you'll again pardon that pun- of a gay "viewing room" in an adult boutique) that's one thing, but it would have to be a dying declaration and even then I would be suspicious.

Personally, this is the one person upon whose grave I would happily piss. That's my own little character flaw, one among many, and it's one I'm not inclined to do anything at all about.

[InvisibleBallots]

56. if he is serious, he deserves it

I have a hard time believing anyone can be such a shit, so I like to think there is more to it. But if he's serious, he deserves whatever is coming to him.

[Hillary08]

5. No chuch should do that!

That's exactly the kind of thing that keeps people away from church. And then I bet they bemoan their lack of membership.

I don't remember reading anything about Jesus going around asking his Dad to kill the sinners. Did I miss that chapter, or what?

[xray s]

12. they relish their lack of membership

they hate all their neighbors. seems to me they miss the whole point of Christ's message.

[Hillary08]

27. Exactly

What is the greatest commandment?

Love!!!

[shesemsmom]

6. Now that is sick!!!!!!!!

The world is going to hell in a hand basket. How can anyone be thankful for a disaster of that magnitude that took so many sole in a short period of time!!!!!!!!! I can not describe in words how those people should be punished. We will just let the Lord deal with them .

[Calvinist Basset]

7. They are not Christians.

And they give a bad name to the faith that folks like me follow.

[Spiffarino]

8. I can't imagine where they get the idea

...that they are in any way Christian. All the people they hate, all the people they denigrate, and all the horrific events they mock are shining examples of where Christ's mercy and love are best applied. Do they EVER read their own Bibles? Where do they get this stuff?

This can only be described as cult behavior. These are in no wise Christians, Xtians, or anything remotely resembling followers of Jesus.

[AuntieM1957]

Not only are they dangerous

they have no acquaintance at all with the teaching of the gentle prophet from Nazareth - aka Jesus Christ

therefore, they cannot be called Christians

[babylonsister]

9. That is truly offensive.

I am at a loss after having read that for the 3rd time. An emoticon will not do it justice. I'm very sad that... for so many foibles from my fellow man.

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. Yes, this is a hate group.

And if they have tax-exempt status as a religious organization, it should be revoked.

Unbelievable. And they think they are following what Jesus said? I am speechless.

[darkism]

11. I read a lot of appalling things

but never have I felt so close to being physically ill as when I read their little "release."

seriously, what the fuck.

[juliagoolia]

13. no doubt they did indeed do this

http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/dec2004/Tsunami_12-29-2004.pdf

From the official sick website

[Bo]

14. get on the love rain....

join hands...cause if you miss it i feel sorry sorry for you

[Fridays Child]

15. They say what all right wing fundie assholes are thinking...

...thereby, exposing every one of them.

[Trillo]

19. Maybe we should thank them,

for putting their hatred and contempt on display for all to see. Perhaps it's better that it's in the open instead of the hushed-voice murmur of obscure scriptural references, furtive glances, and nods of approval.

[Fridays Child]

35. Phelps is the oozing head on the festering boil of RW fundie extremism.

[shesemsmom]

16. I just sent the nuts an email. You ought to see there CONTACT page.

JEZZZZZZ, the are crazy>

[Occulus]

63. I hope you used a junk address. n/t

[Prodemsouth]

17. They are so stupid they don't know they are actually helping gay rights.

Let em keeping going, it makes being anti-gay look as ridiculous as it should. If people seeing an extreme homophobe is idiotic they will start to question the "milder" versions of anti-gay propaganda.

[AliciaKeyedUp]

18. I may not be from Missouri

But I needed to see this to believe it. It's real. It's on their site.

It's appalling.

Speaking as someone who tries to be religious, this is NOT Christ-like. It is a perversion of all things that are holy and good.

[Liberty Belle]

21. Forward it to the FBI and the MSM.

[AliciaKeyedUp]

30. Why FBI?

What I saw was appalling, not illegal. It's not illegal to hate and it shouldn't be.

[VegasWolf]

32. "not illegal to hate and it shouldn't be", good xtian values. n/t

[AliciaKeyedUp]

57. Good understanding of separation of church and state

We are allowed to hate, but that doesn't make hate right.

Do you propose making hate illegal?

[Occulus]

65. I used to check the claims on what they have to say.

Now I don't even bother, but I had to look at this one. Holy God, that's bad.

These people are a danger to others.

[VegasWolf]

20. Well, it seems the christians are good at it, remember Jerry Falwell and

9/11. Sick hypocrites.

[queeg]

23. RICO act indictments needed---n/t

[Mz Pip]

24. There is a special place in Hell

for these folks.

I seriously believe most of these folks are sociopaths who have found their level, which is realy nothing more than low life bottom feeders.

This is what happens when you have the IQ of Cool Whip.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Dr.Phool]

28. I want to argue that these are true Christians

They just don't have the social skills necessary to blend in with society. Remember the Florida Repuke Senate primary? Mel Martinez accusing Wing-nut Bill McCollum of being the tool of the homosexual agenda? Remember all the anti-gay marriage initiatives in the swing states. You'll see them again in '06 in states that have Senate elections.

People like these, and reading the bible turned me into an atheist.
They just don't know how to use code-words to get their message across.

Maybe this is one reason Dubya, Bob Jones, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and the rest of their ilk were quiet for so long.

[AliciaKeyedUp]

31. You can try and argue it, you would be wildly wrong

The only thing "true" about them is that they are truly hateful.

[Dr.Phool]

33. I'm forwarding this shit to all the MSM

Let's see if they hold them accountable.

[VegasWolf]

34. How can you prove one xtian group is any better than another xtian group?

[AliciaKeyedUp]

58. Because this group is the lunatic fringe

While most of the others are out collecting money to help those harmed by the tsunami.

[QC]

39. Let's argue that Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot were true atheists.

That's no stupider than what you're proposing.

[Dr.Phool]

42. We can also argue

That Stalin spent most of his life studying to be a priest, but was thrown out for reading banned books.

I believe it was Voltaire who said "There are good people, and evil people, but the only thing that can make good people commit evil is religion".

Also from Voltaire, "Those who can convince you to believe absurdities, can convince you to commit atrocities".

[QC]

51. Stalin was in seminary for five years and lived to be 73, so he hardly

spent "most of his life studying to be a priest," unless you have your very own special, highly personal definition of "most."

He was expelled for missing his exams; the bit about being punished for his youthful radicalism is an embellishment by which Stalin sought to enhance his street cred.

All that is, of course, beside the point, which is that simplistic, broad-brush statements like the one I was responding to don't really add anything useful to the discussion.

[JVS]

60. Expelled at 20 lived to be 73. Can't argue that 20 years is most of life

and that's granting that he spent every moment from birth to expulsion studying

[NYC]

61. Voltaire was a wise man.

[truthpusher]

29. It makes me wanna puke...but...

...you gotta love freedom of speech. This is bordering on pure hate speech, but it is only preaching to the hate choir. I don't see this as a threat so much as an affirmation that at this point in our country you can still express what is in your heart...even if it is nothing but a steaming pile of shit!

[hyphenate]

36. Isn't this Fred Phelps's group

They're the dirtiest bunch of hypocritical bastards in the country.

[hyphenate]

40. BTW

The AntiDefmation League has more info on them:

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/default.asp

[IndianaGreen]

45. "the FagiNazis running the Democratic Party"

Oh, this is more hateful than the shit the Klan puts out:

Many WBC fliers emphasize the race or religion of these individuals, suggesting that the Church's hate spreads beyond its abhorrence of homosexuality. What appears to be anti-gay rhetoric is often a vehicle for WBC's anti-Semitism, hatred of other Christians, and even racism...

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/default.asp

"Whatever righteous cause the Jewish victims of the 1930s-40s Nazi Holocaust had, (probably miniscule, compared to the Jewish Holocausts against Middle Passage Blacks, African Americans and Christians -- including the bloody persecution of Westboro Baptist Church by Topeka Jews in the 1990s), has been drowned in sodomite semen. American taxpayers are financing this unholy monument to Jewish mendacity and greed and to filthy fag lust...Homosexuals and Jews dominated Nazi Germany...just as they now dominate this doomed U.S.A....The Jews now wander the earth despised, smitten with moral and spiritual blindness by a divine judicial stroke...And god has smitten Jews with a certain unique madness, whereby they are an astonishment of heart, a proverb, and a byword (the butt of jokes and ridicule) among all peoples whither the Lord has driven and scattered them...Jews, thus perverted, out of all proportion to their numbers energize the militant sodomite agenda...The American Jews are the real Nazis (misusers and abusers of governmental power) who hate God and the rule of law."

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/wbc_on_jews.asp

Thanks to the Anti-Defamation League for digging this crap up. Now, the question I have is why does the MSM show Fred Phelps, or the equally hateful Jerry Falwell, whenever they want to broadcast anything about GLBT issues? It is as the only spokesmen for Christianity are the two most bigoted self-proclaimed Christians in America.

[Minstrel Boy]

41. Isn't this "church" really little more than a fucked-up family?

I don't think his church "community" extends far beyond first cousins.

[jonnyblitz]

49. I think you are correct pretty much. n/t

[QC]

53. The entire cult is related by blood or marriage. Most are lawyers,

so they do a lot of their "work" by filing intimidation suits against anyone who dares criticize them. Fred also has a very nasty history of domestic violence. He's a real piece of work.

http://www.rslevinson.com/gaylesissues/features/collect/phelps/bl_phelpsmain.htm

[Annus Horribilis]

43. They Are Traitors

9/11 was a gift from God? These bastards disgust me.

[NYC]

62. Where does Fred Phelps get his money?

Just wondering.

I have seen pictures of his children holding signs that say god caused 9/11, presumably to get even with New Yorkers for being New Yorkers.

[Darranar]

46. Oh my god. That is disgusting. n/t

[magellan]

47. Where would our WORLD be without religious rightwingers?

A hell of a lot better off than it's ever been WITH them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

50. World peace might be a reality. n/m

[AliciaKeyedUp]

59. What bullshit

Religion is something people use sometimes, just like they use politics, sex, science, media and everything else. To try and claim religion is the source of all the worlds ills is ludicrous.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

66. Organized religion is the source of a lot of ills...

Claiming it isn't is ludicrous.

[Baja Margie]

54. You know

I am just fed up to here with their crap. I say put the whole mess of them over there right now in the thick of it, expose them to some of the life threatening illnesses without benefit of vaccines, and let them experience a little taste of a natural disaster. shit, after they're dead, just heap those white trash bodies right up there on the funeral pyre, hell, they won't even have to light a fucking match, they're so full of hot air.

[nine23]

55. I bookmarked the website for further research purposes.

If this website isn't hard-core hate literature, I don't know what is.

[Moderator]

67. locking

Rawstory is not an acceptable Late Breaking News source. Try posting in GD.