The internet is a scary place...

[tpdncr4christ]

and I've just stumbled and broken my heart...

[moderator removed link to godhatesfags]

Please someone... explain... how can they say this? Tell me that they are just some twisted joke... satiracal comedy gone bad like the other video, they can't be serious.

If anything... I want nothing of their God. Their God aparently not only hates America, and Sweeden, and Canada, but He doesn't Love everyone... They are just... my goodness, everywhere I look on that page I see evil. I don't know how to describe it, but this site has love, and that website feels like Satan lives there... Please someone tell me the Westboro Baptist Church is just a made up joke, and that this is some ellaborate intellectual hightly cognative joke that I've just missed out on... If its not, pray.

[beat0it]

That is most definitely not a joke. I mean, it's horrifying. Fred Phelps is the pastor and leader of Westboro Baptist Church. He and his "followers" protested Matthew Shepard's funeral. I'm not sure if you know of Matthew Shepard or not but in case you don't he was a young gay man who was discovered on October 7th, 1998 bound to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyoming, beaten and left to die. His death became a national symbol of intolerance. The play The Laramie Project is based on that occurrence.

The first time I saw the website you posted a link for it took my breath away. I felt shocked.

I question the complete accuracy of Wikipedia but it does provide some information and links to other sites and a link to read about Fred Phelps. So here is the link to Westboro Baptist Church on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church).

Prayer is a must!

--Lindsey.

[andrewlittle]

and I've just stumbled and broken my heart...
Please someone... explain... how can they say this? Tell me that they are just some twisted joke... satiracal comedy gone bad like the other video, they can't be serious.

It is real. These people aren't joking - they're deadly serious. You can find all manner of deviant hate-mongering on the Internet, all kinds of fascist diatribe against all kinds of people. Don't let these bigots under your skin, even though they are a visible presence of radical right-wing nutjobs - they even disgust many, many conservatives.

If anything... I want nothing of their god ... my goodness, everywhere I look on that page I see evil. I don't know how to describe it, but this site has love, and that website feels like Satan lives there... Please someone tell me ... that this is some ellaborate intellectual hightly cognative joke that I've just missed out on... If its not, pray.

I am sure I am beng uncharitable when I say this, but these people worship a god that is not God. They have fashioned a totem of hate, extreme intolerance and violence - they claim that their god is the biggest and truest god - the real god. They even, if you read closely (although, I don't recommend that without have a puke bag handy), go to the wall to defend their god.

Does God need defending? I don't think so. You only feel a need to defend a god if you believe it is inferior - even to yourself.

As soon as anyone creates a god in their own image - especially one fashioned on the darkest recesses of the human mind - they have created an idol of their own mental and emotional disturbance. They have deified irrational fear and violence - a golden calf of abhorent perversity and self-agrandizement - and they idolize this putrid god of their own making.

Pray to God - but if anything, pray for their deliverance, their exodus from slavery to their own psychoses. In another age, these would be the 400 prophets of Ba'al working themselves up into a manic frenzy to show their god was more powerful than the God of Elijah. I would pray they don't suffer the same consequences because they follow a preacher from the lunatic fringe.

[Daniel]

Though I haven't found the exact source on the internet, I overheard the news of a recent study- on a gay news program this past week- that Sweden is the least homophobic society in the world. There's a reason for that.

http://www.homo.se/o.o.i.s/1816

http://www.homo.se/o.o.i.s/1212

Yes- there are scary sites out there. But other sites, such as this one show that even a few people can change the world for the better. We can't let people like Mr. Phelps steal our joy or our hope.

[BruceChris]

Or anyone else doing things like Rowanda, or Darfur. I have been to some of Fred's demonstrations, and his people just stand around, and look very angry. They won't even talk to me, or anybody. Read this:

Originally Posted by BruceChris
http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1093 -- My Church

It is sad, and we should pray for them, and not live in fear of them, (but try not to do anything unnecessarily foolish around them, if there are not any witnesses around)

There are a lot of strange people out there, but then, the world, and the internet are a big place. Try Googling Christian Nationalist, or Dominionist.

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[nmwolfboy]

Phelps has been at this for a long time. There used to be a "GodLovesFags" website that was started to be a counterpoint to Phelp's vitriol. The site still exists (http://godlovesfags.blogspot.com/), though it's now a blog.

Phelp's "church" which is largely composed of his family, many of whom are lawyers, historically has relied on this tactic to make money for themselves: they organize one of their "protests" in a location where they believe they will get a strong reaction from local law enforcement, govenments & churches. When it works out the way they hope, they sue the law enforcement agencies and just about anyone else they can for "violating their civil right to free speech". What they're really looking for in these cases is to get settlement money.

When they came to Albuquerque & Santa Fe a year or so ago to protest outside some churches, i think our communities handled it well. In Albuquerque there was a big alternate "Love" rally across town that drew the attention away from Phelp's family's rather meager protest. In Santa Fe, they did the same thing, but private citizens also parked a bunch of buses & RVs on both sides of the streets in front of the churches that Phelp's daughter & granddaughters had targeted. His crowd was allowed to protest, but only on the sidewalks across the street from the churches. The buses & RVs blocked them from everyone's view and there was no way Phelp's family could claim that their freedom of speech was violated, since they were allowed to protest. In the minimal local news coverage they received they really came off as just distasteful lunatic fringe.

Phelp's group wants media attention & the opportunity to sue to make money. When both are denied to them, they pack up & move along very quickly.

-scott

[Zerbie]

Oh Austin, I'm sorry that took you by surprise. ((( Austin ))):love:

Everybody else beat me to it - yup. It's real (CAN you believe it?), the Phelps clan has been around for YEARS, and no one but themselves takes them very seriously.

I had a nasty run-in with them about 9 or 10 years ago, that I don't want to describe in public. So I relate to your sense of shock. Don't let these sickening buffoons break your heart - they are the broken ones.

They strive for shock value. Best thing, as wolfboy said, is not to give them any reaction. Which is hard, given that a spirit of evil seems to hover over them and constantly come out their mouths. It's unbelievably foul. And yes, they really DO offend a lot of conservatives. Well and basically everyone.

As someone already said, most of the "church" is comprised of Fred's relatives. A lot of harm was done to those raised in that family and inculcated in such wild ridiculous hate. Imagine being raised by Fred Phelps? what a terrible psychological journey! They need a lot of prayer - from a good safe distance. Best not to relate to them in any direct way.

Oh regards the site - someone mentioned God Hates Fags.com and I didn't believe there even was such a thing til I saw it. All it does is discredit them.

[tpdncr4christ]

they have done there job in sowing doubt in my mind. where do we get the teaching that God loves everyone?

[u-dog]

Everywhere in the new testament my brother! Jesus died on the cross for a whole world that didn't deserve it. So all four Gospels, but especially Lukes Gospel. Pay attention to who Jesus hangs with and extends himself for... and who he doesn't. Read 1 and 2 John. Both of them talk about how God is love and how God loved us

[Daniel]

they have done there job in sowing doubt in my mind. where do we get the teaching that God loves everyone?

We can know that God Loves Everyone from:

The look in our Beloved's eyes.
The kind word that was said when we least expected it.
Sitting quietly and contemplating our own heart.
From being in Love for the first time.
Art and Beauty.

We are swimming in Love, but like fish, have forgotten who and what we are. To Remember is to Be.

[tpdncr4christ]

We can know that God Loves Everyone from:

The look in our Beloved's eyes.
The kind word that was said when we least expected it.
Sitting quietly and contemplating our own heart.
From being in Love for the first time.
Art and Beauty.

We are swimming in Love, but like fish, have forgotten who and what we are. To Remember is to Be.

thanks... that's a good answer

[Jennifer5]

they have done there job in sowing doubt in my mind. where do we get the teaching that God loves everyone?

Try to listen to those you trust not those who don't have a clue what they're saying. These people are scared and have forgotten how to love, their lives must truly be empty if they don't have anything better to do with their time. They'll never know how to love one another and for that I that, I truly feel sorry for this people everyday.:(



thanks... that's a good answer

... Daniel tends to be good at that:love:

[Zerbie]

Wonderful responses from Jen, Daniel, and Dave.

Austin, do the words and actions of the Phelps clan carry grace and mercy in them? Do they draw your heart to inward peace, faith and trust in God? Or do they sabotage, hurt, anger, and confuse? Look at the fruits of their words and actions and let those fruits tell you what kind of spirit is behind what they say.

[TigerXero]

Isn't this also the group that protests the funerals of the Americans who have died in the war in Iraq?

Btw, www.godhatesshrimp.com makes a stab at the aforementioned site.

[novaseeker]

Isn't this also the group that protests the funerals of the Americans who have died in the war in Iraq?

Btw, www.godhatesshrimp.com makes a stab at the aforementioned site.

Yes it is, because per these whackos it's shameful that anyone would bear arms for fag-tolerating America -- God should smite America down for tolerating fags, and people who are fighting the US military are fighting against God.

:rolleyes:

[scott snedeker]

I see Phelps' posture as a test.

You are right about you sense of danger. He is a predator who harms others for gratification to compensate for the rage he feels when he sees a world he hates more each day. Yuck! Must really suck to be him!

Phelps may be activating negative emotions -and that is bad- but he is taking his hate so far that he is actually criminalizing homophobia.

By advocating the actions of Matthew Shepherd's murderers they become accomplices and conspirators to commit murder. He has already attracted the attention of Homeland Security, had federal legal action against him and risks incarceration in federal prison --not a very nice place full of simlarly disordered personalities.

So the more vivsible they are, the more people see their posture as not
only amoral, lethally malignant and criminal but also as an example that they in no way, even remotely, wish to resemble. Future history will not be kind to them.

I'm sure they cause more people who were passive homophobes (ingorant of or complacent with the status quo of inequality existing today) to reflect and change to a kinder attitude toward us gay folks than those who he intimidates or draws into his crusade of sanctimonious genocide.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, these very applicable adjectives do not describe a messenger from the Holy Spirit teaching uncondtional love.

You can bet If I saw this, so have a lot of others. I'm confident that they will cause many to test the view they were taught and see more clearly the deadly shame of homophobia.

Without intending to he is advancing gay equality by creating this contrast to our nonviolence.

Hmmmm, why does that ring a bell? I seem to remember your tuning the other cheek story that really impressed me months ago.

Only focus on him long enough to dissect his flawed spritual hygiene in order to appropritealy trivialize his righteousness. This takes the power out of his words.

Then waste no more time on it.

Focus on the wonderful things your young life has in store for you. For the joys you will receive because you have the courage to live true to your nature!

There is great love for you here and every where in the world, Austin!

"Love is all around, no need to waste it. Your gonna make it after all!"
----mtm

[Gregory_de_Bois]

I see Phelps' posture as a test.

You are right about you sense of danger. He is a predator who harms others for gratification to compensate for the rage he feels when he sees a world he hates more each day. Yuck! Must really suck to be him!

Phelps may be activating negative emotions -and that is bad- but he is taking his hate so far that he is actually criminalizing homophobia.

By advocating the actions of Matthew Shepherd's murderers they become accomplices and conspirators to commit murder. He has already attracted the attention of Homeland Security, had federal legal action against him and risks incarceration in federal prison --not a very nice place full of simlarly disordered personalities.

So the more vivsible they are, the more people see their posture as not
only amoral, lethally malignant and criminal but also as an example that they in no way, even remotely, wish to resemble. Future history will not be kind to them.

I'm sure they cause more people who were passive homophobes (ingorant of or complacent with the status quo of inequality existing today) to reflect and change to a kinder attitude toward us gay folks than those who he intimidates or draws into his crusade of sanctimonious genocide.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, these very applicable adjectives do not describe a messenger from the Holy Spirit teaching uncondtional love.

You can bet If I saw this, so have a lot of others. I'm confident that they will cause many to test the view they were taught and see more clearly the deadly shame of homophobia.

Without intending to he is advancing gay equality by creating this contrast to our nonviolence.

Hmmmm, why does that ring a bell? I seem to remember your tuning the other cheek story that really impressed me months ago.

Only focus on him long enough to dissect his flawed spritual hygiene in order to appropritealy trivialize his righteousness. This takes the power out of his words.

Then waste no more time on it.

Focus on the wonderful things your young life has in store for you. For the joys you will receive because you have the courage to live true to your nature!

There is great love for you here and every where in the world, Austin!

"Love is all around, no need to waste it. Your gonna make it after all!"
----mtm

Wow. I never thought of it that way. I guess that is sort of like foils in literature. You have a good character (not necessarily the protagonist) contrasted and emphasized by the bad character (not necessarily the antagonist). Cool. This just proves that God can use anything, even evil and injustice, to bring about good. :)

[Rick336]

Fred Phelps is a sad example of a person with extremely low self-esteem. Nobody with healthy self respect would do and say the ugly, hateful things that he does. People like Phelps are trapped in a world of delusion and distorted reality with thoughts as socially perverted as a pedophile's thoughts are sexually perverted. Looking at Phelp's website is like looking at a terrible car accident. It's both repulsive and sad.

[pnggrad79]

Fred Phelps is the American counterpart to Osama Bin Laden. ( Although on a much smaller scale). This man and his family are eaten up with hate and vengeance. They extricate a few verses of The Bible and use it to beat up people. Really, he does nothing different than any gay hating straight church, which does the same thing.

When Fred Phelps figured out he could make money off of his Hitler-esque type of hatred, he milked it for all it was worth. Because his congregation has dwindled, that is all he has to make money.

It is disturbing and wrong. Phelps is not worth a bucket of warm spit.

[tpdncr4christ]

does he make money? That makes no sense.

[scott snedeker]

does he make money? That makes no sense.
not for much longer!

[pnggrad79]

Obviously he makes money and he does it off of his venomous hatred. But how is it any different than James Dobson making money off of his venom? James Dobson is just a tad more palatable than Phelps. At least Dobson smiles nice.

[BruceChris]

I was just listening to Public Radio, and they were discussing Evolution verses "Intelliigent Design", and someone mentioned this website.

The belief system on this site seems to be so backward, that they believe everything that a 14th century Catholic believes, except maybe that the earth is flat! :confused: :eek: :lol:

http://www.fixedearth.com/

There is an awful lot of strange stuff out there. -- Peace and Love, Bruce Chris :wave: :applause:

[scott snedeker]

I was just listening to Public Radio, and they were discussing Evolution verses "Intelliigent Design", and someone mentioned this website.

The belief system on this site seems to be so backward, that they believe everything that a 14th century Catholic believes, except maybe that the earth is flat! :confused: :eek: :lol:

http://www.fixedearth.com/

There is an awful lot of strange stuff out there. -- Peace and Love, Bruce Chris :wave: :applause:

what do you imply?

[dewdrop_world]

See also http://godhatesfigs.com/

:D

My fabulous genderqueer friend Charles / Julia is behind that one.

James