Manna Is a Hell of a Drug

After hearing about their visit to Bethalto, I absolutely must express my distaste for groups like the Westboro Baptist Church.  Thank God I'm a Catholic (yes, I recognize the implicit irony in that statement) and not a Baptist.  I would be even more infuriated if they were to adopt my particular denomination for their hate-mongering.  As it is, my level of contempt is high enough as they have chosen Christianity as a vehicle for their hate.  I imagine this is the same feeling that good, peaceful Muslims have when malicious extremists (e.g. Jihadists) claim Islam for their malevolent purposes.

Groups such as the Westboro Baptists annoy me for a variety of reasons, but there are two major ones.  The subjects of their hate are not what bothers me the most.  Everyone focuses on the group's disdain for the homosexual community, but judging from their website's various sister sites such as jewskilledjesus.com and priestsrapeboys.com (just to name a few), they seem to be equal-opportunity hate-mongers.  Rotten people tend to congregate and feed off of each other's hostility, and the advent of the internet has allowed greater communication and organization for groups of all kinds.  Hate groups are always going to be around; that won't change.

The first major reason these vile people get under my skin is their complete lack of respect for anyone, especially those who sacrifice their lives to maintain the freedom of which these depreciators take full advantage.  We all know the stories of their ignorant funeral protests, and I don't feel like recounting them.  I feel badly enough devoting the small amount of time that I have to this composition; however, I believe they present a troubling problem (which I shall explain) on top of the individual instances of their frequent, disrespectful, and infuriating picketing.

The second reason--and the catalyst for this post--is the group's complete misrepresentation of religious conservatives.  Their website reads like an extreme liberal atheist's far-fetched parody of the Christian Right.  If it wasn't serious, it would almost be funny to someone with as twisted of a sense of humor as I have been known to have.  Unfortunately, it's no joke.  The group concerns me as a conservative Christian American, but I want to point out that this concern is not the only or even the primary one although it is what drove me to compose this post.  I do not want to downplay the acute emotional harm the group is inflicting on innocent families and individuals; however, as a member of the societal group to which these villains allegedly belong, I feel obligated to resist this classification.  They rank right up there with the crazies that bomb abortion clinics.  I would feel the same obligation if I was a liberal atheist (which I was at one point, believe it or not) thrown in with a group of church burners (of which, incidentally, I have never been a part).

I recognize that open-minded, critically-thinking individuals do not automatically assume that all right-wing Christians share Fred Phelps and family's ludicrous stance, but I think you would be surprised at how many would.  The media has a large influence on the views of the public, and the mass media leans overwhelmingly to the left.  For those who don't deign to read the news, information is often gathered from television shows--an unfortunate, yet nevertheless true, circumstance.  A good example of this problem and the detrimental effects it can have is the infamous Saturday Night Live skit featuring Tina Fey's parody of Sarah Palin.  In the skit, Fey claims, "I can see Russia from my house!"  This quote was attributed by a large number of the American public to Palin herself rather than the parody.  The joke was a distortion of a factual statement that Palin made in an ABC interview with Charlie Gibson where she stated, "[Y]ou can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."  This prevarication was a huge detriment to Palin's image at a crucial time in her political career.  My point is not to defend Palin but to exemplify the type of dilemmas that arise when people accept what they see and/or at face value and don't think for themselves.

The Westboro Baptists absolutely do not represent conservative or Christian values.  Conservatives seek to limit the power of the government over individuals and maintain traditional values, with societal changes happening gradually if necessary.  Contrary to popular belief, we are not out to kill animals, pollute the environment, or keep minorities from achieving individual and/or collective success and happiness.  True, many conservatives oppose gay marriage; then again, so does President Obama (who is definitely not a conservative).  Although it is an easy habit to develop, it is unfair to label and stereotype anyone.

By the same token, Christianity is not epitomized by the persecution and suffering of others even if the Christian symbol epitomizes suffering and persecution.  Read that sentence again while thinking about the death of Jesus, and it won't seem so contradictory.  Jesus wouldn't be protesting the funeral of a gay soldier; he would be standing arm-in-arm with those blocking the demonstration or attempting to console the bereaved family.  I don't picture my Jesus as a baby, in a tuxedo tee shirt, or rocking lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with a group of angels singing harmony, but I do picture him as a pretty agreeable dude--not some stiff, but the type of guy who could keep a party going.  He would also be the type of guy from which you would seek advice, and once you received an answer, it would seem so simple and correct that you would wonder how you didn't arrive at the conclusion yourself.

WWJD might seem trite, cliche, or even downright irrelevant at times, but if more people (especially those who call themselves Christians) took time to consider the question it acronymizes, the world would undoubtedly be a better place.