Fred Phelps and the WBC are most widely known for the website www.godhatesfags.com.  The first I had heard of them was back around 2000 for having a running counter of how long Matthew Shepard has been in hell. They also run www.godhatestheworld.com, www.americaisdoomed.com, priestsrapeboys.com, www.hatemongers.com (No, I’m not making that one up), www.signsofthetimes.net, and their blogging site, blogs.sparenot.com. So you’re prepared, everything is, “fag.” As in, “fag,” is an adjective.

So you realize, we’re talking about someone who protested at Jerry Falwell’s funeral because Falwell didn’t hate homosexuals enough.

I do have something nice to say about them. They have very nice webpage design. That’s about as nice as you can get.

See, they say things like

WBC engages in daily peaceful sidewalk demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth. We display large, colorful signs containing Bible words and sentiments, including: GOD HATES FAGS, FAGS HATE GOD, AIDS CURES FAGS, THANK GOD FOR AIDS, FAGS BURN IN HELL, GOD IS NOT MOCKED, FAGS ARE NATURE FREAKS, GOD GAVE FAGS UP, NO SPECIAL LAWS FOR FAGS, FAGS DOOM NATIONS, THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS, FAG TROOPS, GOD BLEW UP THE TROOPS, GOD HATES AMERICA, AMERICA IS DOOMED, THE WORLD IS DOOMED, etc.

Perceiving the modern militant homosexual movement to pose a clear and present danger to the survival of America, exposing our nation to the wrath of God as in 1898 B.C. at Sodom and Gomorrah, WBC has conducted over 33,000 such demonstrations since June, 1991, at homosexual parades and other events, including funerals of impenitent sodomites (like Matthew Shepard) and over 200 military funerals of troops whom God has killed in Iraq/Afghanistan in righteous judgment against an evil nation. America crossed the line on June 26, 2003, when the Supreme Court (the conscience of the nation) ruled that we must respect sodomy. WBC teams have picketed all over the United States, and internationally (including Canada, Jordan and Iraq). The unique picketing ministry of Westboro Baptist Church has received international attention, and WBC believes this gospel message to be this world’s last hope

You see, where your average proselytizer will try to woo you with God’s love, the WBC wants us all to know that God doesn’t love anybody..

You’ll say “but doesn’t ‘whosoever believes’ mean that everybody has the chance to believe?” Nope. Turn a few pages to John 10 (you may be surprised to find that there is actually more to the Bible than John 3:16, but believe me, there is). You will find in John 10:11 that Jesus says “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” Later on in verse 26, Jesus says to some unbelievers: “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.” Uh oh – you John 3:16 heretics have a few problems on your hands. Jesus says He came to die for the sheep, and then proceeds to say that only His sheep can believe. In other words, only the people for whom Jesus died will believe. Note that the reason that unbelievers don’t believe is BECAUSE they are not His sheep. This passage explains who the world is in John 3:16, and it’s clearly not everyone. Furthermore, the only people who can believe are the ones whom God has ordained to eternal life. “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Acts 13:48. So, if you have been ordained to eternal life, that means that you will believe, you are one of God’s sheep, God loves you, and He sent His Son to die for you so you wouldn’t be condemned. If you have not been ordained to eternal life, that means you are not one of His sheep, you NEVER will believe and are already condemned.

…

Our message to this evil world is that God hates you, and you better prepare for the return of Christ in power and glory. Jesus came the first time to save; and Jesus will come the second time in vengeance, because you do not obey the Gospel. It will be soon, and you will experience the wrath of the Lamb, face to face. (Deut. 7:10, Rev. 6:16).

There you have it folks. Wrath of Lamb.

At GodHatesTheWorld, they’re putting up sites for every country that God hates. (If you haven’t been following along, I’ll clue you in. It’s all of them.) Generally, it’s because of, “fag,” things. Nigeria is hated because the age of consent is 13. Oh and Fags. Pakistan for being Muslim. And Fags. And Divorce and Abortion and Prostitution. Japan? Fags. China? Fags. Mexico?

Sodomite Mexico is fast reverting to the vile Satanic ways of the filthy faggot Mayan and Aztec empires, which were obliterated by God Almighty because of their sins: Mexico – Land of the Sodomite Damned.

This is pretty much par for the course. Every disaster they rejoice. Katrina, they rejoiced. Floods in MO, they rejoice. Soldiers die in Afghanistan and Iraq , they rejoice. Hangnail? You’ve incurred God’s wrath by not hating fags enough.

Let’s take a look at a few videos of Shirley Phelps Roper who does the media rounds on their behalf.

Shirley Phelps Roper on Hannity & Colmes

Shirley Phelps Roper and Children on Tyra

Shirley Phelps Roper on Fox News Again

Michael Moore vs. Westboro Baptist Church

There’s an upside to this and that’s that they’re composed mostly of Fred Phelp’s family and a few others. It’s apparently a non-recruiting cult that revels in being hated.

Oh and they don’t just hate gays.

“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.”
– “WBC to picket Holocaust Memorial Sodomite Museum in D.C. Jan. 20,” WBC “News Release,” December 26, 1996

From the ADL

“We understand that Iraq is the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets without fear of arrest and prosecution. Alas, the United States no longer allows the Gospel to be freely and openly preached on the streets, because militant sodomites now control our government, and they violently object to the Bible message…The same majoritarian sodomite tyranny that now guides the Clinton administration’s repressive policies toward Gospel preaching on America’s streets, is apparently responsible — at least in part — for the merciless slaughter by starvation of 400 innocent Iraqi babies each day in your country. If our government and laws will allow it, and at the invitation of your government, we would like to send a delegation from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, to preach the Gospel on the streets of Baghdad for one week in the near future.”

– Fred Phelps, in a letter to Saddam Hussein,
November 30, 1997

ADL

Reportedly, the WBC were invited to Iraq, went and then proclaimed how much God Hates Fags in Baghdad.

It’s easy to laugh them off, but this handful of folks have proved such a nuisance, especially with their recent protests of military funerals that there’s a federal law governing protesting military funerals. A handful of nutters that generally consists of one family and a few others.

There’s much more to be found on this cult if you’re up for the very easy Googling.

To be clear, I do see why same-sex couples do want equality under marriage, but have a hard time understanding and believing people taking issue with gay couples wanting to get married. It seems like such a non-issue. There are more important things in life, no? If two human beings, two entities, want to wed and enter a social contract then let them do so. Does it adversely affect you? No more so than a wedding by a heterosexual couple. So let them do it and leave them alone. The current overal trend in America, at least in more open-minded areas, is that of greater acceptance of the homosexual community. This is a good thing and I hope it continues until the great majority of people see homosexuality as a non-issue and move to more important issues.

This post is prompted by an article I saw printed today in the Daily Bruin. The article titled They do, even if the law says they can’t . The article reports of a exchange of vows between a same-sex couple, Tom Keegan and Davidson Lloyd, in Bruin Plaza on Friday, April 18. The event was coordinated by the SCME – Student Coalition for Marriage Equality.

I did take issue with one part of the article though. It’s a rather technical criticism, but the article said:

… heterosexual married couples hold more than 1,000 federal rights that are not provided to same-sex couples, according to Marriage Equality USA, an organization with chapters across the country.

Now, unless I’m mistaking the term “federal rights” I don’t think rights would be the right word to use here. They are more like privileges that married people enjoy. The legal benefits of marriage are a societal construct and not an inherent right like, say, freedom of speech is.

Anyway, that’s not important. The point is, we should all try to adhere to the following maxim:

For as long as someone’s actions do not affect you (whether adversely or positively), you have no right to prevent them from engaging in such actions.

Now, if only more people tried to follow that we’d have a better world. This maxim not only applies to the issue to marriage between homosexuals, but to the issues of drug use, freedom of speech, ownership of certain things, etc. But no, the religious right and other people have to use some ancient texts as a guide and force their belief system down people’s throats. That’s not right. That’s evil.

The opinions expressed in this post are those of its author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BASS or the University of California, Los Angeles.