I hate to say it, but I'm glad for the existence of Westboro Baptist because Fred Phelps' church helps expose a hateful underbelly of parts of American Christianity : not even the "Christian right", because there are many in that tendency (which gets defined differently by different people) who would be quick to condemn Westboro Baptist for its hate-saturated protests at the funerals of Gay US service members killed in Iraq. But, Westboro Baptist represents the quintessence of a tendency within Christianity, mirrored no doubt within Islam as well, that presumes to know which societal groups and even which cities and entire geographical regions are slated for the wrath of divine destruction for alleged sins.
| It's easy to take Westboro Baptist's "hate song" as a parody of itself, but consider this ; people with very similar beliefs, such as Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, currently have connections in American politics, to powerful politicians such as John McCain and Roy Blunt and even to the President of the United States, George W. Bush. But more to the point, Hagee is spearheading a new Jewish-Christian alliance that's helping to propel the US towards war with Iran ; Hagee thinks this will precipitate Armageddon. |