Westboro Baptist Church Members Praise Student Deaths
[Guest post by DRJ]
What is wrong with the people?
“Nearly 1,000 UW-Stout students gathered Thursday morning outside the Memorial Student Center to protest picketing by members of a Kansas-based church.
Four people from Westboro Baptist Church thanked God for a tragic fire Saturday that took the life of three UW-Stout students in an off-campus house fire.
“They died for Wisconsin and Minnesota’s sins,” according to a news release issued by the church. Church members held signs saying “God’s Wrath is Revealed” and “America is Doomed.”
The church’s Web site didn’t say what those sins were or why church members were at UW-Stout. University officials also did not know the reason for the picketing.”
I believe in free speech but I wish the Westboro Baptist Church would find better things for its members to do.
— DRJ
DRJ, these are the Phelpsians. They are crazy anti-gay folks (www.godhatesfags.com). They are not affiliated with any other Baptist church.
They’ve been around forever, and they are tiresome. They picket funerals.
See, the thing is because of all the fags and fag-enablers, God sends fires and bullets and other things raining down on America (www.godhatesamerica.com). They are best ignored; it’s a small clan of weirdos from Topeka, a city which deserves better than these litigious trouble-makers.
–JRM
JRM (355c21) — 4/11/2008 @ 10:29 pmMaybe we should introduce them to Code Pink and let them live together in anti-America harmony in a remote compound somewhere. Either that or watch with sporting interest as they cut each other to pieces.
JVW (835f28) — 4/11/2008 @ 10:42 pmWhat’s up with all this love of death from that church? Are they trying to be the islam of Christianity?
Kevin (57a31b) — 4/11/2008 @ 11:19 pmFor your viewing pleasure, and to restore some small amount of hope for our future…
UW students shout down Phelpians…
Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec) — 4/11/2008 @ 11:22 pmi support free speech, but i also support jury nullification. i hear these folks have been picketing soldiers’ funerals with their “god hates fags” schtick, and i’m surprised that so much time has gone by without someone accidentally on purpose running one of them over. you couldn’t find twelve people to convict where i live. i hear that some of the phelps clan are lawyers (!) and they do this to provoke folks so that they can sue. i hope it’s one of the lawyers that gets run over.
assistant devil's advocate (c9025d) — 4/11/2008 @ 11:37 pmI like JVW’s idea. The Phelps Cult/Code Pink cage match would be the biggest PPV event ever.
PCachu (e072b7) — 4/11/2008 @ 11:39 pmWestboro Baptist Church: the best argument for /ignore in reality.
(brought to you by WoW geeks Anon.)
Foxfier (74f1c8) — 4/12/2008 @ 12:08 amI don’t know if this is true, but what I read somewhere is that several of the leaders of the Phelps cult are lawyers, and the real purpose of these demonstrations is to try to get someone to become violent and to attack them — so they can then sue.
Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 4/12/2008 @ 12:30 amI don’t hate people as a general rule; I am of those who believe that hate, in general, harms the hater more than the hated.
But it’s ****ed hard for me to not hate these guys.
aphrael (db0b5a) — 4/12/2008 @ 3:00 amThis recent story has some information about the “church’s” own legal problems and its finances. The father of a Marine won a $5 million judgment against it and some of the Phelpses, and unless they post the church property and their homes for appeal bond he can levy on them, even if the Phelpses appeal.
nk (6b7d4f) — 4/12/2008 @ 5:11 amI don’t know if this is true, but what I read somewhere is that several of the leaders of the Phelps cult are lawyers, and the real purpose of these demonstrations is to try to get someone to become violent and to attack them — so they can then sue.
Yes they are lawyers. Just another reason to hate them.
Just kidding, Patterico! I really love lawyers. (winks and crosses fingers)
Richard (6254a9) — 4/12/2008 @ 6:18 amTwo and a half years ago, Eve Tushnet quoted someone’s argument that Phelps is not only not a Baptist, but not a Christian at all. Here’s what she quotes:
I haven’t checked Tushnet’s source, and her link is now dead, but I’ve always found her trustworthy. I’ve also read in several places that Phelps is a registered Democrat, and has even run for office as such, contrary to the impression one would get from most people who mention him.
Dr. Weevil (d1212a) — 4/12/2008 @ 6:48 amThey crave scorn.
Interesting pathology.
steve (159f10) — 4/12/2008 @ 8:42 amAll of them are lawyers. Fred is a nut and if homosexuality didn’t exist, he would picket to protest our societies tolerance for left handers. On the other hand, rumor has it that Fred might have tendencies towards the other team himself and this might be some sort of self hatred thing. Before using him and his church as some sort of club against Baptists or Democrats, read http://www.rslevinson.com/gaylesissues/features/collect/phelps/bl_phelpsmain.htm
Those of us in Kansas know him to be a nut and have known for the last 30 years or so. Before the internet, he would clog the fax machines of Judges, lawyers, newspapers, other churches, anyone who did anything to rate his disapproval and would sue at the drop of the hat. I believe all his kids became lawyers, and I would imagine the next generation will be too. This is a cult, a couple of kids have gotten out, but the rest of them are wonderful examples of Stockholm Syndrome. They grew up beaten by, and terrified of their father. I could almost feel sorry for them but their actions at these funerals are just beyond the pale.
buzz (ab76d9) — 4/12/2008 @ 8:49 amI’m just curious, even theoretically, how could these assholes be used as a club against Democrats?
Levi (76ef55) — 4/12/2008 @ 10:54 amThe fact that they are registered Democrats, and Phelps himself has RUN as a democrat?
Scott Jacobs (fa5e57) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:00 amAgain, how would you use that as a club against Democrats? ‘Don’t vote for Obama, Fred Phelps is a Democrat’?
Levi (76ef55) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:07 amOne of the things I like about free speech is it allows idiots, fools and insane people to clearly identify as such.
Go them one better: take their pictures, get their addresses, and put up a website.
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:09 am2 Samuel 23:8
These are the names of David’s warriors: the Takhemonite Yoshev-bashshevet, chief among the captains: the same was Adino the Eznite (he raised his spear against eight hundred whom he slew at one time)
Which may be a corruption (ironic, if the Phelpsians purposely chose it) of the text preserved in another part of Scripture:
1 Chronicles 11:11
And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Yashov’am, the son of Hakhmoni, the chief of the captains. he swung his spear over three hundred slain at one time.
Yoshev-bashshevet Tachekhmoni being the corrupted form of Yashov’am ben Hakhmoni.
kishnevi (a6ffde) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:21 amAgain, how would you use that as a club against Democrats? ‘Don’t vote for Obama, Fred Phelps is a Democrat’?
This from the commenter who thinks George Bush is still running.
Paul (4e4a20) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:21 amOne of the things I like about free speech is it allows idiots, fools and insane people to clearly identify as such.
Levi!
Paul (4e4a20) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:22 amaphrael…
Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/12/2008 @ 11:52 amYou do not have to stoop to hating this group, you just have to have a very intense level of disgust.
Problem solved!
Feh. Fred Phelps no more represents Christianity than Code Pink does intelligent women.
Dana (fd88d5) — 4/12/2008 @ 12:05 pmCode Pink…
Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/12/2008 @ 12:16 pmIt is very difficult to represent that which you are not.
Actually, Fred Phelps helps Obama. There is no more anti-gay ethnic/racial group in America than blacks.
Channeling Jeremiah Wright: “God damn America. It’s let the queers take away black men from black women.”
nk (6b7d4f) — 4/12/2008 @ 12:22 pmnk…
Another Drew (8018ee) — 4/12/2008 @ 1:08 pmI would beg to disagree.
I think your statement is accurate as far as religious Blacks are concerned.
However, for a group that is pretty much anti-gay/anti-other, from one end to the other, I would nominate Latinos.
In my encounters with main-stream, business oriented (but not what would be considered Upper-Class/Academic) Latinos, I find the degree of bigotry amazing.
This is the paradox of the Dem Primary:
Obama attracks Blacks, and repels Hispanics;
Hillary does just the opposite.
Seeing how these two groups are Dem constituents, and the Dems must have all of their votes to win a General, they’re between a rock and a hard-place.
Fair enough, AD. I won’t quibble. But my experience is that Spanish-speaking people (I detest the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic”) are far more tolerant than black Americans in every respect.
nk (6b7d4f) — 4/12/2008 @ 1:13 pmP.S. It could be because I am often thought a Puerto Rican, myself, although I am not.
nk (6b7d4f) — 4/12/2008 @ 1:16 pmAs I recall, Phelps didn’t just run as a Democrat, he was a convention delegate.
Rob Crawford (b5d1c2) — 4/12/2008 @ 3:48 pm“I’m just curious, even theoretically, how could these assholes be used as a club against Democrats?
Because as some point someone usually makes a statement about them being baptist as a shot against mainstream Christianity, and someone else mentions they are democrats. Actually some people mistakenly identify them as Republicans and I doubt they do it as praise for the party. This isn’t rocket science, which part do you not understand?
buzz (ab76d9) — 4/12/2008 @ 7:55 pm