Hatred...

In my Shaping of the Modern World class this term, I had to defend my thoughts that all religions have extreme fundamentalist (Jewish, Christianity, and Islam - Muslims). My professor asked this question:

You seem to be arguing for the moral equivalence of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish "extremists" in that you say there is "no difference" within the fact that "There are extreme radicals in all parts of all religions." I want to ask you, how would you justify this claim given that most Christian fundamentalists aren’t killing civilians to advance their agenda (except for the tiny number of abortion clinic bombers), and neither are most Jewish fundamentalists (except for the occasional nutjob like Dr. Baruck Goldstein, who in 1994 killed 29 Muslims worshiping at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Israel).

I think I answered this with great intelligence. I say this with out any response from my professor at the time of this post. I had written my response three days ago. The reason I write this post is to yet again explain why we live in Vermont and how the “extreme Christian fundamentalist” are using hatred to advance their agenda. We now turn our attention to the one and only Crazy Man himself, Mr. Fred Phelps. If you do not know of him, then you have had your head in a hole for many years. His website is “God Hates Fags” and he pushed the envelope when it comes to HATE. He is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) and the venom that he is spewing is amazing. From the WBC website:

“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.”

So now the King of all hatred has come up with a new idea to push his agenda. He has decided to renew his push for a “Mathew Shepherd In Hell” monument that he hopes will be set alongside other monuments "honoring the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the Mayflower Compact, the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta, the 13th-century law edict that restricted the powers of England's monarchs."

According to the Casper Star Tribune, he's back pushing for the Matthew Shepard monument again: "Phelps said he would be willing to make his monument resemble the six others and would include a picture of Shepard and the engraving: "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, at age 21, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22." Mayor Kate Sarosy said she had not received Phelps' letter Monday evening and said she would speak with the city attorney and the other council members. 'Mr. Phelps' message is full of hate and not in the spirit of the monument plaza,' Sarosy said."

So you may ask, Why am I acknowledging this man? Because he speaks hatred and if hatred is allowed, then who is safe. We need to make it apparent that this type of hatred from people like him is not allowed. We need to stand up and speak out against people like him. Think it's only "fags" that he hates. Here is the opening of a PDF that he has on his website that is titled, "The God Loves Everyone, The Greatest Lie Ever Told":

“God loves everyone” is the theology that is touted by every major so-called “Christian” religion in the United States (U.S). Of the more than 600,000 churches and synagogues in the U.S. most, if not all, prescribe to this view of God. It is the hue and cry of this sinful and corrupt generation and the single idea and value that binds the religious community of the U.S. together. Even people who do not attend church and who are not religious agree on this point, so that it unites “believers” and “unbelievers.” Without a doubt “God loves everyone” is universally believed in the Christian world, to the exclusion of all other ideas.

So remember the poem by Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.