Posted on 03/18/2014 12:46:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
With reports that Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps is near death, some gay-rights advocates are conflicted. In the end, they say, his actions actually helped their cause.
For most of the past 20 years, gay Americans dreaded Fred Phelps Sr. and the God hates fags pickets by members of his Westboro Baptist Church, a congregation that believes that disciples who do not attack those they see as sinful will themselves be punished by God.
But amid reports that Mr. Phelps is now seriously ill at a Topeka, Kan., hospice facility, some religion experts and gay activists are suggesting that the gay rights movement may ultimately owe Phelps a debt of gratitude for his leadership of one of the most controversial small churches in America.
Instead of turning America against gays and same-sex unions, they argue, Phelps may have instead helped to draw attention to the subject of religious intolerance and its impact on fellow Americans.
We should give thanks for [Fred Phelps] gift to American society, writes Mark Silk, a religion professor Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. So whats the gift? Its that he made religious hostility to homosexuality repulsive.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
I won’t lower myself to his level. I won’t celebrate either. When he’s gone he’s gone.
Wood chipper
For a dude with about 17 followers, Phelps sure gets a lot of attention and reaction.
Take the bastard out behind the barn and shoot him.
But puhlease, to all those who pile on to Fred Phelps whenever his name and Westboro BC comes up, could you now pay some attention Islam?
Same here.
I would ignore him. That is what he deserves.
Can’t use Islam to defame Christianity, so they concentrate on Phelps.
He should be ignored - totally. Sent to the grave as an after thought and a bad lingering taste nobody cares waste any further energy on.
Ignored.
He should be ignored for eternity.
He would probably like that. That is good enough reason to stay away.
They get their money by suing governmental entities that pass laws to try and keep them away from funerals. They did that in Sarpy County Nebraska a couple of years ago. It came out in the paper that they had a whole string of lawsuits and won most of them.
No.
By using their tactics you only elevate them into the realm of “acceptable”.
Exactly. The best way to punish attention whores is to ignore them.
I agree with you. Why stoop to his level?
I hope his service gets picketed by the families of Fallen Hroes.
Then his body is feed to pigs.
If your thinking generally follows that of Phelps (in principle, if not in the particulars), then his funeral should be similarly treated as he and his followers treated others. Certainly.
It will be interesting to see who does, or does not, think much the same as Phelps.
Westboro Baptist Church is going to picket his funeral, since he was excommunicated from the church.
His daughter calls Phelps a fag-loving whore (her words) and says he deserves it.
I read:
Fred Phelps legacy: Should Westboro Baptist founder be PICKLED when he dies?.............
Contemptuous silence for the man is the best revenge. Like he never existed.
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