Winnipeg to Fred Phelps: Piss Off
As the life of McLean—who was stabbed to death and beheaded aboard a Greyhound bus July 30 west of Portage la Prairie—was celebrated at Westwood Community Church, an estimated 400 to 600 supporters of his family lined adjacent streets for hours to keep watch for any appearance by members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.“None of us are just going to stand around and let this happen,” Steven Hughes said outside the church on Westwood Drive. winnipeg sun
Good for all of the people who lined the streets. Phelps and his crew didn’t even show up.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I agree, certainly.
But I’m still somewhat bothered by the fact that the media insist on referring to the Phelps freak show as a “Baptist church”, or a “religious group”. It’s nothing of the sort, as we know.
Phelps and his gang call themselves the “Westboro Baptist Church”, and referring to them by that name, but in quotation marks, would be justified as being factually accurate. But NOT putting the quotation marks around the name, or calling them a “religious group” (even with adjectives like “zealous ” thrown in), has the effect of legitimizing their claim to being anything other than a one-family hate-fest.
By the same token, I personally refuse to refer to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton as “Reverend”. I reserve that honorific for Christian clergy, and neither of those slugs qualify as Christian in my estimation.
Still and all, it’s nice to see that those psychos were kept away. Among other things, this reinforces the fact that ordinary people can take care of things without relying on the almighty state to intervene.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Actually, as the “Lying Jackel” points out, Phelps and his gang of Merrymakers were stopped at the Border. Lucky for them as they might have received a Winnipeg Welcome. :)
August 11th, 2008 at 4:17 am
Agreed Doug. Actually, I’d go further and not write about them at all. The media is complicit. Would you have heard of them without this compulsive reporting? Aren’t there any number of more worthy stories?
“Exposing” these people does no good. As The Door discovered, “exposing” televangelists simply made them more famous and earned them more money. Every time they do an expose on Benny Hinn’s finances, his donations increase exponentially.
PS: Phelps is a registered Democrat. That’s one thing all these reporters neglect to mention.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:24 am
On an unrelated note:
Submitted for comment…
August 11th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Im truly sorry for the families loss. Please dont think Phelps and his gang of hate mongers reflects on our city of Topeka, KS. We would all love to get rid of him but the constutution allows him to spew his hate all over the world. He will get his in the end. God doesnt hate, but he may change his mind when he gets a load of this guy.
It would be great if his whole family were thrown into a canadian jail. i dont think his garbage is legal there is it?
Again, we are sorry for your loss.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
thank you Doug – I agree. But the media really does need to be held accountable – in general media and journalists are lazy, lazy, lazy. It is why one Muslim can be interviewed and viewed as representing all Muslims (Supreme Congresses of Worldwide Islam of True Believers or whatever overblown title the individual creates of themselves). I was raised a Baptist and although I no longer am a churchgoer in no way does the “Westboro” group represent me or any Baptist group I know of. Baptists can be many things (and there are some ‘out there’ beliefs) but NONE of them involve protesting at funerals for people they don’t even know – that is not a belief of Baptists!
August 12th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Phelps is a Democrat.
Wikipedia provides all kinds of useful information on Phelps, including the fact that he was disbarred. As well is “hate” list includes as many right wingers as left wingers.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I’m curious as to why the Baptist church would allow this cult of social misfits to wrap their sociopathic dogma in a sanitizing/validating wrapper as a legitimate “Baptist” Christian church.
This is like the vatican sanctioning Aryan nations forming an RC congregation.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:15 am
WL McK, the answer is that there is no central “Baptist” magisterium. Each congregation is self-governing. The most the Southern Baptist Convention (the largest “denominational” umbrella group) can do to heretical congregations is expel them and refuse to seat their “messengers” (delegates) at the SBC’s meetings.
On the other hand, the Catholic Church is a single legal entity and, while it can’t much about the Old Catholics, the Liberal Catholics, the Anglo-Catholics, and that Irish sect that ordained Sinead O’Connor a priest some years back, it can stop (and has stopped) groups like “Catholics for a Free Choice” from using the title to promote policies in direct conflict with the Vatican’s doctrines.