The people at Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) of Topeka, Kan., emerged a couple of weeks ago with a statement celebrating the massacre in Orlando and saying that “God sent the shooter to Orlando.”
You may remember these people as those who protest at the funerals of our military men and women killed in action saying that their deaths are caused by God because America supports gays and therefore God himself allowed for the soldiers to be killed on that account.
It is telling that their church website page is www.godhatesfags.com. Their website proudly proclaims that “God is America’s enemy.” The group has been quoted as saying that the mass shooting was “only right for Sodom America.” Such an attitude is decidedly un-Christian.
The church, which was founded in 1955 by Fred Phelps, is unaffiliated with any denomination although it wears a “Baptist” label. The church is made up of mostly family members and is said to have about 40 members. The World Baptist Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention (the two largest Baptist denominations) have both denounced the WBC over the years.
In addition, other mainstream denominations, such as the Methodist Church, Reformed Church, and Evangelical Church have condemned the actions of the independent Westboro Baptist Church.
Phelps died in 2014 and there was no funeral because, as one of the church leaders said, “We don’t worship the dead.”
Phelps was a disbarred lawyer who four times unsuccessfully sought office as a Democrat. In the election for U.S. Senator for Kansas in 1992, he received 49,416 votes (30.8 percent), coming in second after Gloria O’Dell (who subsequently lost to later presidential candidate Bob Dole).
Westboro has become infamous for its picketing of the funerals of soldiers, of Jewish organizations, and of numbers of prominent figures. It has launched vitriolic attacks on Christian organizations, including most mainline Protestant organizations, the Catholic Church, and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Of Jews, Phelps said, “The Jews now wander the earth despised, smitten with moral and spiritual blindness by a divine judicial stroke … And God has smitten Jews with a certain unique madness … Jews, thus perverted, out of all proportion to their numbers energize the militant sodomite agenda… Jews are the real Nazis.”
The founder of the church also referred to the Prophet of Islam as “a demon-possessed whoremonger and pedophile who contrived a 300-page work of satanic fiction: The Quran!” Needless to say, few have escaped the WBC’s attacks, including Barack Obama, whom the WBC calls “the Antichrist.” Even Pope Benedict XVI was described as “most likely the Beast spoken of in the Revelation.”
As a result of the picketing of soldier’s funerals, The Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcyclist group composed mostly of veterans who attend the funerals of members of the U.S. Armed Forces at the invitation of the deceased’s family, was initially formed to shelter and protect the funerals from protesters from the WBC. In some areas, laws have been enacted to keep such protests at a respectable distance from funerals.
While the 40 or so members of the WBC have gained national attention far beyond their numbers, their influence has emboldened some other small groups to take similar stands. However, their treatment of people with whom they disagree, is as far from the nature and character of Christ as it could possibly be.
Jesus was not shy about confronting sin, both in the people he met and especially in the religious leadership. Yet, he demonstrated love and care even for those caught in the web of sin, including sexual sin. Evidence of this is seen in his compassionate treatment of the woman caught in the act of adultery and with the Samaritan woman encountered at the well who had multiple partners.
Whatever one may think about the LGBT lifestyle, and most of Christendom would not approve, the 49 people killed and the 53 people wounded were men and women who deserve compassion, dignity, and prayers. They were someone’s sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren. Christ died for them. And for me. And for you.
The attack in Orlando occurred at a gay nightclub, but it was an attack on all Americans and should be seen as such. And for those who are inclined to persist in judging, it would be well to remember that with the measure that you judge, the same measure will also be used to judge your own sins. The WBC seem to have neglected that important truth.
My prayer is for mercy, not judgment. It is mercy that I need, and I have no desire to experience judgment. There is no occasion for celebration over this horrible tragedy. In my opinion, the people of the Westboro Baptist Church, and their ilk, are, in their own way, just like the radical Islamist who pulled the trigger in Orlando.
They may not have pulled the trigger, but they stood by celebrating and rejoicing when the slaughter was over. God have mercy.
[David Epps is the pastor of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Sharpsburg, GA (www.ctkcec.org). He is the bishop of the Mid-South Diocese which consists of Georgia and Tennessee (www.midsouthdiocese.org) and the Associate Endorser for the Department of the Armed Forces, U.S. Military Chaplains, ICCEC. He may contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.]
