Westboro Baptist Church

[Samechiel]

'Christian' in the same way that I'm 'a 30-foot tall sentient Jell-O mold'.

I really, really hate to defend WBC, but I'm tired of hearing people say this. The fact of the matter is that your interpretation of the Bible and the beliefs you hold aren't any more or less valid than theirs. Just because you don't agree how they practice their Christianity doesn't make them not Christians.

 

[Pyode]

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Um... yea. I hate to break it to you guys, but the WBC are in fact following the Bible quite accurately. Everything that the WBC says is directly from the Bible. They are no less "Christian" than you guys are in the sense that they follow what the Bible says and believe Jesus Christ was the savior. The difference is that they simply chose to focus on different aspect of the Bible than you do. That doesn't make them less Christian.

The fact is that the Bible is not a very nice book. It is filled with rape, genocide, slavery, torture, infanticide, and many other horrible deeds performed by God and for God. It's not the great tome of peace and love that everyone makes it out to be.

Let me finish with something I said in another thread...

"I understand that it's tempting to fight tooth and nail to disassociate yourself from a psychotic group like the WBC but the fact is that their view is fully supported by the Bible. If it makes you feel any better, the fact that you choose to disregard the bad stuff in the Bible and solely follow the good stuff makes you a much better person then they are. However it doesn't make your subjective interpretation any more accurate."

I'm all for hating the WBC, but I don't see what this threads purpose it, other than to point out the obvious fact that nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about what they claim to be written.

Not true at all. As I said, their view is quite thoroughly supported by the Bible.

 

[Wierdguy]

There is ofc the rumour that its all a scam, they preach the most dickish message they can in order to have someone do something against them so they can slap a lawsuit on them and cash in.

That aside im getting sick of hearing about these guys. Really, good or bad publicity is still publicity and they get exactly what they want when people cant ignore them. I say just let them be - let them preach their hate in some dark corner somewhere where no one cares about them, for good or worse.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

I'd like to ship the lot of 'em out to a communist country where if they say anything like they've been saying, they'll be forced to walk 100 miles, dig themselves a trench, and then get exicuted standing shortly outside of it. They poison the minds of there children, it's like bloody racism! They deserve to die. I've not said that about anyone before... Well, atleast not anyone living. Hitler deserved it.

But honestly, I'd like to give those no good, sorry, sacks of crap a piece of my mind and protest one of their funerals.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Bunch of inbred hatemongers. They're all for the hellfire and brimstone of the Old Testament but seem to have pretty much ignored what Jesus said here:

"The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Hmm, I don't see the word "hate" in there and these are the greatest commandments. There as much Christian as I am an Oak tree.

so if they were jewish would this all be okay?

Just curious.

Good question. I personally think hate is counter-productive regardless of your ethnicity / religion. That said one can "hate" injustice, which is a positive spin on that emotion. I guess all you can go by is their actions. Are they helping others or hurting them?

 

[CD-R]

this entire thread

 

[Levi93]

I believe WBC are just a bunch of xenophobic idiots who need to be left alone, seriously I think if they are just left alone they will just hopefully disapear, I mean their pretty much all the claims they make are fucking stupid 'God hates fags', 'God blew up the shuttle' it just nakes me die a little inside that people like these exist, it's all well and good having faith but some people take their faith way to seriously and a line needs to be drawn somewhere between having religeon guiding your life and religeon controling your life.

 

[masher]

Hah...
Unfortunately what they really need done to them is be ignored. Kill them, they'll go down thinking they're a Martyr. They want to be remembered, so the worst thing someone can do to them is to forget them.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

Not true at all. As I said, their view is quite thoroughly supported by the Bible.

no, not true either. yes, in the Old Testament there is a condemnation of homosexuals. however, there is a condemnation of a LOT of things. the New Testament, however, greatly softens much of that. yes, it's still implied that homosexuality isn't something that god is thrilled by, but it no longer calls for their deaths (for one thing, Jesus ransom sacrifice effectively dissolved the Mosaic covenant and thereby eliminated any earthly theocracy, thus rendering almost the entire Old Testament obsolete).

second of all, and this is something that soooooooooo many professed Christians miss, homosexuality was NEVER, not even in the Old Testament, claimed to be worse than any other sin. cheating on your spouse is just as bad. stealing someone's means of living is just as bad. breaking the sabbath was just as bad.

finally, Jesus explicitly stated that 1) his followers were not to involve themselves in the politics of the world, 2) they were not to judge, and 3) they were to love their fellow man. WBC is guilty of all of the above. the whole reason for their campaign is that homosexuality is not a capital crime in the US: meddling in politics at its most despicable. they are most definitely judging everyone. they are so full of hate, they wouldn't know what love was if it... did something really obvious to them.

 

[DarthFennec]

Alright so i think that we have all seen the news about these people and wether you think that they are crazy or not i think that more people need to stand up to them and maybe tell them that being media whores is not the way to go to get Gods word out to the public.

They're not trying to get God's word to anyone. I've seen them in action, it's obvious that none of them are the slightest bit Christian. They're just a troll group. Their goal is to get as many people as possible to hate them. They want negative attention, so they go out and irritate people until they get it. That's all. If you get mad at them, it makes them happier. If you try to explain things to them, they'll just frustrate you. If you stand up to them, they'll just get worse. Best thing to do is just don't let it get to you. Ignore it, just like with any other troll.

Heck i say the moment one of them dies we get THOUSANDS of people to come and protest at their funeral. I say we line the streets with people with signs and stuff saying varrious things.

Yes, I agree. I generally wouldn't go for this, but I think if the person is important enough to them it might actually work, at least locally. The founder of WBC, Fred Phelps, is 81 years old, so it won't be long until he dies, and then, we'll be ready.

I am liking this plan ^^

 

[shiaramoon]

The thing is, they're 'Christian' in the same way that I'm 'a 30-foot tall sentient Jell-O mold'. They're as far removed from the point of the Bible, i.e. 'be a decent person', as I am from Alpha Centauri. My proposal is this: A press blackout for them. Any of their funeral protests will go casually unmentioned, no one at the funeral will acknowledge that they're there, etc. Hopefully this will starve them of the attention- even bad attention- that they thrive on, and for all intents and purposes, they won't exist.

Who's with me?

Amen brother! I am ALL over this. In fact, I'm fairly sure this even goes along with Christian beliefs.

 

[godfist88]

these westboro creeps need to rot in hell. it's these kind of morons that drive people away from religion.

 

[gigastar]

All you need to know about the WBC is that they think the internet was made by thier god to spread thier religion, and thier behavior on the net makes /b/ seem like a nice place to send a 10 year old.

Im aethiest by the way.

 

[Doctor What]

Westboro is so last year. Brother Jed is where all the hate and discrimination is at. To play the devil's advocate(or is angel's advocate more appropriate?) here, they are "brought up" to think that they are doing the right thing by spreading the word of God. Or, that's just a bunch of malarkey and they're bat shit insane asshats.

 

[TeeBs]

Westboro Baptist Church is doing the exact opposite of what they want. They make people more open minded because they don't want to be like those douche bags, same reason why I don't admit I like Eminem in mixed company.

 

[Leemaster777]

There's a theory going about that they don't actually believe what they prach, instead they are trying to goad the bereved in to assaulting them so they can sue.
Frankly I'm not sure wich is worse, that anyone would be so low as to do that or that they actually believe the filth they spread.

I agree with this.

For the longest time, I simply couldn't wrap my head around how this group functions. Call me naive, but the lengths these people were going to in order to "spread the word" just baffled me.

But then I heard about this theory, and suddenly it all made perfect sense to me. You may not know this, but when the children of the WBC grow up, they're encouraged to enter the law field. Why? Simple, so they know all the best ways to sue you.

Why protest the funerals of soldiers? To get a reaction. Why make signs like "God hates America"? To get a reaction. Everything they do is in the pure interest of getting a reaction out of the masses. And when someone can't take it anymore, and expresses their frustration with this group through violence, boom, the church gets exactly what they want, a fat lawsuit.

And when you realize that everything they do is basically the real-life equivilant of forum trolls, suddenly their antics make perfect sense.

So, yes, ignoring them is by far the most effective way of shutting them up. But whatever you decide to do, don't attack them. That's exactly what they want.

Don't feed the trolls, kiddies.

 

[BioHazardMan]

They are a bunch of asshole's who have no respect for human decency, nor respect for individuals nor the dead.

Collaboration of dicks under the guise of Christianity.

 

[N3vans]

Westboro are beyond any kind of logic or debate. I've heard the usual argument before that 'You don't believe in free speech if you want to silence them'. Not true, free speech should only be used for constructive debate or a valid point of view, not abuse. There is nothing positive or agreeable about what they're saying, it's just pure hate and bullshit.

You'd think with all the nutters in America with access to guns, some mentalist or another with a bone to pick would have done the world a favour and gone to town on their compound by now...

 

[Smagmuck_]

Well, kind of off topic, but last time I talked to my brother, who is currently serving in Afghanistan, WBC came up. And I asked him what he thought of them. I got a lengthy curse laden speech on how awful the bastards are and when it ended there was a chorus of "Oh-Rah's" and "F*ck yeah's!"... So basically, there's about twelve or twenty US Marines who wouldn't mind being locked up for beating the living crap out of WBC members...