A few passers-by were the only people we initially saw where the "God Hates Fags" / Westboro Baptist Church had said on its website it would march against Barack Obama. Ah, well. We'll save our signs and try again!
As I posted yesterday, our Project 12 program's students went downtown today in order to picket the picketers. The infamous Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church (actually all members of his own biological family), were set to tell Barack Obama, the Canadian embassy, the Chinese embassy, and the Democratic National Party, that Phelps' gawd hates them. We thought Jesus ought to be represented. So we made signs, wrote up a press flier, and drove our old rickety Project 12 van downtown to the Federal Building on South Dearborn.
But... We were there. Numbing cold weather was there. Lots and lots of police were there. Barracades were there. After a while a self-proclaimed satanic group called "S. I. N." (Sodomite Insurgency Network) was there. (We tried to talk with them but they had no interest in our message.) Who was not there, however? Westboro Baptist Church. No idea on why.
UPDATE: It appears that Westboro changed the time of the event as well as the targets of it. They may or may not be appearing later today (near noon) at 233 N. Michigan Avenue. That is a severe scale-back from what had been planned. They also plan (if they're to be believed) to appear at the same spot a number of times this month (as this pdf from their website lists).
Project 12 students will be gathering in downtown Chicago tomorrow to voice our opposition to the message of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church. The latter will be picketing the offices of Barack Obama, the Canadian and Chinese embassys, and the Democratic Party headquarters.
Below is the text of a flier we will hand out at tomorrow’s events downtown. Hopefully, photos and perhaps even video will appear here and on http://project12.wordpress.com tomorrow.
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God loves Fred Phelps. God hates Fred’s hate.
God commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We affirm that loving our neighbor means robustly loving the homosexual, the non-Christian, even loving Fred Phelps and his family. This is the message we of Project 12 (a discipleship program sponsored by Chicago’s Jesus People USA Evangelical Covenant Church), offer here today. Our message is an attempt at one Christian response to the very unchristian message of Westboro Baptist Church.
Fred Phelps and his extended family misrepresent both God and the Bible in their continuing assault on homosexuals, Jews, U. S. servicewomen and servicemen, other Christians, Swedes (?), and various others. Selective and out of context interpretation of Scriptures does not make one’s own moral darkness into Christian theology. From our biblical viewpoint, Mr. Phelps’ teachings are not Christian in any way, shape, or form.
We mourn the spiritual wasteland Mr. Phelps has led his family into, as well as the incredible pain he and his family have inflicted on others all over the world. Mr. Phelps over and over again violates the heart of the gospel – Grace.
The book of Proverbs, Chapter 26:4-5, says two things about someone who refuses wisdom:
“Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself.”
And,
“Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.”
In short, Project12 understands that to come here today is somewhat of a fool’s errand. By speaking out we are calling more attention to Mr. Phelps, thereby fulfilling his felt need for media attention. That is frustrating. But as the second half of the above verses point out, if we do not answer Mr. Phelps’ assault on our neighbors, we are not fulfilling the calling of God to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Proverbs also says:
“Lying lips conceal hatred, and whoever utters slander is a fool.” Proverbs 10:18
We are here today to bear witness to the Triune God of Love, who to bridge the relational gap between human and human, and God and human, sent his own Son. That is the good news of the gospel.
Fred Phelps’ failure to understand that God is a God of Love rather than Hate lies at the heart of his own agony. We sincerely pray that Fred will hear God’s truth and learn of God’s all-encompassing love, but in the meantime we must stand against his false message that God hates our neighbors.
Hating human beings on God’s behalf is a hellish deception, and smolders at the heart of much darkness in the world.
Sincerely, The Students and Staff of Project 12 Discipleship Training School 939 W Wilson Avenue, Chicago IL / 60640
Not much more than a link, really... John Smulo has blogged on former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, now gay activist, Mel White and the latter's newest book Religion Gone Bad. I left comments which disagreed with what I thought were some of my pal Smulo's conclusions. He in fact may not have disagreed with me after all... I just didn't catch the last bits of his blog entry. Dang speed reading! But the comments may be worth a read anyway...
Ann Coulter's perky version of fascism again walked the GOP runway in "fag" comments made about, of all people, John Edwards.
Here's the video:
John Edwards, who ran as Veep candidate with John Kerry, may not be an exciting candidate. He's almost too sincere. But his personal world makes him one of the more family-friendly candidates in either party. He, like Al Gore, is a man with a solid marriage and family, and more than his share of sorrows (his 16 year old son in 1996 died in a car crash). Coulter's rant -- and the applause for it -- tell us not about Edwards, but the speaker and her faithful audience. After all, she's done this before earlier similar comments made about Al Gore, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton (a closet lesbian, according to Coulter).
I demand that every Christian Right spokesperson reject Coulter's comments on Edwards -- as well as the Clintons and Gore -- and also demand she never be asked back to any GOP or CPAC function. But I'm not holding my breath. She was condemned before for such comments, then invited back next time as though nothing happened. Why? Well, I have my opinion.
Coulter's words betray the absolute viciousness of her rhetoric. The right wing is currently as mean (and lying) as the Snake, and they feed on this rhetoric. Show me progressive pundits (other than bloggers, who don't -- wink, wink, nudge, nudge -- count) who say anything remotely as disgusting as this! These comments drew applause from her audience because there is a vocabulary of hate and derision shaping their common worldview.
In this case, it is rooted in their not viewing homosexuals as human beings. In great contrast, a child of Jesus is to view her or his homosexual neighbor as a fellow traveler in need (as is the believer!) of the Lord's compassion, and whose sins (such as they be) do not usually begin or end with homosexuality.
But at bottom this isn't even about homosexuality. It is about xenophobia, exploiting the irrational fear of the other to create political power and consensus. It is fascism. It is anti-christ.
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And an afterthought:
I recommend three movies in that regard for those who might want to see if I'm "over the top" on seeing links between the Right's rhetoric and fascist rhetoric: The Architecture of Doom traces connections between Fascist art and architecture and fascist philosophy, and its low-key tone makes links between Nazi ideas of beauty and their violent way of enforcing that beauty all the more shocking. Language Does Not Lie uses the real-life diary of Victor Klemperer, who wrote down Nazi words and phrases as they appeared on billboards, posters, newspapers, and documents. This took place while Klemperer lived in fear of his life in Dresden during the war (he escaped death only because of allied firebombing of that city the day before he was to go to the gas chambers). Finally, there are a few good movies on Hitler, but The Empty Mirror's surreal premise somehow works: (Hitler survives WWII and spends the entire movie walking around in what appears to be an underground bunker, talking alternately to himself and to other characters from Goering to Sigmund Freud). The theme of the movie is simple: Hitler is continually viewing film (and sometimes photos) of his time in power. His own unspoken question -- "Who was I / am I?" -- becomes intertwined with the film images with disturbing results.
So, am I Coulterizing Coulter by calling her rhetoric fascist? I'd like to hear your opinions.
A few passers-by were the only people we initially saw where the "God Hates Fags" /
