Laugh because they are so ridiculous that they couldn't be real.
Cry because they actually are real.
I recently saw this movie called Fall From Grace, which centres around the Westboro Baptist Church. And it gave me so many angry feelings that I just have to vent a little but about this. The documentary is worth a watch. It in no way supports the views of this church, but exposes it for what it is, with opinions from other religious leaders, theologists as well as those who have left the church.
In case you do not already know, the Westboro Baptist Church are a pro-hate, anti-gay, anti-American, anger-inducing congregation based in Topeka, Kansas who have no other skills than that of holding up signs in the middle of the road while screeching incoherently.
Who says flags can't be turned into aprons? This is what you call thinking outside the box.
This old grandma has such style.
Two hands? SIX SIGNS. That's how well they can multi-task.
According to this church, your way into heaven is purely based on how well you can picket, yell at and hate people.
Because clearly, that is what the Bible says.
Oh gee whiz, I guess I got it wrong the first time around and Westboro Baptist members really know where it's at.
I don't know anymore, but as messed up and corrupted as organized religions like Christianity can be, I don't think the source of it ever said to be annoying, ignorant, bullying, disrespectful, unsympathetic, judgmental assholes. Don't take my word for it, I am not a theologist, but I can pretty much guarantee that Jesus' teachings did not advocate for any of that BS.
It's gotten to the point where I am really convinced that this Westboro group are a social experiment, something that a small group decided to start in order to test the first amendment, investigate society's tolerance for hatred, challenge us to define our own values and our own need for love and compassion as human beings.
I'd like to think that they are a social experiment, simply because I don't want to believe that there are people in the world who are made up of this much stupid.
But then again, maybe I am ignorant in that I hold human beings to too high standards, seeing as we really are capable of failing one another in the most ridiculous of ways.
What seems incredibly ironic is that a lot of the hatred and destruction that goes on in this world comes from those who kill in the name of some kind of god, as if this justifies the actions, as if dropping the god-reason somehow excuses us from being proper human beings and using our common sense. We say that God is love and love is God and then we condemn and hurt others and then say that we do it out of love.
Which makes absolutely no bloody sense to me, I am sorry. If you shout love and do the complete opposite, I am going to call you a bloody hypocrite.
The first amendment makes what these guys are doing perfectly legal, which is unfortunate. What they are doing -- picketing events such as funerals, gay pride parades, celebrating tragedies involving the deaths of others, as well as preaching the damnation of all those who do not follow their interpretations of the Bible, is simply nothing but hate speech. Hate speech is not exactly defined and differentiated in the first amendment in the United States in the same way that it is in Canada, and many people, including Westboro, benefit from this.
Let me just say that I think the first amendment is a valuable right. Because just as it allows for the Westboro Baptist Church to act like total morons, it gives us the right to challenge their moronic actions and spit in the faces (not literally) of what they believe in. It raises great discussion on the value of freedom of speech, on the value of learning from others (even those who are douchebags) and the value of really knowing what we believe in and standing up for it.
Like this kid:
To be quite honest, I think that Westboro are doing it all wrong. If they want to get people to believe what they believe, do they really think that picketing funerals and earning the reputation of most hateful group in America really the way to go about it? I mean, I'm speaking from a detached, logical view here. If you want to gather followers, wouldn't it be a better idea to be more welcoming, more friendly? Wouldn't you use gentler language, wouldn't you pick a better font for your signs? Wouldn't you try to make yourself a little more alluring? Wouldn't you take all the money you have as a church and use it to feed the poor? Wouldn't you try to be a little more loveable?
Then again, what am I saying, they're advocating for anything but love. They represent hate and everything that is ugly in this world, and they physically and verbally embody it perfectly.
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