Yah, sadly this is the very old-school Old-Testament/Tanakh interpretation of Jehovah in full force, replete with fire and brimstone and death to firstborn children of the enemy and intolerance of infidelity from a jealous and wrathful "God of the Twelve Chosen Tribes." Thankfully most modern (post-Protestant-Reformation) Christians and Catholics tend to have a more moderate view of a loving/forgiving "God the Father" instead.
There is absolutely no way to argue with someone with that position, of righteous indignation.
But it does speak volumes to those who might rush to equate radicalised Islam with mainstream Islamic worshippers. Extremism and fundamentalist intolerance comes in all flavours to humanity everywhere and is ugly and hateful and almost embarrassing--if it were not so dangerous--no matter what religion is in question.
As a side-note, my achievement point standing got knocked down a few points right after I looked at the LGBT thread here. ;_; Coincidence? Or...divine intervention?! *da dah DAHHHHHHNNN* @_@
Unfortunately these guys are from the town I currently live in, and I have had plenty of run ins with them, and yes I absolutely hate them. The most horrible thing about them is that they are not stupid, quite the opposite.
Phelps-Roper is a very intelligent attorney, and Fred Phelps, the guy who heads the Westboro group was the top civil rights attorney in the state until he was disbarred for (I believe) defrauding a client.
Life is has sense of humor though, Phelps's son is gay, and widely speaks out against his father. They are also going before the Supreme Court this summer over a civil suit filed on behalf of a fallen Marine's father in Maryland, and they lost the case and were forced to pay 7 million dollars.
I would want to meet the head of Westboro religion guy, and have a political/theoretical debate with him....
While that would be quite fun, since I seem to know more about the history of Christianity and the bible than most Christians I've met, unfortunately, it's impossible to have a rational debate with someone whose answer will always come down to, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it."
The "God" ideal effectively breaks down the need and possibility of communication between ppl and the need for introspection of the self.
Rather than respect and commune with our fellow human beings everyone would rather play sandbox power games and feel justified in whatever hatred/violence they create because their insecurities and fears are labled "The Word of God".
"God" is a cop out.
Know Thyself first.
Accept/love yourself.
When a person can be at peace with themselves their desires to dominate others and how they live suddenly evaporates.
But noooo, we can't be at peace...
gays are being gay
ppl are all lookin at naked chicks
no one is giving God props
(as if the Creator needs human acknowledgment)
The "God" ideal effectively breaks down the need and possibility of communication between ppl and the need for introspection of the self.
I agree with this. One of the reasons I rejected religion at a young age was because I saw how so many Christians around me blamed ANY dissent on "the Devil". It was impossible to conduct a discussion with them, because ANYONE who believed differently was being influenced by Satan, and therefore, it was utterly justified to ignore their opinions entirely, as well as -any- doubts about the religion itself. People with probing questions are told that Satan is whispering in their ear (and yes, my own mother has said this to me, just in the last couple of years) and misguiding them, therefore, they needn't think about those questions because doing so would only give Satan more power.
I would want to meet the head of Westboro religion guy, and have a political/theoretical debate with him....
While that would be quite fun, since I seem to know more about the history of Christianity and the bible than most Christians I've met, unfortunately, it's impossible to have a rational debate with someone whose answer will always come down to, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it."
See, the thing is, I wouldn't talk about what the Bible says, I would talk about the Moral and Ethical implications that they are "spreading the word" about.
Soldiers die, and they celebrate their deaths. They say that the soldiers deserve death for killing for their country, and I would have a few responses for that.
Like the concept of National Security, and how this war isn't just out there to "get the bad guys" but also to "keep the bad guys from coming here." Their deaths, however meaningless in their viewpoints, show a strong message to anyone out to *** with us that we won't take it (since every single soldier is a volunteer, they weren't forced into this way of life, and as long as the draft doesn't get reinstated, this message will still be as powerful today in the future). Therefor their deaths are far from meaningless. Although I still wish we can relay the message without losing valuable lives (kick their *** most likely) it still shows what we are made of.
Or the concept of respect. Although taking another's life shows no respect, how we treat the honorable dead, even to our enemies, shows how much respect and honor we have towards ourselves as a race. Even then, I wish that we can settle our conflicts in a game of chess, sometimes, people want to use humans as their pawns.
In fact, I invite Fred Phelps and his daughter (thanks Ashren) for a nice little debate here. But they are probably too cowardly to show up.
...or don't think that people who play FFXI would have a logical and ethical debate (and more likely beat them in it) about such a thing.
It is a sad thing. All threw human history, religious extremist have used there religion to do great damage upon there fellow man. It does not matter what the religion is, it has happened for thousand of years. I believe in God. And I also believe you should treat others as you would like to be treated. For the most part I feel people the world over have this view. Sadly, a small minority seem to stir up trouble.
Well, other than the fact that FauxNews actually went to court for the right to distort the news they report, they are giving these kind of nutcases national TV exposure. As Liela said above, these people need to be ignored, not given more attention. Way to go, Faux...always giving publicity to American's best and brightest. >,<
Hook me up with your fact Silvaria - give me a link please.
Well, other than the fact that FauxNews actually went to court for the right to distort the news they report, they are giving these kind of nutcases national TV exposure. As Liela said above, these people need to be ignored, not given more attention. Way to go, Faux...always giving publicity to American's best and brightest. >,<
Hook me up with your fact Silvaria - give me a link please.
It would be interesting if someone well versed in law tried, as a result of this ruling, to claim that because Fox reports fiction they are no longer classed as News but as Entertainment and as such do not gain the benefits of the "Freedom of the press."
The best coverage I've seen of these people is in a BBC documetary called "The Most Hated Family in America". It's presented by Louis Theroux, I don't know how well known he is in the US, but in my eyes at least he is a genius at documentary filmmaking.
Theroux's subtle interview style is excellent for trying to understand why people like the WBC members think the way they do, all while allowing them to make complete fools of themselves by shining a light on their most ridiculous flaws.
I'm watching it again right now using the below link, so if you're interested I would highly recommend taking a look.
I did my Composition paper for school on the Westboro Baptist Church. I wrote it all completely drunk and instead of it being well written and organized, it was nothing more than a bash fest against them.
there isnt a cure for this kind of ignorance and stupidity. idk what can be done but these arent christians or humane people, they are sick.
as usual : "moderates" (the ones who think religion is 1%~99% *** but still has some good points) putting 100% of the blame on "fundamentalists" (the ones who are really in it 100%), over and over again, always ignoring where the problem came from in the first place... happening as we speak, with most if not all the religions of this world :/
"moderates" are letting ***happen and because they're used to saying "God will take care of the mess he created" ... they ignore their responsibility in this whole thing... just like voters will deny responsibility in a war; they voted for the president, the president's administration then voted for the war; they were opposed to the killing, but they didn't have the moral responsibility of trying to get an anti-war president elected, they just wanted tax cuts... millions are dying partly because of that kind of mental laziness, but it's not their fault at all... it's this same lazy ***reasoning that would bring us all down in the end... so don't take me wrong, religion isn't the only problem... sure, it's one of the biggest we're facing at the moment, but it's not the only one...
seriously, religion (as we know it) needs to disappear for mankind to live, right even though we have less than 0.1% of the real answers, whatever the answers are, we'll probably never find em all and that's what makes us humans (our curiosity is what has driven us to evolve the most of any species; not sitting there, thinking we know everything we need to know already)
moral values should never be attributed to religion, because moral values are human; when you run away from the responsibility of deciding for yourself what is right and wrong, and leave it up to some people speaking with a "god" , obviously things are going to get dangerous ; when you start thinking that some higher power is granting you rights or imposing responsibilities, obviously things are likely to turn out very wrong...