The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., plans to stage protests at funerals of victims of the 35W bridge collapse to state that God made the bridge fall because he hates America, and especially Minnesota, because of its tolerance of homosexuality.
The church and its pastor, Rev. Fred Phelps have become notorious over recent years for their claim that the attack of 9/11 was an act of God’s vengeance and their determination to make that case at the funerals of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq.
In a press release issued the day after the bridge collapse, the Church called for the protests at the funerals and outlined its feelings about the relationship between God’s plan and the sins of Minneapolis and Minnesota, which it calls the “land of the Sodomite damned.”
Reached at the church, Shirley Phelps Roper, who is both the daughter of the pastor and one of the attorneys for the church, said that America, and Minnesota especially, have alienated God by its tolerance for homosexuality, and that the bridge collapse was an act of God’s vengeance. She said:
“The bridge stood place by the word of God and it fell by the word of God…Each of these little events is just a harbinger of the coming destruction of this American experiment. We are delivering the final call of the doomed nation.”
She said, as they have done for years, members of the church would stand “lawfully and peacefully on the public right of way” near the funerals and “put in the air words of praying and instruction and warning.”
The signs that the protesters will wave will read:
“God cast down the bridge… Thank God for 9/11… America is doomed… God hates fags… God hates fag enablers… God hates Minnesota.”
The Good Fight also has a bit on this story with some bits about the possibility of counter-action (and if it is appropriate or not) in the comments.
Looks like my anchor was stripped: http://thegoodfightonline.com/2007/08/04/thank-god-for-the-minneapolis-bridge-collapse/
[…] Additionally, former Star Tribune reporter Eric Black was able to talk to Shirley Phelps Roper, the daughter of Fred Phelps. She said: […]
This type of activity genuinely puzzles me. It makes me wonder “What would Jesus do?”
It seems to me that such protests deliberately attempt to victimize those poor persons who have already suffered a devastating blow. I don’t think Jesus would do that, or advise it.
It seems to me that such protests “use” the victims to foment anger and hatred. I don’t recall that Jesus EVER did that.
It seems to me quite arrogant to attribute opposition to their beliefs to these people and their friends and relatives simply because a loved one has been hurt or killed. No-one has ever pointed out to me that Jesus was arrogant, though he may have seemed so to those who were criticized (very gently, most of the time) by him.
It all makes me wonder whether these activities come from Christian Faith or from some other, less honorable source.