Pastor Fred Phelps’ God is mad. Phelps’ God is mad at most everyone, except Phelps and his congregation, the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. According to a press release on their website, GodHatesFags.com, a group from the church was scheduled to picket outside the church I pastor in Lebanon, Ky. But, they travel far beyond Kentucky; Phelps and his gang may be coming to your neighborhood soon. Why? Because at opportune times, the dark side of religion inevitably emerges.
Whenever a group within a religion so elevates one aspect of their belief system that those who don’t adhere to it are depersonalized as “heathen” or “infidels,” as “anathamas,” or “fatwas,” the dark side of religion becomes evident. While the possibilities for labeling are endless, the result is the same: the unbeliever becomes a non-person, an object, a “thing” to be hated, ridiculed, bullied. Given the right political and social circumstances, religious people can in the name of God, commit acts of hate, violence, torture, and even murder.
Most of us associate this dark side of religion with fanatical Islam. But it is possible in any religion, including Christianity. It’s history bears this out: from the Crusades and Inquisition of the Middle Ages, to John Calvin’s Geneva, where Micahael Servetus was executed in 1553 for his anti-Trinitarian views, to radical aspects of the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century, such as, for example, Jan van Leiden’s religious dictatorship in Munster, Germany, resulting in the besieging of the city and the deaths of many. And Christianity had yet to arrive in North America. All this in the name of religion.
Fred Phelps and his followers prove the dark side of religion is still alive and well, and is as dark as ever.
Emphasizing that God chooses some people for salvation and some for damnation, then exalting this belief above all others, Phelps identifies the “damned” with the United States, claiming this nation is the modern day equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because The United States tolerates Gay people and even has laws protecting them as citizens. Phelps, by the way, prefers to call Gays, “Fags,” because faggots will burn them in hell, hence the title of his website.
Because he believes God is mad at the United States, it makes perfect sense to Phelps that whenever an American soldier is killed in action, it’s because God is taking out his wrath on a nation that doesn’t prosecute homosexuals as outlaws. But Phelps believes God’s anger is not reserved for soldiers who protect this godless nation of ours; God orchestrates other tragic events to make his point. For example, in a sermon preached on April 21, 2010, Phelps maintains that the recent coal mining tragedy in West Virginia in which 29 workers died is an example of what he calls, “GodSmacks.” And true Christians are to rejoice when God smacks this nation in violent ways.
And that’s why they threatened to picket outside our church, Lebanon Baptist, in Lebanon, Ky., this past Sunday. It was the funeral service for Sergeant Randy S. Segley, Jr., a member of my congregation, who had served his country until his death in Afghanistan. Sgt. Segley was remembered as an honorable man, a friend of many, a decorated soldier. His parents, who wept during the service, were praised as having raised Randy well.
None of that matters to the protestors of Westboro Baptist Church. It is their practice to hold signs for grieving families to see as they exit the funeral. Signs that say: “You’re Going to Hell”; “God Hates Fags”; “God Hates the U.S.A.” And, with their children usually standing in front of them, the religious picketers denounce the deceased. According to Mike Sexton, Central Kentucky’s Ride Captain for the Patriot Guard, an organization that attempts to shield fallen soldiers’ families from the Westboro Baptist members, a typical vituperation is “God bless the I.E.D. (Improvised Explosive Devise) that killed your son.”
It’s theology gone bad; the dark side of religion.
The Patriot Guard lined the outside of our church, ready to shield the family as they left for the graveside; the Guard held flags; the motorcycles they had driven to the funeral were close by, ready for them to start and drown the religious hecklers’ voices.
But the Westboro Baptists didn’t show this time. “Probably because it wasn’t televised, and this is a smaller community. They do like publicity,” Sexton, a native of Richmond, Ky., whispered to me. And then he added, “This is their practice: they threaten to show, and we always have to be ready; you never know which funeral they’ll be at.”
I sighed with relief. And as the casket passed my way, the irony hit me like a flash of lightning: here we have soldiers fighting and dying for the freedom of a nation that allows the dark side of religion to exist— along with a religious right and a religious left, homosexual people and “straight” people, fundamentalists and liberals, orthodox and the unorthodox. And I thanked God that I live in such a country.
And I wondered if somewhere deep down in the darkness, Phelps might too.
Life Matters, by David B. Whitlock, Ph.D., is published weekly. Dr. Whitlock’s website is www.davidwhitlock.org. His email address is drdavid@davidwhitlock.org.