While the rest of the world is grappling with the idea of a democratic Middle East, we here in the U.S. are testing the foundation of our own democracy.
Westboro Baptist Church has once again garnered their much coveted publicity in winning a Supreme Court decision based upon their First Amendment rights.
For those of you who may not know who Westboro Baptist Church is, I will give you a brief highlight, or perhaps more appropriately low light. This is the church that has been in the news over the past few years for picketing at the funerals of our fallen servicemen, with slogans of hatred of homosexuals.
While the larger news agencies have been fairly absent concerning this ruling, there has been much buzz on the internet, with each side plying its arguments. In the end, whichever side you come down on in the First Amendment argument, this is a sad, sad situation.
You cannot deny that most, if not all, who argue the two sides of this issue are appalled by the behavior of this church. These self-proclaimed Christians are violating the last moments of grief that each of these families can have with their deceased son or daughter.
In the final days of this church, each member will face his or her own judgment, and I cannot attest to the outcome, but I can say that their actions show no kindness, love, compassion, or mercy for the very people that God created in his own image. More egregious is the fact that the people they are harming the most probably have a closer relationship with God then they ever will.
So you can call them a “sect,0, a “cult,” or even better, a “house of nuts,” but please don't call them Christians.
Now this is my opinion and perhaps only my opinion, but with all thanks to Westboro Baptist Church, I can say this without hesitation as an exercise of my First Amendment right.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Alan Kurtz
I'm sorry you have Guillain-Barré syndrome. I pray for your swift and complete recovery. However, it's awfully presumptuous of you to tell us who is or who is not a Christian.
Isn't that really up to Jesus?
2 - Phillip
This is his opinion, Alan. One that I certainly agree with. I believe Jesus would be pretty appalled at this church's behavior, were he available to comment.
3 - Doug Hunter
Jesus was a democrat.
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I think Christianity, as a whole, is awfully presumptuous.
I, too, am sorry to hear of your plight Keith. BUT, believe in yourself...not a fairytale.
5 - Ruvy
I think Christianity, as a whole, is awfully presumptuous.
Brian said this, not me. But I see no problem with agreeing with him on this....
6 - Danny Haszard
Harassment by religious extremist
Jehovah's Witnesses instigated court decisions in 1942 which involved cursing a police officer calling him a fascist and to get in your face at the door steps,....this same JW 1942 court decision upheld infamous Phelps hate church in 2011
----
Danny Haszard
7 - Dr Dreadful
I honestly don't think I've ever heard anybody refer to the WBC as Christians...
8 - Alan Kurtz
Re #6: Then perhaps Keith Brenneis ought to include Jehovah's Witnesses among those who pretend to be but are really not Christians. And why stop there? Keith could do a whole series of Blogcritics articles, each devoted to believers he doesn't want us to call Christians. Make it a regular weekly feature. Don't Call Them Christians. Why Not? Because I Say So!
9 - Baronius
As Baptists, they presumably believe in the Trinity and the Incarnation. So they're Christians. I wish I could certify only good representitives of my faith as Christians, but then again, if someone else were in charge of certifying Christians, I might not meet their approval. So there you go: the wheat and the tares are mixed together, and there's nothing you can do about it.
10 - Keith Brenneis
Even God can grow a flower in hazardous waste. I would never question the salvation of an individual, so please forgive me if I implied that.
Westboro Baptist Church, according to Wikipedia, has no affiliation to any of the Baptist conventions
In the end, as one person commented, this is my opinion, and you are free to agree, or disagree with it as you see fit.
I am heartened that this forum exists, and once again, it is a true test ,and affirmation that the first amendment is alive and well in the U.S.
11 - Alan Kurtz
I am heartened that this forum exists, and once again, it is a true test, and affirmation that the first amendment is alive and well in the U.S.
Congratulate yourself all you want to, Keith. But naturally you fail to mention that Westboro Baptist Church's own web sites have been hacked and illegally taken offline by the authoritarian anarchists who call themselves Anonymous, thus denying WBC the opportunity to present its own message in the forum of their choice.
As long as self-styled "Christians" tacitly approve this fascistic behavior in the United States, some of us will wonder if any American deserves to be called a Christian.
12 - Baronius
Quite the non sequitur, Alan. You conflated religion, fascism, national identity, and internet access. Are all Americans equally responsible for keeping the internet operational, on the basis of our jointly-held religious beliefs?
13 - Alan Kurtz
By "fascistic behavior" I had in mind the lawless gangs who were instrumental in bringing the Nazis to power in Germany during the 1920s. Thankfully, the USA has a firmly entrenched law enforcement apparatus that would prevent such gangs from seizing control here today.
The Internet, however, is a virtual Wild West where shadowy, loosely organized anarchists such as Anonymous wreak havoc on free expression. To answer your question, all Americans are not equally responsible for keeping the Internet operational. Some of us are, by virtue of our principles, more responsible than others.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus blessed those who are persecuted for seeking righteousness. Yet in present-day America, Keith Brenneis and other self-styled arbiters of who can be called a Christian speak up not on behalf of the persecuted but against them, siding with lawbreakers such as Anonymous against those who very carefully (as acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court) obey man's law and are nevertheless persecuted for their beliefs.
It's a disgraceful situation.
14 - Baronius
Alan, don't toss around the word "fascist" if there's another word you could use instead. You know how common and meaningless that word has become online.
I fail to understand why you see the people who heckle funerals as primarily the victims of persecution. I also note that you're upset about the WBC being called un-Christian, but you were willing to use that term to describe every person in the US.
You need to understand that I agree with you, that this article is wrong. The WBC is Christian. They are also horrible. They've gone out of their way to earn both adjectives. Sadly, Christians can do horrible things - but I can't be too sad about that fact, because it's the only thing that lets me claim to be a Christian.
15 - Alan Kurtz
Sadly, Christians can do horrible things - but I can't be too sad about that fact, because it's the only thing that lets me claim to be a Christian.
What was that about a non sequitur? Your sentence says that you can claim to be a Christian only because Christians can do horrible things.
Either that's doubletalk or you've found the world's most perverse reason to be a Christian.
16 - Baronius
I'm saying that if Christianity were limited to people who deserved redemption, there wouldn't be any members - because you can't deserve redemption. I sure don't.
The Christian ideal is that the practice of the faith enables you to become a better person. At least most Christians would see it that way. Some Calvinists would claim that the proper practice of religion simply illustrates that you have been redeemed. The WBC takes it a step further, apparently believing that the proper practice of religion revolves around mocking those who they think aren't redeemed. The WBC commits vicious acts in the name of virtue. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I don't know.
17 - Alan Kurtz
If you're part of a family and your brother does something you disapprove of, you're entitled to object and even to scold him, although that's better done privately than publicly.
But for you to publicly disown your brother, to take it upon yourself (in your father's absence) to singlehandedly banish him from the family, as Keith Brenneis does in this article … well, that's just plain vindictive.
As I see it, such narrow-minded nastiness is the antithesis of Christianity, which espouses forgiveness not ostracism.
18 - Costello
This is a private business. Has nothing to do with the 1st Amendnent
19 - donnie
I am a service member for 19 years. If it were not for our service members you would not have the right to pro-test. except for your miss guilded flock no one agrees with you, not even god...
20 - Keith Brenneis
It is interesting, and intriguing watching this comment section be hijacked by someone with a built in agenda.
If you were to have followed Alan Kurtz meandering, and inflammatory comments, you would see me slowly becoming an evil, nasty, narrow-minded person. All of this occurring, not from my original blog, but from his interactions to the responses of other people. Now that is talent!
I also find it is somewhat ironic that I am being demonized by this person while he is defending the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church.
With that aside, I stand by my opinion that WBC is not now, nor in its known past, a church based upon fundamental Christian tenants. They have been rejected by all Christian communities, and conventions. They have also been rejected by the Primitive Baptists, from whom they claim to base their foundation.
Without the currency of acceptance within the pale of the Christian religion, simply saying you are Christian does not make it so.
As to the question of a persons relationship with Jesus Christ, I will leave that between them and God.
21 - Baronius
Alan, first off, as a practical matter, don't you think it's unlikely that Keith will ever have an opportunity to talk to Phelps privately about the matter? Considering that Phelps was the one who took it public, it seems that a public denouncement of the WBC is appropriate. Even moreso, because to fail to denounce Phelps publicly could be seen as implied approval.
Secondly, as a matter of proportionality, don't you think that mocking a fallen soldier at his funeral in order to get press for an issue completely unrelated to that soldier's death is a more loathsome act than writing an overheated article critical of that act?
22 - Alan Kurtz
Baronius (#21), notwithstanding his disability, Keith was able to write this article and get it published at Blogcritics. So why couldn't he instead have sent a private letter or email to Pastor Phelps? Or called WBC on the phone? Let's be candid here, Baronius. In this instance it's Keith Brenneis who clamored for public attention, not Pastor Phelps.
And why do you keep wanting to make this an argument about the loathsomeness of Westboro Baptist Church? If loathsomeness disqualifies someone from Christianity, maybe we ought to start excommunicating everyone in the Roman Catholic church from the Pope on down to the parish priest who have, in one way or another, been involved in the commission and/or cover-ups of child sexual abuse. As loathsomeness among Christians goes, Westboro doesn't even jiggle the seismograph.
23 - Keith Brenneis
donnie (#19)
Thank you so much for your service. I cannot imagine how this subject impacts you. Please know that you are valued, and your sacrifices appreciated.
May the peace that passes all understanding fill your life, and be your comfort in dark times.
24 - El Bicho
everyone who comments online has a built-in agenda
25 - Is It Easter Yet?
There might be hope for those three Westboro kids in the picture up there, holding aloft their signs of hatred. After all, this guy used to be in the Ku Klux Klan,and now he is all about Jesus' love. Ain't no valley low enough...
Keith, don't worry about it. You are experiencing Blogcritic's baptism by fire, and Alan K. and his amusing boozum buddy Thesaurus Irv are usually the ones doing the dunking. Welcome!