[Vampyr]

I was shocked when I heard that anti-gay protesters demonstrated at the funerals of some of the people murdered in Orlando. My god, at a time like this, can't those people give it a rest? Then my sister, who lives in the US, told me that this was not just a one-off. How horrible can people be?

And they are (or at least use the name of) Baptists, which is a denomination of Christianity. So they supposedly worship a God who said "love thy neighbour". Yet Christianity these days (and not just these people) seems to be less about who you can love than about who you can hate.

[gordontd]

Vampyr, on 2016-June-19, 13:27, said:

I was shocked when I heard that anti-gay protesters demonstrated at the funerals of some of the people murdered in Orlando. My god, at a time like this, can't those people give it a rest? Then my sister, who lives in the US, told me that this was not just a one-off. How horrible can people be?

And they are (or at least use the name of) Baptists, which is a denomination of Christianity. So they supposedly worship a God who said "love thy neighbour". Yet Christianity these days (and not just these people) seems to be less about who you can love than about who you can hate.

Louis Theroux made a documentary about them. Quite disturbing in the way they teach their children to hate. Occasionally one of them manages to get away, but I suspect not unscathed.

[kenberg]

Vampyr, on 2016-June-19, 13:27, said:

I was shocked when I heard that anti-gay protesters demonstrated at the funerals of some of the people murdered in Orlando. My god, at a time like this, can't those people give it a rest? Then my sister, who lives in the US, told me that this was not just a one-off. How horrible can people be?

And they are (or at least use the name of) Baptists, which is a denomination of Christianity. So they supposedly worship a God who said "love thy neighbour". Yet Christianity these days (and not just these people) seems to be less about who you can love than about who you can hate.

These people are Christians in the same way that the Orlando shooter was a Muslim. They start and they end with their pathological hatred. Along the way they claim this hatred is really an expression of God's Will. Such people will always exist.

[hrothgar]

The important thing to understand about the Westboro Baptist Church is that they are a litigation department disguised as a hate group disguised as a church.

The organization finances itself by trying to provoke bystanders into over reacting and then launching massive lawsuits.

They are deliberately trying to be as provocative as possible in the hopes that someone will over react...

[TylerE]

They are Baptists in the sense the Nazis were socialists. (Not that mainstream baptists are much better in terms of 20th - never mind 21st - century thinking)

[PrecisionL]

TylerE said:

Quote

They are Baptists in the sense the Nazis were socialists. (Not that mainstream baptists are much better in terms of 20th - never mind 21st - century thinking)

Really? Your comment in parenthesis is unnecessary and part of the problem.

[gordontd]

https://www.facebook...153688891337217

[wanoff]

Vampyr, on 2016-June-19, 13:27, said:

I was shocked when I heard that anti-gay protesters demonstrated at the funerals of some of the people murdered in Orlando. My god, at a time like this, can't those people give it a rest? Then my sister, who lives in the US, told me that this was not just a one-off. How horrible can people be?

And they are (or at least use the name of) Baptists, which is a denomination of Christianity. So they supposedly worship a God who said "love thy neighbour". Yet Christianity these days (and not just these people) seems to be less about who you can love than about who you can hate.

You're going after the wrong set of American nutters. You could concentrate on the ease for the murderer to obtain weapons. Or even FADA.

[Vampyr]

wanoff, on 2016-June-20, 02:02, said:

You're going after the wrong set of American nutters. You could concentrate on the ease for the murderer to obtain weapons. Or even FADA.

Oh, sorry. I wasn't aware that condemning the WBC implied approval of US gun control laws, or the lack thereof.

PrecisionL, on 2016-June-19, 19:10, said:

Really? Your comment in parenthesis is unnecessary and part of the problem.

How is someone's comment a part of the problem? Are the poor baby WBC, or other intolerant members of organised religions, just misunderstood?

[barmar]

Vampyr, on 2016-June-19, 13:27, said:

And they are (or at least use the name of) Baptists, which is a denomination of Christianity. So they supposedly worship a God who said "love thy neighbour". Yet Christianity these days (and not just these people) seems to be less about who you can love than about who you can hate.

From Wikipedia

Quote

Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an independent church that uses the word "Baptist" in its name but is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination and is known for its hate speech, especially against LGBT people (homophobia), Catholics (anti-Catholicism), Muslims (Islamophobia), Jews (religious antisemitism), American soldiers and politicians. ... In addition to conducting anti-gay protests at military funerals, the organization pickets celebrity funerals and public events. ... The church also makes statements, "thank God for dead soldiers," "God blew up the troops," "thank God for 9/11," and "God hates America."[7]

Get the picture?

[rmnka447]

Sorry, gang, but some of the Anti-Christian comments in this thread go beyond being offensive. Using that rhetoric is no better than the comments by those who would generalize about Muslims from the acts of ISIS. Call it what it is, bigotry.

It is especially disturbing considering the genocide against Christians and others being perpetrated by ISIS in the Middle East.

It's fair game to criticize and condemn the specific group (WBC) for their behavior. Generalizing from the action of a small group or individuals just isn't right.

[billw55]

If mikeh is still lurking it must be killing him to not post in this thread.

[TylerE]

rmnka447, on 2016-June-20, 10:50, said:

Sorry, gang, but some of the Anti-Christian comments in this thread go beyond being offensive. Using that rhetoric is no better than the comments by those who would generalize about Muslims from the acts of ISIS. Call it what it is, bigotry.

Is it bigotry to call a group of bigots bigots?

http://www.dennyburk...marriage-sbc15/

http://www.rightwing...rced-marriage-t

http://www.rightwing...paganda-satanic

etc etc etc. I could keep this up all day.

[barmar]

rmnka447, on 2016-June-20, 10:50, said:

Sorry, gang, but some of the Anti-Christian comments in this thread go beyond being offensive.

What anti-Christian comments? Everyone in this thread has been pointing out how WBC is not representative of Christian beliefs. They adopted the name of a Christian denomination, but are not actually associated with the church.

[billw55]

barmar, on 2016-June-20, 12:23, said:

What anti-Christian comments? Everyone in this thread has been pointing out how WBC is not representative of Christian beliefs. They adopted the name of a Christian denomination, but are not actually associated with the church.

Indeed. Not only are they not Baptist, they are not even a church. WBC = Westboro Bigotry Club.

[PhantomSac]

barmar, on 2016-June-20, 12:23, said:

What anti-Christian comments? Everyone in this thread has been pointing out how WBC is not representative of Christian beliefs. They adopted the name of a Christian denomination, but are not actually associated with the church.

TylerE said "They are Baptists in the sense the Nazis were socialists. (Not that mainstream baptists are much better in terms of 20th - never mind 21st - century thinking)" (emphasis mine)

That certainly seems to be anti-baptist. He then called them bigots and posted some articles about southern baptists.

[barmar]

PhantomSac, on 2016-June-24, 01:33, said:

TylerE said "They are Baptists in the sense the Nazis were socialists.

So there was one anti-Baptist comment at the time you posted that response. And now there are two (both from the same person). A phrase like "some of the Anti-Christian comments" implies that such comments were rampant in the thread, not just an isolated post.

[Winstonm]

PhantomSac, on 2016-June-24, 01:33, said:

TylerE said "They are Baptists in the sense the Nazis were socialists. (Not that mainstream baptists are much better in terms of 20th - never mind 21st - century thinking)" (emphasis mine)

That certainly seems to be anti-baptist. He then called them bigots and posted some articles about southern baptists.

Comparing baptists to socialists is a bad thing? This comparison is of the splinter group to Nazis, is it not?

[mycroft]

I would suggest - and I have suggested in the past - that there is a lot you can argue, from a Christian perspective no less, against some of the (more visible) strains of Christianity, including elements of Southern Baptist and modern Evangelist ("Religious Right") theology. What I call "'I' Christianity" and anything that involves "hate" are two of them.

Am I anti-Christian? Well, read my posts (until I got tired of the Duckspeak Atheists and the "you're a Christian, apologize for [random malicious/hateful/violent thing someone who also calls themselves Christian], even though my IMMEDIATE PREVIOUS COMMENT discussed why I thought that was an issue with modern Christianity" issues, and it wasn't worth that to continue the interesting theological discussions with the non-duckspeak and non-fundamentalist atheists). Am I anti- "in case of Rapture, this car will be unmanned" and "God, Guns, and America" people? Well, again, read my posts. Do I recognize the beam in my eye and in modern Christianity's eye? Of course.

Do I agree that the WBC bear the same resemblance to Baptists (or Christianity) that the National Socialists bore to Socialism? Also, of course.

And I think that's all I'm going to say on that topic for the next year or two.

Vampyr, did you see the angel costumes people made as an anti-WBC tactic. Brilliant, if I say so myself.

[barmar]

I think TylerE was exaggerating when he said that "mainstream Babtists are not much better". While it's true that they're against same-sex marriage (and homosexuality in general), so is the Catholic Church. But the important difference between them and WBC (and the Nazis that were used in the analogy) is that they're not violent about it -- they're entitled to their beliefs, as outdated as they may be. The resolutions they passed hardly represent a fringe belief, it's still (unfortunately) very mainstream. 50 years or so ago, comparable groups were against inter-racial marriage.