Two wrongs Opponents of anti-gay group just as hate-filled as their target BY DANIEL T. WEAVER For The Sunday Gazette
Rev. Fred Phelps is coming to Albany, or at least some members of his church, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, are. If you don’t know who Fred Phelps is, it isn’t because he hasn’t tried to get your attention. Getting attention, particularly media attention, is one thing Phelps is good at, much like other leaders of small radical groups. Phelps has spent the last two decades holding demonstrations against homosexuality. In recent years, he and his followers have picketed the funerals of soldiers returning from Iraq because they believe their deaths are God’s punishment for America’s toleration of homosexuality. I have no doubt the media will be there when the Westboro Baptists arrive on March 6 at 7:15 a.m. to picket Albany High School. The church’s Web site states “we will tell you [students at Albany High] the only truth that might save your never dying souls, to wit: God Hates Fags, God Hates f** Enablers, God Hates You, The Siege Is Here, You Hate Your Kids/You Eat Your Kids, Obama Is The Antichrist.” NOTHING NEW But there won’t be anything new for the media to report, except that this is the first time the Westboro Church has picketed in Albany. The church has already carried out more than 39,000 demonstrations. Each one is similar. The members carry signs espousing the slogans that I quoted in the last paragraph. They shout at motorists. Some motorists shout back and give them the finger. Gay rights and other activists hold a counter-protest. And when all is said and done, a lot of heat has been generated by both sides but no light. While preparing to write this article, I read dozens of articles on Fred Phelps and his church, watched interviews and watched a documentary that the BBC did on Phelps. The documentary, filmed by Louis Theroux, has an ironic title — “The Most Hated Family In America.” One would have thought it would be called “The Most Hate-Filled Family In America.” But maybe Theroux was hinting at something in the title. For if the hatred expressed by Phelps and his church is troubling, as indeed it is, the hatred expressed toward Phelps and his church is equally troubling. In the documentary, you see a car drive by with its license plate covered. A man hurls a heavy plastic drinking cup at the protesters and hits one of Phelps’ grandsons in the face. While the child is not hurt seriously, he cries and you can see a mark on his face. People regularly call the church with death threats, and there are many bullet holes in the building from driveby shooters. And on one occasion, the church was bombed. MORE TO BE PITIED Is the hatred of the counter-protesters any more righteous than that of Phelps and his church members? To me, Fred Phelps is a man to pity, not hate. His life has been a failure. After 55 years of preaching, his church has only 71 members, most of them his relatives. Even the late Jerry Falwell denounced Phelps. (Phelps in turn picketed Falwell’s funeral.) My gut reaction after researching Phelps is that he is an angry old man who seems to have suffered a psychological injury at some point in life. His son Mark, one of his four estranged children (he has 13), backs up my surmise in a letter to the editor of a Topeka newspaper. “He [Fred] can use foul language and come across with a booming voice to the community, but the truth is, like the Wizard of Oz, when Toto pulls the curtain back, instead of this big powerful individual, it’s only a small, pathetic old man. I feel sorry for my father as I would for anyone who displays this kind of hate and evil viciousness. These can only be the manifestations of tortured, injured and agonizing souls.” Fred Phelps is a disbarred attorney. At one time, however, he represented blacks in civil rights actions, and two chapters of the NAACP honored him with awards for his service. What happened to Phelps since then? No one seems to know and, except for a few reporters in Topeka, no one seems to care. Counter-protests are already being........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01900
First published in print: Monday, February 16, 2009
On March 6, the controversial Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps will be in Albany to picket outside of Albany High School. Their message, as stated on their Web site, is one of hate.
As an Albany resident and an educator, I find it morally irresponsible and wrong for such a group to come to our area and to attack not educated and responsible adults, but children.
I have no problems with their use of First Amendment rights, but by attacking students with their message, they serve no purpose other than to potentially cause problems at a school already experiencing problems. Calling students "little adult beasts" is by no means a way for them to convey their message. I find it cowardly and disrespectful to the students.
They also plan to picket at the University at Albany.
This is not the time to divide, but rather to unify.
In a troubled economy and society, why are they trying to divide us?
Let us work together not to fight them, but to show how despite our religious beliefs, sexual orientation, race and social differences, people can live together successfully.
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