KentNewsNet.com

"All media -- in contemptuous hatred, disrespect, disregard -- metaphorically urinate on the Bible," the site says. "You are the helpless captives and bondslaves of his majesty the devil, slavishly working his will."
Here's what the Founding Fathers have to say:
"It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three; and yet that the one is not three, and the three are not one. But this constitutes the craft, the power and the profit of the priests." --- Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1803
"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." --- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
"The metaphysical insanities of Athanasius, of Loyola, and of Calvin, are, to my understanding, mere lapses into polytheism, differing from paganism only by being more unintelligible." --- Thomas Jefferson to Jared Sparks, 1820
"The Persian shows the Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster, the lawgiver of Persia, and calls it the divine law; the Bramin shows the Shaster, revealed, he says, by God to Brama, and given to him out of a cloud; the Jew shows what he calls the law of Moses, given, he says, by God, on the Mount Sinai; the Christian shows a collection of books and epistles, written by nobody knows who, and called the New Testament; and the Mahometan shows the Koran, given, he says, by God to Mahomet: each of these calls itself revealed religion, and the only true Word of God, and this the followers of each profess to believe from the habit of education, and each believes the others are imposed upon. But when the divine gift of reason begins to expand itself in the mind and calls man to reflection, he then reads and contemplates God and His works, and not in the books pretending to be revelation. The creation is the Bible of the true believer in God. Everything in this vast volume inspires him with sublime ideas of the Creator. The little and paltry, and often obscene, tales of the Bible sink into wretchedness when put in comparison with this mighty work."--Thomas Paine, [i]The Age of Reason[/i]
We've been "pissing" on the Buy-Bull ever since this country was founded!
You can see more quotes here: http://www.barefootsworld.net/founding.html

What a sad testimony to our God! To think that a church preaches such hatred in the name of God apalls me.My lessons in the Bible were strongly based on the notion that we should not judge, less we be judged. Love one another. Turn the other cheek.Respect others. Respect our differences as well as rejoice in our similarities.Whether being gay is sin or not is not the true issue. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All sin unsets God. I'll grant you that this is not a perfect world. Sin overwhelms it. Preaching condemnation doesn't help us. It only makes it uglier. Media is not the enemy of the Bible. We need education. Ignorance is the enemy. Whenever we can shed light on a subject, the evil within is exposed.God help Westboro Baptist Church and keep up the great work Erica.

If you read the Old Testament you will see where they get most of their ideas from.

Nowhere in the Bible is this kind of twisted hatred protrayed by the God of the Bible. God is full of love. He is just, which isn't independent of His love. True, God hates sin because of the destruction it subjects our lives to, but He loves us, foremost.
This church has a twisted, unBiblical view of God, even God protrayed in the Old Testament. Tim, if you read through the Old Testament, you'll see that God draws His people back to Him every time they stray from Him.

Sure, blame hateful opinions on the Old Testament.Kind of ironic to condemn hateful comments by one church by blaming a different religion's canon. Well done,Tim!! Lest you forget, most of the New Testament, in particular the whole Jesus story told in the Gospels, is comprised of parts of the Old Testament rewritten so that Jesus' coming "fullfilled the Word of God". The remaining portions of the New Testament, like Christianity itself, is nothing but the merging of paganism with Judaic principles for those who needed a more concrete, able to be seen God and a promise of something other than nothing after death.

By the way, anti-gay sentiments, contrary to popular belief, are NOT stressed in the Old Testament. The Sodom etc story is a story of "inhospitality". Don't buy that? Check with the PhD Dominican nun who taught my Bible as Literature class.

As Holly Near wrote: "I ain't afraid of your Yahweh. I ain't afraid of your Jesus. I ain't afraid of your Allah. I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your god."

Its funny, but, I totally missed this article! WOW! What a good way to start the new semester with a controversial item like the Westboro "Sanctimonious" church :)

Lets face it, they are all related...So, there is a thing called a 'trapped audience', its probably either join or leave the family!

It also shows how one person can mind control over a group of individuals, (anyone remember Jim Jones and Guyana??)...Or, no, most of you werent even born at that time... *sigh* There goes my age again...

Because you have a 'loon' masquerading as a Preacher, and makes headlines and gives and leaves a bad taste in everyones mouth who utters the name of the place, it doesn't meant that Christianity as a whole is to blame!

Just like we cant blame all Muslims for the terrorists factions that love blowing themselves to bits, and others with them, we cant blame Islam for that either...(Well, maybe we can if you read the Qu'ran, but they say they gave up that part of hating everyone to be peaceful).

Nut jobs abound in every facet of Society, from School to Work to Worship Service... Nothing is safe from antisocial behaviour, but, remember, JESUS didnt come for the "well", HE came for the "sick"...and those at Westboro sure do fall into that catagory... (In many opinions, not just mine). As Paul was a zealot, these people try to espouse the principles of the Apostles, but, unfortunately, they are way off base for thier theocracy and idealologies...

All we can do, is pray for each of them...Thats what the LORD would want us to do, since we cant 'gently admonish them back into the fold', simply because the Pastor is warped in the first place... hmmm

I wish you well...

Jesse Merino

Nelson, have you even read the Old Testament? God very much so resembles the characteristics of Westboro's interpretation in the Old Testament. Alternate Religion or not, the similarities are striking. And Sodomy in it's simplest definition is a sexual crime. The City of Sodom was a city that was filled with what God of the Old Testament thought of as "sexual crimes".

No where in the Old Testament does it say that God hates, soldiers, journalist, etc. Look at a secular viewpoint on why the Hebrews wrote what they wrote about Sodomy. They lived in a time where they were under constant invasions from the Persians and other great emipres. The Hebrews only occupied a small strip of land compared with the nations surrounding them. So being that they were so small of community, re-producing was a matter of life or death for them. That's why they creating their law system and forbid such actions


Besides, the rantings of the Fred Phillps and the Westbaro church or nothing compared to what is said in anti war circles (ie Code Pink) about soldiers.

"A man who does not think for himself does not think at all" - Oscar Wilde

Arguing over religion is like arguing over the least rotten apple at a landfill. It is no wonder that the rust belt (i.e. middle america) almost always breaks republican as nearly everyone seems to be mentally enslaved by ancient text.

Think for yourselves.

god hates nobody, becasue he doesnt exist!!!!

I must say that this is just another reason why religion is so detrimental to society. When you stop to think about it, religion=philosophy+God. The philosophy is wonderful in all religions across the board: teaching its followers important lessons of love, compassion, and understanding. But much like a legal contract, God acts as a loop-hole for its followers. There are those who preach "In the name of God", who judge "In the name of God", and (worst of all) kill "In the name of God". Yes, religion does bring many good things, such as: charities and community oneness. The problem, however, lies in God and how many people die "In the name of God". How can people tell children Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and other mythical creatures are facades of the human imagination, but claim that a snake (that could talk -I'd pay money to see that) tempted Eve, virgin birth (which is only in two of the gospels) happened, and that an all powerful being created the world in seven days (when it has be proven that it took millions and millions of years to be able to support just bacteria and protozoan, first "animals"). Sure there are unanswered questions of how the universe was created and many theories trying to explain them (God being one of them), but for the time being, what is so wrong with saying, "I don't know."? There is nothing wrong with being doubtful and unknowing; being closed-minded and unaccepted to other ideas, is. It is much better for you to set off (whether scientifically or theologically) and try to discover the truth, but sticking with ideas that have been around since the Bronze Age is a little dated. Think of the other Bronze Age ideas there were, but now lay in history books: such as spitting on a wound will cure it. Please don't read this and walk away believing every word I type as truth, but don't disregard it either. As I said before, it is best to discover your own truths, without impeding on others and without hurting others. The day society can just make their own truths individually, but accept other's, is the day we achieve peace.

I, too, had many questions about God and how so many religions could be "right", etc. But, I have found a personal relationship with God that I cannot ever refute as being "inside me". It's a place in my soul that this world of "scientists" can't explain...at least not now...perhaps many years down the road when our various levels of conscienceness can be understood in detail. We aren't even close to that frontier yet. There is SO MUCH we don't understand scientifically. I also don't believe that science negates God. Who says our theological thought can't be errored...we aren't Gods and no matter how much you study the bible or Quran or any number of religious/spiritual doctrine/scientific theories, we can't know, I believe, until we actually die in our human bodies and bow to God. For now, I have utmost FAITH/CHILDLIKE FAITH that my personal relationship I have with God which is between He and I are not an imaginary alliance with myself!

I was not "taught" this belief albeit I had some influences over my years from Christians, but I also had a lot of influence from atheists.

I have found, through my own personal relationship with God is that the New Testament tried to right some of the errored "thinking/actions" of people like the Pharisees who thought they were so "righteous". I see "Pharisees" all the time from various cultures and religions and often in Christians. The BIGGEST demand Jesus taught is to Love one another, as you love yourselves. If people kept that in mind first and foremost in all their actions/words, the world truly would be a much better place. Jesus didn't say only if they believe what you believe or do what you do or any number of "reasons" we come up with to act/speak without love for another. I am as "guilty" as anybody with regards to falling short. I have said/done things that have to be very hurtful to my Father in "Heaven". But, that is inherent in ALL human beings for we all are wretched! It often doesn't make much "sense" to me in a "worldly" way, but there is ALOT we humans have yet to understand!!! Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny can be explained...whereas, God within me cannot fully be explained as of yet. Of course, atheists would try to explain that my personal relationship with God is only a story I've convinced myself of to try to fight their profound knowledge that nothing exists after death but maggots and dust. I'm sorry, but death without an afterlife doesn't scare me...it's deeper than that...my connection I have inside me can't be explained by anyone on earth currently except through the existence of a higher power.

These are the type of groups that give Christianity a bad name. I "think for myself" and still believe in God. Not the kind of God this church talks about, though! Groups like that are just ignorant and disgusting to the name of religion.

I don't know why you even bother talking about these nut jobs. Ignore them.

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God Hates Shrimp, Too:

http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/

Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage?

The hottest place in hell is reserved for pastors like that.. As you judge, so shall it be judged upon you....

... so.. if i were that preacher...i'd be scared to do anything more than to tell my congregation to pray for those who are soldiers, fags, etc. But he judges them.. and not himself.. so he shall be judged himself... i pray to God that he is forgivin, as i do for all of you.. and for myself.

I'm not sure what's worse: Phelps' views, the idea that Phelps (or any other individual for that matter) actually represents an entire religion, this newspaper, the clowns that think this is news, or when people accuse those that disagree with them of not thinking for themselves. . .

What's funny is that while people try to link Westboro to the GOP, Mainstream Religion, or other right-wing forces, the Phelps are actually Democrats, and Fred Phelps actually ran in the election for Kansas on the Democrat ballot.

Guess it goes to show you not everything's as black and white as we make it out to be.