Westboro Baptist Church

The US Supreme Court ruled that members of the Westboro Baptist Church have the Constitutional right to protest at funerals…and they do…but does that make it right?

While protesting at private, non-political funerals, members of the Westboro Baptist Church carry hate filled signs that proclaim such vile rhetoric as “God Hates Fags”, “Thank God for Sept. 11”, "Pray for More Dead Soldiers", and “Death Penalty for Fags”; proving that they have a misguided interpretation of who God is and what the Bible says.

First, God does not hate any of his children. He loves us all unconditionally…whether we are gay or straight, rich or poor, black or white, Christian or Muslim, etc. He may dislike the things we do to ourselves and to one another…as well as the rest of his creations…but he does not hate any of us. God is a God of love. And both He and his son Jesus Christ have commanded us to love one another as well.

When asked which was the great commandment in the law? Christ replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and the great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22:37-39).”

Second, while homosexuality is a sin, as the Bible clearly states; so is lying, stealing, premarital sex, adultery, masturbation, murder, hate, envy, slothfulness, greed…need I go on? The Bible lists a litany of sins…maybe the members of the Westboro Baptist Church should upgrade their signs…or maybe they should simply follow the admonition of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

One day while Christ was in the temple at the Mount of Olives a group of scribes and Pharisees brought an adulterous woman unto him. They wanted him to sanction her stoning, because the Law of Moses required it. Instead, Christ knelt down and proceeded to write in the dirt, ignoring their request.

When they persisted, the Savior stood up and said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Then he knelt back down and proceeded to write in the dirt.

A few minutes later he looked up to find only the accused woman standing before him. He asked the woman where her accusers were. She replied, “…No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more (see John 8:1-11)”.

If the Savior were here today, he may extend this same simple challenge to the members of the Westboro Baptist Church…and the rest of us.

Third, members of the Westboro Baptist Church are ignoring another tenet in the Bible, judge not.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again (Matthew 7:1-2).”

So, while the US Constitution may give the members of the Westboro Baptist Church the legal right to protest at private, non-political funerals with vile signs that project hate, is it the Christian thing to do? Is it what God and our Savior Jesus Christ would want them…or any of us…to do?