Dissident Veteran For Peace: God Bless Fred Phelps

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Friday, December 14, 2007

God Bless Fred Phelps

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? -Matthew 5:44-46

I've been to two counterprotests against Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church in the last few years. And he once protested outside my church, calling it a "fag church," but I say God bless him and his family. Lord knows they sure need some divine intervention but, moreover, when it comes to exercising or defending freedom of expression Fred Phelps and his family walk the walk whereas most Americans are clueless, gutless, or outright opponents. Usually their opposition is cloaked in the pious garb of propriety. These slavish fools don't understand or don't care that freedom of expression means nothing if it is only accorded to those who don't rock the boat or offend the delicate sensibilities of the 'patriotically correct,' etc. masses.

When the government permits a private action and ~~enforces~~ a judgment against Phelps for invasion of privacy and emotional distress as they did this year in Snyder v. Phelps then everyone who is not a sheep needs to look out. Testimony at trial revealed that Phelps and his crew were on public property 1000 feet from the funeral service and plaintiff Albert Snyder, father of a dead Marine, never saw or heard the protest. Yet, the jury ruled in his favor and assessed $11 million in fines against Phelps, his family, and his church. It's time for everyone who values freedom to step up and support Fred Phelps in his appeal.

As an aside, there are probably millions of self-styled Christians in this country who say they oppose the illegal US war in Iraq. If they demonstrated one-tenth the commitment and courage of convictions of Fred Phelps and his flock then the war would likely be over.

The video below is courtesy of the "In Defense of Westboro Baptist Church Pickets" web site and it points out the hypocrisy of many Phelps critics. It's funny how so many of them seemed comparatively quiet when he mostly stuck to the funerals of AIDS victims but when he began to show up at the funerals of dead GIs--well, "there ought to be a law!" And, in short order, there were more than a dozen state laws and a federal law aimed at Phelps.