Taking the Biscuit

I’ve been aware of the Baptist Pastor Fred Phelps for some time. This man sums up all that is awful about religious extremists in the USA in much the same way as Abu Hamza does in the UK. Different religions, but the same nasty hate mongering. However, Fred’s activities reached a peak of nastiness even for him this week with this little gem. The tragedy in the Indian Ocean has seen a mass of goodwill from humanity worldwide – but not from Fred. Oh, no, this is God’s punishment for Sweden’s conviction and imprisonment of another right wing Christian cleric, Åke Green – allegedly for preaching homophobic hate speech. So, according to the Phelps’ logic, a chunk of Asia (approximately 150,000 people killed) was punished by God just to kill 20,000 Swedes. Yeah, beats me, too. I mean, even if I believed, I’d have difficulty with that one. The incompetence implied is staggering beyond belief.

It would be a natural reaction to want the Phelps’ of this world censored. This is after all blatant hate speech – despite Christianity being built on a platform of tolerance (love thy neighbour) and forgiveness (do unto others…), Phelps turns the whole thing on its head – God seems to hate everyone according to his website. Even Canada gets in on the act. I wonder just how it is possible to harbour so much hatred. It is beyond my comprehension.

It is at times like this I try to think of the words attributed to Voltaire:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

After all, if we couldn’t see the world through Fred Phelps’ own words, we would not be able to see him as he really is – and judge accordingly. If there is a God, surely he, too, will judge accordingly.