Are members Of The Westboro Baptist Church Wrong For Attending Such A Hateful Church ?

Question

For those who don't know - The Westboro Baptist Church and their members are the ones who protest at Veteran's funerals and carry signs with messages of pure hatred . Example - 'God hates fa**' , "You deserved to die" etc .

If a church member disagrees with this foundational belief and action, should that member then change which church he attends ?

Or

Should he stay and continue supporting that hate-mongering church ?

How is this political ? -- Oh , it is alright . It is because the vast majority(every single one that I've seen) of Obama supporters try to claim that because Obama's pastor and confidant is a racist, then that doesn't necessarily mean Obama agrees with him . And the excuses about his pastor giving the supreme racist, Louis Farrakhan, a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' are very indicative of people living in hypocritical denial .

Answer 1

Only Phelps and his family are part of the church (if you wanna call it a church).



That way when all family members die out or get killed, that'll be the end of the WBC.

Answer 2

At first I didn't "Get" your question - although now, considering it further - your asking if the virtually "white supremist" church can exist, why then, should'nt Trinity Church on the south side have the same right to exist - yes?



I hear ya.



Any one who professes hatred to other human beings sounds mighty scary.



I think however the Westboro folk are seriously scary, while the Trinity Church is more like a regular church with some strong "mouthpeices" who have been at the helm, but not having messages anything like the Westboro Kansas types.



Then there is the provision in the constitution about "free speech"



that right there should be enough to quell the Obama rumours. Obama is not a radical, he is a United States Senator.



And until he's elected president, if you meet him, you say "Glad to meet you, Senator Obama."



He is a brilliant man. He has done a lot to reform the Illinois goverment and legislated for many protections for innocent victims of the criminal and judicial systems to make the world more fair.



Under his watch, (now proven) innocent death row inmates were released, video surveilance of police intorrogations was mandated, among much other legislation which directly benefits society. These were things that have been wrong for many years, Obama comes along and fixes them.

Answer 3

This is an extremist church and I could never even consider being a member. What they do is inconsistent with what religion is all about and more of what a political organization is for.

I can't say that members are wrong for attending but I can say that the members have a warped sense of right and wrong as well as how they should serve their religion.

Answer 4

The WBC are merely family members who are predominantly lawyers. They utilize the basics of the US Constitution to spead their hate. Any time they are attacked, or are stopped in any way from their pogrom of hate the sue the town/city in which this occured, the sue the police, they sue the person involved, and they sue anyone connected to any of these people. Sadly they have won huge settlements in the past. This is how they work. That is why they do what they do and not for any real religous reasons. Yes Fred Phelps really is an orfained minister. That is the only truth.

Answer 5

No church is going to be full of people who agree on everything. That's just life - even if you pack it with people who agree on a 100 issues, the 101st will come along and mess that up. The key to a Christian community is to be united in love even as you sort out the different ways members feel called by Christ to serve the world. A member does not automatically carry the views of the pastor.



If Obama's church groups were out picketing funerals I would condemn him. It seems a little more extreme than anything Rev. Wright is doing, even if you don't approve of his ministry.

Answer 6

The comparison is accurate.



Yes, BOTH the Westboro Baptist Church and Obama's church obviously have some seriosuly sick hate problems!



Obama is excusing a sick racist and Westboro's congergation is accepting sick homphobes.



BOTH are examples of the sickness you find in blind adherance to monotheism.



it's not a "liberal" probldem, its a "religion" problem. Thats why I stay away from organized religion. Some real nutbars running those places.

Answer 7

I can not argue with your reasoning. If a person belongs to an organization and agrees to abide by the mandates and bylaws of said group then they in fact AGREE with the happenings and action of the leaders of that group. If it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck then in this specific case it is in fact a bigoted racist duck!

Answer 8

I think you need to recheck your "facts" the hate-spewing church you're talking about is run by a guy named Phelps. It is certainly NOT the Chicago church Obama and his family attend. His church is Trinity United Baptist Church in Chicago.

Answer 9

You guys sure work hard on bagging on Obama. You're right. It is also time to get all Southern Babtists out of politics since a few of them wear white hoods.

Answer 10

hmm.. it depends on your reason for staying... you could stay in hopes of being a positive influence on the rest of the group.



There are a lot of "gray" answers to this one really... things that are not really right and not really wrong.