I didn’t think it was possible to get more annoyed with American “Christians” after my adventures with Creflo.A.Dollar… and then I did.
A friend of mine sent me the following link yesterday, as issued by the Westboro Baptist Church
“God hates Australia”
You might not be familiar with the Westboro Baptist Church. The Wikipedia link makes for interesting reading, but a good visual overview of the church/cult can also be seen in “The Most Hated Family In America“, made by one of my favourite interviewers, Louis Theroux. Now, like most documentary makers, there’s always a touch of doubt over how much editing goes on to maintain a narrative flow, but at the same time, Theroux does give his targets more than enough unedited time to let their views be aired. I can also heartily recommend Theroux’s book, “The Call Of The Weird: Travels In American Subcultures” — it relates to earlier pieces of his, and not the Westboro Baptists, but it’s still a fascinating read.
Now the friend of mine was annoyed with it as a proud Australian (I’m not led to believe he’s a Christian, but I could be wrong, I guess). And I normally wouldn’t comment at all – ratbags of this type are basically putting out releases like this one precisely for the publicity. But just in case; I’m an Australian; I’ve never practiced Sodomy, and never been on, or organised a child sex tour. Oh, and Gospel preaching is entirely legal, just in case anyone was confused…
Anyway, the thing that does concern me about groups like the WBC is how they misrepresent Christianity, and the gospel. Put most simply, these groups are essentially based on a doctrine of hate. In many ways it’s rather sad; they’re so terrified by this wonderful world that God has given us that they attack anything and everything, and think they’re doing God’s work. They’re doing quite the reverse; giving the impression of Christianity as a hate-filled prison, in essence.
It doesn’t take much more than a rudimentary understanding of Christianity to see the evident holes in their approach. Consider what is probably the most famous verse in the new Testament: John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son…”
For those not paying attention, Australia is part of the world. We didn’t fall off the bottom (yet), and Christianity isn’t served by muck such as this.
Wow. That was a shorter rant than I originally thought it would be. I guess houses made out of straw are easier to knock down…
I see you have discovered the joys of the Westboro “Baptists”. The family group that delights in picketing the funerals of returned servicemen in the USA displaying placards such as “God hates Fags” and “God hates the USA”. They exist to publicly express their hate and survive by suing anyone who “infringes on their rights”.
They are currently appealing a court verdict against them, the first successful one ever, for “deliberately inflicting emotional harm” or something like that. The judgement was to the tune of $11M US.