The Underside of the Prophetic Impulse by Rev. Tom Schade

It is easy to dismiss the Westboro Baptist Church, led by Rev. Fred Phelps, as nuts and bigots. After all, people who picket the funerals of US soldiers or marines killed in Iraq with signs saying that "God Hates Fags" are obviously prejudiced and lack in any desire for the goodwill of others. These are people who are getting a big thrill out of being offensive.


They are also financing themselves, in part, by being offensive. Through the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney Fees Act, their Phelps family law firm can be awarded attorney's fees when they successfully challenge a law that restricts their free speech rights. They can count on the fact that local governments will pass unconstitutional laws and ordinances to restrict their activities. The church finances its very extensive travel costs (nearly $200,000 per year) through their own congregation (about 70 members) and through the legal fees they charge to and get reimbursed from this governmental source.

The overriding issue for the Westboro Baptist Church is homosexuality.

They started their political activity campaigning against public gay sex in Topeka's Gage Park, six blocks from their church. Since then they have steadily escalated their rhetoric against gays and lesbians. Their view is that the United States, by allowing homosexuality, has entered into a full rebellion against God's Word. Consequently every misfortune that now occurs in our country is God's punishment, a punishment that the believers of the Westboro Baptist Church welcome.

Therefore, according to WBC, Americans die in Iraq because God is punishing us for condoning homosexuality. Most recently, they even argued that seven Mennonite children died in a house fire in Pennsylvania because the United States and the Mennonites have failed to stamp out homosexuality.

They picket the funerals of such beloved people, not because they intend to win souls for Christ, but they think it necessary to point out to Americans at every moment of our deepest grief that these horrible losses occur because of our rebellion. Per the WBC, to end the losses in Iraq, or to prevent fatal house fires, we need to learn, remember and act on slogan that "God Hates Fags."

It's always a bad sign when your theology reveals a God who hates the same people you do. With such theology, the only difference between you and God is that God has the power to your make your enemies suffer and you don't. The suffering of one's rivals is God's work and to be celebrated.

Some of the ancient prophets of Israel ended up in the same place. Isaiah 3:8 reads: "For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. The look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it. Woe to them, for they have brought evil on themselves."

The condemnation of a sin turns to a warning of God's punishment and then turns into a celebration of every misfortune as God's righteous anger. This is the shadow underside of the prophetic impulse.

In one way, the root cause of Westboro Baptist Church's evil ways is their irrational hatred of homosexuality. One can only speculate about why that might be. But also crucial is their small and cramped view of God as a punishing tyrant. It lets them transfer their murderous impulses to God, who does their dirty work.

Universalism has been much on our minds, these days. The theology of Universalism, the story of a loving God who hates no one, runs counter such theologies of a God who supernaturally implements our hatreds. It reminds us that God ask us to expand our circle of love, to even include those we consider our rivals and enemies.