A Different Stir

Fred Phelps, founder and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., claims to be a man of God. But when I interviewed him days after he initiated a vulgar protest at a dead Marine's funeral, he reminded me more of Lucifer

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That's how Michael Smerconish, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, starts his March 14th OP-Ed piece about free speech versus the right to gather.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case concerning Phelps' right to protest and assemble. Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died in combat in Iraq on March 3, 2006. Joining his family, friends, and loved ones at his funeral a week later were Phelps and several protesters from Westboro Baptist. According to a lower court's recounting of the facts: "They traveled to Matthew Snyder's funeral in order to publicize their message of God's hatred of America for its tolerance of homosexuality."

Phelps has made it his mission to get the USA back on track by protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. His signage reflects a perverse ideology and is littered with phrases like: "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," "Pope in Hell," "America Is Doomed," "Fag Troops," "You're Going to Hell," "God Hates You," "Semper Fi Fags," "Thank God for IEDs," and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Snyder's father, Albert, sued Phelps and some of his parishioners, initially winning a $10-million-plus award but that was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The Judge, Robert King, wrote in the court's opinion,"As utterly distasteful as these signs are... they involve matters of public concern, including the issue of homosexuals in the military, the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, and the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens." They are protected by the First Amendment, the court concluded, because they didn't assert "objectively verifiable facts" that specifically apply to Matthew or Albert Snyder.

I've long been an atheist and I find acts like those of Fred Phelps not only distasteful but proof that Christianity has fallen off the rails. Yes I know that Phelps is a tiny minority but he represents a larger fallacy in Christian theology, that God, if he did exist, would waste his time micro-managing the world and it's day to day outcomes.

I recently heard Rabbi Harold Kushner, who has written a dozen books offering guidance from the Bible for living a life that matters. His best-known title is When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

He says that if he had to face the fact that God was either all-powerful but not kind, or thoroughly kind and loving, but not totally powerful, he would rather compromise God's power and affirm his love.

"The ... theological conclusion I came to is that God could have been all-powerful at the beginning, but he chose to designate two areas of life off-limits to his power," Kushner says. "He would not arbitrarily interfere with laws of nature. And secondly, God would not take away our freedom to choose between good and evil."

I found that comforting. The God, that I don't believe in, chose to be all loving but not all powerful. This makes more sense that telling a parent who recently lost a child that we cannot know the will of God... or however that lame argument goes.

Too bad that people like Phelps are the ones who make the news more often. Of the 2 billion Christians on the planet I have heard no one make as much sense as Rabbi Harold Kushner.