He's calling his picket a rejoinder against "so-called Christian dykes at the fag-infested Focus on the Family scam," among other things. The Rev. Fred Phelps and followers of his Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket the headquarters of the Rev. James Dobson's ministry in Colorado Springs Saturday to protest the ministry's position that God forgives even homosexuals.
What triggered Phelps's wrath, according to Conservative News Service, was remarks by former lesbian Amy Tracy, a Focus on the Family spokeswoman, who has said in a published interview that God forgives everyone including gays.
"Frankly, we are baffled by the bizarre actions of this angry man who calls himself a Baptist minister," John Paulk, a former homosexual who works as the homosexuality and gender analyst for Focus on the Family, tells CNS. "Christianity offers forgiveness, abundant love, the utmost grace and the truth of Scripture for everyone. Fred Phelps and his church inaccurately represent Christianity - they portray a religion based on legalism, sensationalism, lies and hate."
Phelps is notorious for attending funerals of homosexuals carrying signs reading "God Hates Fags" and "AIDS Cures Fags," among other slogans, CNS says. He also has a virulently anti-gay Web site, www.godhatesfags.com, which boasts this among other rhetoric: "The only lawful sexual connection is the marriage bed. All other sex activity is whoremongery and adultery, which will damn the soul forever in Hell."
Dobson's ministry is far from Phelps's only target. The Westboro church is also planning a picket against the Rev. Jerry Falwell and his Liberty Baptist Church ministry in Lynchburg, VA, Oct. 23 - over what Phelps calls Falwell's "love fest with Mel White, fag pastor of a Dallas fag church."
The Web site also has some anti-Jewish rhetoric (on its sister page, "God Hates America"), attacks nearly every known mainstream religious denomination as being at least half "fag" churches", and features a sniping obituary for Matthew Shepard, the homosexual student killed last year, a case in which the second trial's jury selection began this week. Phelps's site headlines the section, "Matthew Shepard - 364 Days in Hell…Eternity - 364 = Eternity," and says he "lived a Satanic lifestyle.
"He got himself killed trolling for anonymous homosexual sex in a bar at midnight," the statement continues. "Unless he repented in the final hours of his life, He is in hell. He will be in hell for all eternity, "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. - Mark 9:44. For each day that passes, he has only eternity to look forward to. All the candlelight vigils, all the tributes, all the acts of Congress, all the rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States, will not shorten his sentence by so much as one day. And all the riches of the world will not buy him one drop of water to cool his tongue."
Tracy says she hopes Phelps's protests would highlight the difference between mainstream religious groups like Focus and extremists like Phelps, CNS says. "The media frequently lump us together, and that angers us because this guy's the antithesis of everything we stand for," she tells the conservative news wire. "In part it's lazy journalism and in part it's their world view shining through," she said.
"In Focus on the Family we have people like myself on staff who have come out of homosexuality. We show the gay community that if you do want out, there is a way, there is hope for change and we're living proof of that.
"The other side is, good people of faith can oppose a political agenda," she continues. "We have every right to participate in the political process. So when you're talking about introducing homosexual behavior and practices into the kindergarten and secondary grades, we're going to stand up and say 'no, we've come out of homosexuality and we do not believe this is a healthy lifestyle.' We do not believe this is what God intended and that doesn't make us hateful, it's our point of view," Tracy told CNS.
