Phelps is TRULY nuts--he's going to picket Rev. Winters' funeral!

[jmowreader]

On Sunday, a gunman entered the First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL, and shot dead the Rev. Fred Winters. They still don't know why.

Today, I learned that Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist "Church," who is living proof Ronald Reagan's policy of mainstreaming the mentally ill didn't work, plans to take his familial flock to Maryville to picket Rev. Winters' funeral. He claims the Southern Baptist Convention is "fag-infested" and Rev. Winters' death was God's punishment for said infestation.

http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20090309_sba-fred-winters-funeral.pdf

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Can we permanently add "Fred" to these titles?

Every time I see one, I start thinking about Michael Phelps.

[tangent90]

19. Or Chance

:shrug:

[TBF]

2. And people wonder why we question religion... n/t

[Beer Snob-50]

5. i think you have to separate this wacko from most religion

i don't think his ideology is the same as 99.9% of other religions. yes, unfortunatly a goodly portion of them are against homosexuality but not to the extent that he does.

[BR_Parkway]

10. He's in agreement with Dobson, Falwell, Haggard, Warren, Schuller

Roberts, the Pope, Jakes and the Osteens - all the mega leaders of the evengelical movement say the same thing (they just say it in nicer, more politically correct terms)

They have all very publicly said that gays are the cause of the various natural disasters, diseases and other troubles affecting humanity (most of all the good old USA) and rallied their base to hate us (I'm sorry, hate my "sin" not me)

So no, I don't see the separation at all. Phelps just says it in ways that aren't acceptable, while the rest couch it in 'loving' language and don't get called on it as much.

[Beer Snob-50]

17. i believe the evengelical movement as it stands today

is all part of the same wackoo movement.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. I must know all the .1% because my boyfriend's whole family and in-laws suspect Obama might be ...

...the anti-Christ.

They are just too polite to stand out in front of a church with a sign.

Maybe they are just lazy.

[Beer Snob-50]

18. they are just lazy!!!

:)

[Lost in CT]

7. WTF????? nt

[no_hypocrisy]

3. What's wrong with THIS minister? Not Christian enough? Not the "right" kind of Christian?

Doesn't hate humanity enough?

[nichomachus]

4. Go, Fred, Go

The more he does this, the more it emphasizes the insanity of religious extremism -- just what we need.

This could actually backfire on Fred and generate sympathy for the other people he pickets.

[Lost in CT]

20. I think that horse has already fled the barn.... nt

[arcadian]

6. Isn't there an unspoken code among preachers?

I won't protest your funeral if you don't protest mine.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Another fine Christian.

Face it, this guy just doesn't have any filter. There is a bunch more with the same beliefs occupying churches and government - just not as outspoken.

[ErinBerin84]

9. truly fucking nuts

They were in Albany last week...lovely signs. "Your pastor is a whore", "Obama is the anti-Christ" , etc.

[DS1]

12. Wow, Southern Baptists are on his shitlist too?

[jmowreader]

24. I'm trying to figure THAT one out...

If the SBC isn't the most antigay mainstream religion out there, it's not far from it. To think it's "fag-infested" is, at best, laughable.

[Vogon_Glory]

13. I wish them the joy of each other's company n/t

[Dr.Phool]

14. All Ol' Fred needs is a good, old-fashioned, ghetto stompin'.

It might clean out the cob-webs.

I wonder if that nit-wit was in Tampa a couple of weeks ago. The news on TV showed a few shots of the funeral for the pilot of the plane in Buffalo. I saw a bunch of bikers off to one side. They usually show up at servicemens funerals to keep Phelps away.

[cali]

15. I really, really, dislike the author's dig at the mentally ill

sounds like he'd like to see them all packed back into institutions. And it certainly was not Reagan's dream to mainstream.

[jmowreader]

23. Many of the mentally ill are perfectly able to function in society

Some of them cannot. Phelps is one of them.

As to the other assertion, that it wasn't Reagan's dream to mainstream, here are Reagan's contributions to the problem:

1. Signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short act, which largely abolished involuntary commitment to and involuntary holding of people in mental institutions. This had the effect of causing most of the state mental hospitals in California to close. There are five left open today. The intent was to transfer these people to community-based services.

2. He then defunded the community-based services, leaving the people in those closed hospitals mostly to the streets.

3. In 1981, Reagan repealed the year-old Mental Health Systems Act enacted by President Carter. He then cut funding for mental health by 25 percent and gave it to the states in the form of block grants.

It may not have been Reagan's dream to mainstream, but he did REAL well at causing it to happen.

[spanone]

16. i didn't know 'god' taught hatred....who is phelps god? he ain't the one i've read about

[WI_DEM]

21. One day somebody is going to take his wrath out on Phelps, I wonder when that happens

if his followers will believe it was "God's will"???

[MiniMe]

22. Even Hannity calls him nuts. Nobody likes this guy