Why the Westboro “Baptist Church” Will Have No Effect on Us Whatsoever

By Valeria Rotella

 

On Tuesday, November 10, our school got a visit!

From the good people at the Westboro Baptist Church no less. They claimed we insisted they come visit us, because we have a diversity club and a Gay Straight alliance and the feminists club, amongst others.

Because God hates gays. And diversity. And women.  And blacks. And Jews. And Catholics. And the troops. And America. And Obama is the anti- Christ and eats babies made of burgers. In fact, we all eat burgers made of babies.

I guess B-CC is just a great big melting pot of sin.

Let me address their hatred of gays first. In absolutely all religions (except Satanism), God preaches a message of love and compassion. You can choose to interpret this your own way, but I see it like this: God doesn’t care if you love a man or a woman. He wants you to love. And if you’re an atheist or an agnostic like me, it’s still a good idea to love. It’s healthy. If you don’t love, you’ll end up bitter and alone and a sociopath, like the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. So I encourage everybody to love and let others love in peace.

And how can God hate diversity? We’re all supposed to be created in his image! Across different countries and different cultures, people have loved and worshiped God for thousands of years, and will continue to do so. So if God hates diversity, then he hates everyone who worships him. That makes sense.

I’m not even going to bother addressing their hatred for women, African- Americans, Jewish people, and Catholics. It’s ignorance and lunacy. The race, religion, and gender barriers have mostly been broken down, and we don’t need to revive them. It’s almost crazier than protesting dead soldiers’ funerals. That’s the lowest of the low. They’ve gone beyond the point of being ignorant, homophobic, racist, anti- Semitic, sexist whack jobs. They’re attacking the people who die for their right to express their disrespectful slander.

On a side note, Obama is NOT the anti- Christ. Not even Fox News thinks that. He seems like a perfectly decent man, and you’re entitled to agree or disagree with his policies and actions, but he’s the commander- in- chief. He still deserves respect.

I’m going to back away from my little rant on the Westboro Baptist Church and concentrate on the actual protest and the counter-protest. There were about 5 WBC protesters compared to our hundreds.

There were 2 middle aged women, a teenage girl, and two little boys. I feel so bad for those children, having to grow up in that environment. The youngest boy looked like he was about six. I highly doubt he had any idea why he was protesting our school. Shame on those women for teaching those kids to hate.

What the WBC was saying to us was awful, but I don’t think we should take it seriously. In fact, I don’t think anyone at the protest took them seriously. As soon as you change the lyrics to “God Bless America”, say that our teachers teach “Feces 101”, and that our parents lie to us, you lose all credibility.

Should the WBC be allowed to go around the country spewing their crazy ideologies? It’s their constitutional right. Do I agree with anything they say? Absolutely not. The thing that we should realize about the Westboro Baptist Church is that they’re a tiny group of repressed people from someplace most people have never heard of. They’re not even a real church. Their protests are a desperate plea for media coverage and they do it to provoke people’s anger, so they can sue them.

I believe that in this country, for every five intolerant bigots, there are hundreds who believe in love and respect. The turnout at Tuesday’s counter-protest should be enough to convince anyone that it’s true. You also have to thank Erika Witzenburg, Lucien Tessier, and Alice Howard, Ms. Lizarazo, and Mr. Greene. They’re the ones who really helped put the protest together, and they did a fantastic job. Well done.

On a final note, I would just like to say that we should not hate the members of the Westboro Baptist Church for what they do. I do not agree with their actions or ideals, and I don’t have the slightest bit of respect for them, and I think they’re out of their minds. But I do not hate them. If we choose to hate, we sink to their level, and we have no right to feel superior to them. They’re not worth the energy.