I am so enraged I may not be able to write sensibly today! There are a group of people traveling around the country protesting the funerals of soldiers who have given their lives in the service of The United Sates of America in Iraq and Afghanistan. They sickening thing about these people is they claim they are doing it in the name of God. The protesters are a group of "Baptists" from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas led by Fred Phelps.  If you read about this story in other media outlets you will see him identified as Rev. Fred Phelps doesn’t deserve to be called Rev. or any other title that describes him as any leader of the church. Please do not think Mr. Phelps speaks for or is the poster child for Baptists around the country and the world.  He is not. I don’t like to call people names, but this guy is a complete nut!

From what I can gather by researching the Internet, I would liken him to David Karish and Jim Jones in that he controls a very small group of people, most of them relatives. His website, godhatesfags.com is full of hate and misuse of scripture. His followers have protested at the funerals of many fallen soldiers and even at the funeral of former President Clinton’s mother.

He and his protesters brandish signs while protesting that read, "God Hates Fags", "Thank God For Dead Soldiers", and "God is USA’s Terrorist". It seems that Mr. Phelps and HIS followers have a very twisted view of scripture and are not afraid to twist it and take it out of context. David Riley writes, "Some people have tried to work out exactly what sort of theology it is that
the Westboro Baptist Church teaches. While I doubt the worth of the effort, it
would appear to be a rather narrow form of primitive Calvinism. The Phelps’
believe that the world is divided into God’s elect and those who God will harden
and cast away. They point out that the Bible says God hates workers of iniquity.
And, from there, it is only one bigoted leap to ‘God Hates Fags.‘" Their website posts the Manifesto of Westboro Baptist Church which is the five points of Calvinism and declares that Armenians are going to hell. Kind of scary knowing that Phelps is the eternal judge of the world.

Let me leave you with simple truth from the Son of God, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17 KJV.