“GodHatesFags.com”

There is much on the internet that is utterly fulsome.  For many, the prevalence of pornographic sites readily springs to mind.  For me, though, nothing is more fulsome than preaching hate in the name of God..  At the very least, it can be said that pornographic sites have the virtue of not pretending to be driven by a profoundly virtuous and holy consideration.  But a site that preaches hate in the name of God is entirely disarming precisely because hate is claimed to be justified in the name of He who is said to be completely righteous and holy. 

*     *     *

One of the most ominous claims ever to have been made in history was made by Adolph Hitler in Mien Kemp: "And so I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord."  The parallel between Hitler (and many Christians of that era) and the Westboro Baptist Church, which sponsors the website "Godhatesfags.com", is frighteningly uncanny. 

There are lots and lots of passages in the New Testament that imply or suggest, perhaps even claim outright, that Jews are despicable people owing to their outright rejection of Christ; and until the latter half of the 20th Century it was common enough for people to think of Jews in this light.  Whether Hitler actually held any religious convictions or not, he very conveniently availed himself of the very vivid anti-Jewish sentiment that was an ever-present feature of Europe during that era. 

As is well known, in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible there are roughly four passages in all that are taken to condemn homosexuality quite vehemently.  And in the name of doing the work of the Lord, the folks of Westboro Baptist Church have seized upon these passages with a vengeance.  Shamelessly, they have a website entitled “Godhatesfags.com”.  In fact, a Google search for the church’s name will often turn up a link to this website.  Of course, the internet was non-existent during Hitler’s lifetime, but if it had been around there can be little doubt that he would just as shamelessly have had a website entitled “Godhatesjews.com”. 

Now, if there is any name on the face of this earth that is associated with unbridled evil, the name of Hitler is; accordingly, I have always supposed that no well-meaning individuals would want anything they might do to resemble in the least anything that specifically calls to mind the deeds of none other than Hitler.  He used to the Bible to justify and fuel relentless hatred of the Jew.  The Westboro Baptist Church is using the Bible to justify a relentless hatred of homosexuals.

It is a fact that the New Testament makes a number claims that, on the face of things, appear to be quite critical of Jews.  It is a fact that together the Old and New Testaments make a number of claims that, on face of things, appear to be quite critical of homosexuality.  There is no gainsaying these points.  The problem, however, lies in holding that these critical claims constitute a justification for hating either Jews or gays. 

The Wesboro Church takes much comfort in the biblical assertion that homosexuality is an abomination.  This supposedly supports their assertion that God hates homosexuals.  The problem is that the word “abomination” literally occurs hundreds of times in the Bible, most occurrences of which have nothing at all to do with homosexuality.  In Proverbs (6:16-19), for instance, we find the following passage: