I had started this entry on 12/9 when our town was supposed to be visited by Fred Phelps and I listened to a radio station reporter who had interviewed him and his followers.  I wonder how many will bother to read past the first paragraph though?  Oh well.  I have re-written it until my fingers bleed and now you can read it.

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Preachers of “tolerance” amaze me.  They expect me to be tolerant of their views and lifestyle, but when does it ever become their responsibility to extend the same courtesy to me?  One blog I read all the time made reference to a new movie about a couple of gay cowboys and when someone made a comment that this was wrong, another person immediately responded that this person was a homophobe because they said this.  Heterophobic comments like that annoy me.  I weary of the presumptuous nature of the same people who preach we should accept everyone not accepting me because I think homosexuality is a sin against God and Nature.  It is a sin of lust and has become a cause célèbre that is driven by lust and greed and power.  I suppose that classifies me as a homophobe.  “Who are you to judge my lifestyle?” they say.  Well, who are you to judge mine?  I don’t have to judge you and I don’t intend on judging you.  There is an almighty God that will judge you according to the 66 books he left us.  He will judge me, also.

From the people I know and have talked to about the issue, it is small, vocal, extremist groups that are behind much of what we see as the “Gay Rights Movement.”  They are on the extreme left. I have read newspaper accounts and seen photographs of groups that marched in the halls of Congress while they were ratifying the Boy Scouts charter chanting, “Over 8 is too late!” with pictures on their signs that I will not describe here.  Should I accept that these people speak for gay men everywhere or should I think that this is some sort of lunatic fringe with crazy, harmful, ideals that include child abuse?

I mention this radical movement for a reason, a reason which ends up giving me great pride to live in a country where I can say these things freely.  You can say what you want, as well.  We can have a thoughtful, well-reasoned debate or a name-calling shouting match.  I love America.  I love this country and its constitution and even though I do not agree with you, you can love this country as much as I do.  And that puts us both in the same category.

According to a preacher from Kansas we are both going to burn in hell for eternity along with every veteran that ever fought in any war since WWII.  This is because, according to this man, God hates America.  You see, our town was going to be graced once again by the presence of the REVEREND (you have to imagine my saying the word “reverend” with pompous-sounding sarcasm.) Fred Phelps.  But he didn’t show up this time.  He was going to protest the formation of a gay club in a local public high school.  How this is his business escapes me since he is from the Westborough Baptist Church in Kansas, but he was going to be here to protest, just the same, but at the last minute he found something he’d rather be doing, which I will explain in a moment.

Perhaps you are not familiar with the work of the rabid REVEREND Phelps and his group.  They are a rabid anti-homosexual group.  The GOOD REVEREND and his followers are the folks that protested at the funeral of the young man that was murdered in Wyoming.  The REVEREND Phelps and company went to the young man’s funeral, and held up signs saying, “Your son was a faggot and now he’s burning.”  For those who may not have heard of this incident, a young man was beaten to death in Wyoming because he was gay.  The REVEREND and his CHURCH went to the funeral to tell the boy’s mother that her son was in hell and it was her fault.

The REVEREND Phelps is past and beyond the extreme right, just as the “North American Man Boy Love Association,” with the slogan “Over 8 is too late,” AKA, NAMBLA, is past and beyond the furthest left of the left-wing.  He does not represent the majority of right-wingers and Christians any more than the other group does gay people.  Anyway, he and his entourage did not show up here this time.  Rather than come here and protest the school and school district, they decided to focus on their newer and more important mission.

According to the spokesperson that a local radio reporter talked to, their new mission is to go to the funerals and memorial services of soldiers who have died in Iraq (or any war from WWII forward), not soldiers who were known to be gay mind you, just any funeral of any soldier they hear about and can get to, and picket it.  It isn’t really a protest as much as they want their message to be heard.

Carter, James (If you guys are somewhere where you can read this), any veteran including me, according to the REVEREND Phelps, if you or one of your soldiers gets killed in Iraq, or anywhere else, you have an automatic place in Hell because you were defending a nation that has allowed the gay movement.  Not only do you have a hot-seat reserved, they will come to your funeral and march with picket signs telling everyone, including your grieving relatives.

I guess the fact that you were unseating a tyrant possibly as evil as Hitler and fighting for Democracy and the rights of people to speak openly, even people like them, extreme extremists, is lost on them.  The fact that their ability to criticize the government or anyone else, has been preserved by our strong military people is, apparently, not important.  Strong military people like those who served in WWII are, according to the GOOD REVEREND, evil, because “they allowed all this to start on their watch.”  The generation that is commonly known as “The Greatest Generation,” who defeated and defended us against one of the most hateful murderers of all time, was bad and should have been defeated.

A 19 year old girl from the Westborough Baptist Church, standing on an American flag while her fellow protester wiped his nose on another flag, told the radio reporter all of this the last time they were here to protest.  Hmm, didn’t they wonder why they didn’t have to wear their brown shirts and “Nazi Youth” pins?  How could they be allowed to treat the national flag so disrespectfully and speak out against the government that way?  Oh, because the good guys won.  At least I thought it was the good guys.

Yes, the Greatest Generation, the veterans of WWII are all burning in hell before us.

I guess I have my place there too because I think the REVEREND Phelps and his lot are despicable and hateful.  Their number one priority is picketing funerals.  You know, I am afraid that if one of these bums ever showed up at a funeral I was at, I probably wouldn’t be a very good example of a Christian and Santy might not bring me nuttin’ fer Christmas.

I don’t have the time or energy to go into the ideals of compassion and love, healing and forgiveness, of righteousness, peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost and how the kingdom of God is supposed to be spread, in this entry.  The fact is I probably don’t know all that I should about it.  But I do know that if the GOOD REVEREND really is doing things that are pleasing to God, I have to re-think a lot of things.  I do not think the GOOD REVEREND is pleasing God by his antics.  I do not think he is fulfilling the Great Commission that Christ left for his church because he is not converting anyone by his self-aggrandizement (which is really all it turns out to be, in my opinion).  He is doing the opposite.

I am proud of Colorado Springs and the CSPD however, because whenever these people come here, they always ensure, even if they personally find their teachings distasteful, that their rights are protected, as well as the rights of the protestors that in turn come out to protest them.  They work hard to protect the rights of everyone and are, in my unlearned opinion, one of the finest police forces in the country.  Not only is Colorado Springs one of the most generous communities, we are, by far and away, one of the most intelligent and tolerant.  And we are smart enough to figure out for ourselves what we believe when we hear the GOOD REVEREND preach.  We realize he has the right to preach what he believes in his supposed heart.

The Good Book says, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” And “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”