Is Fred Phelps a Christian?

It is long past the time for the US Christian community to engage Fred Phelps. We as a society look askance at all Muslims for their failure to contain extremism within their ranks. Yet where is the public outrage at Fred Phelps' hate speech? Why aren't US religious leaders speaking out about this guy? Why are we leaving the heavy lifting on this issue to the likes of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens? We need public, reasoned, point by point rebuttals to this guy. Wouldn't the most credible people to do this be religious leaders?

Silence is not acceptable. Awkward looks, hand wringing and mumbled qualified apologies are not acceptable. Religion, any religion, must not be allowed to serve as an excuse for bigotry.

If real life were like the movies a ray of sunlight would strike Fred Phelps and he'd vanish in a puff of smoke. But real life isn't like the movies and Fred Phelps isn't going to just go away.



My wish for Samuel Cheney is that he live a long life that's full of wonder and that he be surrounded by people he loves and who love him. And I think he's off to a great start.

First seen on Pam's House Blend.

San Jose Mercury News - Liberty student arrested on bomb charges

San Jose Mercury News - Liberty student arrested on bomb charges: "LYNCHBURG, Va.- A Liberty University student was arrested after telling a family member he had made bombs and planned to attend the funeral of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, authorities said.

Mark David Uhl, 19, was arrested Monday night on charges of manufacturing an explosive device, Major Steve Hutcherson said. A family member notified authorities."

It's not clear what he intended to do with the five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) he had in the trunk of his car. We know that Uhl strongly disagreed with the Westboro Baptist Church and that they sent a small contingent of protesters to the funeral. We do not know if they were the intended target. The Associated Press reporter who wrote this story actually spoke to a roommate of Uhl's, a guy named Jesse Benson. Jesse said Uhl wouldn't have hurt anyone out of respect for Jerry Falwell. I think Jesse has it wrong. A guy with five IEDs in the trunk of his car has murder on his mind. Lesser objectives could be easily achieved with much less dangerous methods.

Mark Uhl was a student at an Evangelical Christian university and was studying to be an Army chaplain. I don't think his Christian beliefs are in question.

Some pretty hateful things were said after the Virginia Polytechnic shooting about it being God's will or God's retribution. Now that we've got a devout Christian with five IEDs in his trunk, I would like to hear what those folks have to say now.

Culture Wars has his MySpace page.

Well, you did ask...

Poll Christianity Today A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction
I just have to say that I had absolutely no idea the Evangelical Christian community felt this strongly. There have been over 75,000 votes in this poll and they overwhelmingly affirmed Atheism as the only rational outlook. The last poll about biblical justification for divorce got less than 2,000 votes.

First seen on Sandwalk.

Update: They took the poll down Monday morning. I suppose it's possible that Christianity Today's reader base is not almost entirely made up of atheists. The results could well have been skewed by a script attack, a really funny script attack. I can't wait to read the spin.