Things I find myself only able to express in words and in this journal - welcome! |
Anti-gay group plans protest in Bay Minette (BAY MINETTE, Ala.) Sept. 8 - The horrible murder of a local teen is something worth celebrating: that is according to a group out of Kansas that plans to come here for that very purpose. Several years ago, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas made national headlines when it celebrated the murder of a gay man in Wyoming. Scottie Weaver was beaten and burned in July. Prosecutors say in part Weaver was murdered because he was gay. The crime has sparked a call for a more inclusive hate-crime law in Alabama. The Kansas group says Scottie Weaver is burning in hell right now. They plan to come here next month and protest outside the church where Weaver's funeral was held. Pickets are also scheduled for other Bay Minette churches, and the offices of Bay Area Inclusion, a Mobile gay rights advocacy organization. Last week in New York and next month in Bay Minette. Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay group, is planning to protest five churches here, including Crossroads Church of God, where gay murdered teen Scottie Weaver's funeral was held. “Those churches all preach the big lie that God loves everyone, thus enabling sin,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of Westboro Baptist Church that organizes the protests nationwide. “They are responsible for killing that child. They are responsible for teaching him that it is okay to be gay, contrary to the scriptures and the commandments of the Lord his God.” While Crossroads Church of God has no comment on the planned picket, leaders of other targeted churches do. “That's very troubling,” said Rev. Bruce Fitzgerald of the First Methodist Church of Bay Minette. “Troubling that they would pick on this family's tragedy, this loss of human life to be condemning, when the gospel of Jesus offers grace.” Westboro Baptist also opposes the teachings of Southern Baptist churches, including Bay Minette's First Baptist Church. ”They would feel that the Southern Baptist message is not strong enough, not anti-gay enough,: said Rev. Dr. Henry Cox of the First Baptist Church of Bay Minette. “There is no person ever excluded from the saving grace of Jesus Christ as far as we're concerned. We don't exclude a person or a group of people." “What kind of games are you playing when you say love the sinner but hate the sin?” asked Phelps-Roper. “It is the sinner that splits hell wide open.” Westboro Baptist is also targeting Morris Dees, the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group which has studied this group's tactics. “These are people who will really stop at nothing,” said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. |