Why Question Islamists? Because . . .
Extremist!
Violent Islamists are convinced that they're carrying out God's unsearchable will in killing infidels. In smaller numbers, and less toxic, extremist Christian are calling down God's hateful wrath on the wicked, as with the Westboro Baptist Church founded by Fred Phelps to loudly affirm that God hates gays, among other divine objects of hatred, a message taught to the impressionable children and grandchildren of Mr. Phelps, such as his now 27-year-old granddaughter, Megan Phelps-Roper, who -- as Marlena Graves tells us in "The Westboro Baptist in All of Us" (Christianity Today, February 13, 2013) -- had something not long ago to tell us all (quoting from Dugan Arnett, "Megan Phelps-Roper of Westboro Baptist Church: An heir to hate," The Kansas City Star, November 19, 2011):
She wants to make it perfectly clear that you and the rest of this filthy, perverted nation will be spending a long, fiery eternity burning in hell.A pleasant image, reminding me of that old hymn "Some Sad Morning":
Some sad morning,Well, maybe I disremember the exact words . . . but the hymn went something like that. Anyway, there's no hope of reasoning with fanatics, right?
When this life is over,
I'll fry away.
In a land where
Broiling never ends
I'll fry away.
I'll fry away,
Oh gory!
I'll fry away.
In the morning.
When I die,
Hell'l-do-yuh
Bye and bye!
I'll fry away.
[I]n December 2012, Megan went to the library in Lawrence, Kansas, and began combing through books on philosophy and religion. As she read, "it struck her that people had devoted their entire lives to studying these questions of how to live and what is right and wrong. 'The idea that only (Westboro) had the right answer seemed crazy,' she says. 'It just seemed impossible.'"For that reason -- and for many others -- we need to continue posing tough question about Islam in the hope that the sharper questions might burst a few bubbles.
Megan came to terms with the idea that maybe, just maybe, Westboro might be wrong.
That sometimes happens . . .
Labels: Christianity, Fundamentalism, Islamism
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 5:27 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Extremist Christians are not only less toxic in number but also much, much less violent in their opposition to those like me they deem as evil, a contrast I'm sure you agree with and have probably mead repeatedly on your blog. Have Westboro Baptist Church members ever even assaulted counter protesters? False equivalencies between Islamists and Christian fundies uttered by my fellow libs ( which you're obviously not) are a pet peeve of mine.
Sonagi
I meant smaller in number and less toxic, i.e., less violent, so maybe I'll reword.
I didn't know you were a liberal . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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