Westboro Baptist Embarrassment
Dr. Michael L. Ford
4 October 2006

	We have had no shortage of groups calling themselves
Christian who have been an embarrassment to
Christianity in general, but every once in a while we
have someone come along who is an embarrassment to
Baptists in particular. The Westboro Baptist Church in
Topeka, Kansas has worked very hard to be-come one of
these. But the last straw was when they set out to
picket the funeral services for the little children
killed in the recent massacre at the Amish school.
This goes beyond the pale of violating good taste or
even ethical behavior. It is positively an unchristian
act.
	The Westboro group (I do not want to call them a
church and in particular I do not want to refer to
them as Baptists) have worked hard seeking notoriety.
And, it is not the first time they have afflicted
themselves upon grieving people. The disruption of
funerals has been a practice of antiwar activists in
recent times, and they have mimicked others in their
childish attempts to get attention, but this sort of
unloving behavior is unbecoming for people who claim
the Name of Christ. It has been the kind of thing one
group of people they are against, homosexuals, have
been willing to do. So when it comes to ethical public
behavior, I do not consider them to be any better than
the sodomites in that regard.
	I am a Baptist by persuasion. I am not Amish and do
not agree with everything they hold to. But I do have
great respect for those quiet and generally
God-fearing people. They of all people should be
treated with great consideration because of their own
standards and conduct. The fact the Westboro group
finds this difficult to do says nothing about their
cause, but it does say a good deal about them. And
what it says is not becoming. It is partly because of
the unthinking and misguided conduct of people like
this that the way of truth is often evil spoken of. It
also lends credence to the propaganda of perverts like
homosexuals who wish to misdirect criticisms of people
who resist their evil. The Westboro group makes terms
like “homophobia” appear legiti-mate, and this should
never be allowed to happen. In other words these
people do more harm than good even as they embarrass
us.