If you haven’t heard, Fred Phelps of the “God Hates Fags” movement has died. There are various responses I’ve seen in the days leading up to his death. Unfortunately, most of them have been hateful.
What is the major issue at play here?
The problem is that Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, was a huge proponent of vicious and very offensive protests against the LGBT community. The other problem is that among many others, Christians are also involved in a backlash against him and his movement. When I mentioned this to a friend over coffee, she balked. “Well, what do you suggest instead of backlash? I mean, you don’t think we ought to subscribe to his beliefs do you?”
No, I don’t. However, I think something about this logic rings true about what Phelps was involved in as well. He may have thought if his protests weren’t loud and atrocious, he would be quietly subscribing to the things that he opposed or didn’t agree with.
I think back to Jesus’ example in the Bible. Jesus more often rebelled by positive action rather than diminutive action. Rather than protesting against something or calling out against something, Jesus often exemplified what He was getting at. He showed us the way, but without compromise to showing us the truth. He showed us life lived in respect for both.
Now, I am neither writing to make a statement about homosexuality nor prescribing any set of principles for interacting with our LGBT friends and colleagues. However, I am calling us all to the question of how we should interact with the fact that Fred Phelps, who so vehemently opposed the LGBT population, is dead.
Many people abhor the way he went about dealing with the people he disagreed with. But how are we going to interact with the “Fred Phelps” in and around us? We refuse to recognize hate as a legitimate means of getting our point across and we will not buy into the idea that condemnation and spite are appropriate tools of the gospel way.
So what is the positive action to rebelling against those ideas?
I believe it is to love people, all people. And not only that, but to love people well. I make this distinction because I think that maybe, people like Phelps can believe that they are loving people by shoving “truth” in their faces. However, loving well cannot accept that.
Loving well means getting over ourselves. It means moving past what we think loving ought to look like, and seeking to empathize with others. And in doing this, we come to an understanding of what loving might look like to them.
It means acting in such a way that seeks justice for all, and extending the appropriate respect to those in our world.
It means loving mercy, both for ourselves and for others. Because heaven help us, we all need it. It means walking humbly before God and with other people, whether we agree with them or not, whether we fully understand them or not.
Humility is an important trait for imperfect, fallen humans who are a long way off from being awesome.
So, if you haven’t heard, Fred Phelps has died. I believe we can rebel against his legacy by showing the appropriate respect and by seeking to emulate a kind of love that transcends what Phelps did and said about certain demographics of people.
Flickr photo (cc) by sunslate
