JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) – A Baptist newspaper editor says it is time for the state’s Southern Baptists to take a public stand against a tiny Kansas congregation known for pickets across the country with signs reading “God Hates Fags.”
Writing in The Pathway, Editor Don Hinkle called on the Missouri Baptist Convention to pass a resolution at its upcoming annual meeting repudiating the behavior and views of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan.
The church, which is not affiliated with any Baptist denomination, routinely makes headlines with protests near the funerals of fallen soldiers proclaiming that military casualties are the result of God’s judgment on America for accepting homosexuality.
A number of states have responded with laws limiting protests near funerals. The U.S. Supreme Court recently sided with the church, ruling that the signs are constitutionally protected free speech.
While he believes the “liberal media” have used the group to portray Baptists in a negative light, Hinkle said he has chosen to largely ignore the antics of Westboro, because media coverage “feeds the monster.”
He said he decided to break his silence because a growing number of readers urged him to address the issue, concerned that people are mistakenly connecting Westboro with Southern Baptists.
Numerous Baptist leaders have spoken out against the church as individuals, but to date it has not been addressed in a Southern Baptist Convention resolution, non-binding statements adopted at annual meetings to communicate messengers’ sentiments on public issues.
“A growing number of Missouri Southern Baptists believe it is time for us to speak publicly to this matter,” Hinkle wrote. “I am hoping for a resolution at the MBC annual meeting, expressing our disdain for Westboro’s despicable behavior and unbiblical views.”
Led by founding pastor Fred Phelps and comprised largely of members of his extended family, Westboro Baptist Church has held thousands of protests across the country during the past two decades. They first gained national attention when they appeared at the funeral of Mathew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student whose 1988 murder prompted hate-crime legislation in many states.
The church remained relatively obscure, however, picketing events like religious conventions and performances of the Laramie Project, a play about Shepard. That changed in 2005 when church members began showing up at military funerals with signs like “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As the church’s fame has spread, mainstream Baptist leaders have voiced concern that their message is giving Baptists a bad name. American Baptist Churches USA, for example, carries a statement on its website stating the church “is in no way” affiliated with the denomination.
Hinkle said Missouri Baptists would be wise to take similar measures.
“It is time,” Hinkle concluded. “Let’s do it. United. Before the world.”
-30-
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.