NEW YORK (ABP) — Westboro Baptist Church has dropped plans to picket the funerals of six victims gunned down Jan. 8 in Tucson, Ariz., in exchange for air time on a nationally syndicated radio show.
The small, family church from Topeka, Kan., widely known for anti-gay protests at funerals of dead soldiers and celebrities, announced Jan. 12 that church members would appear Monday, Jan. 17, on The Mike Gallagher Radio Show "in lieu of picketing the funerals of those killed in the Tucson shooting spree."
Mike Gallagher
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Gallagher, a radio host and conservative political commentator with an audience of about 10 million listeners, said it was a "no-brainer" for him to allow members of the controversial church clan to air their views on his program instead of bothering families grieving in Arizona.
Gallagher said he did the same thing in 2006, after the church announced plans to protest the funerals of five Amish girls murdered in Lancaster County, Pa., and following the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.
"Make no mistake about it," Gallagher said in a video explaining the decision. "The only reason I am doing this, the only reason I am giving the Westboro Baptist Church — which by the way I believe is neither Baptist nor a church; it's largely the Phelps family, the extended grandkids and all of that — the reason I'm doing this is singular. I have only one goal, and that is to keep the Phelpses from protesting and picketing outside these six funerals, including that of the little 9-year-old girl who was slain last week. I'm not particularly interested in what they have to say, but I'm willing to give them this platform."
Gallagher said he knows the decision "doesn't sit well with a lot of people" but it didn't come "lightly or casually."
"Even though you may be unhappy with this decision, it's my goal to stick to my values every day, do what I believe in, and I believe with all of my heart that giving them air time is the right thing to do," he said.
Gallagher said his Salem Radio Network bosses "were very uncomfortable with the idea" but eventually agreed to it on the condition that the church's views were balanced with those of a respected theologian. He said Dinesh D'Souza, a best-selling author and apologist recently named president of King's College in New York City, would join the one-hour discussion, which can be heard at http://www.mikeonline.com/.
"We have managed to do what the courts have been unable to do, and that is to stop the Westboro Baptist Church from going to hurt these particular families," Gallagher said. "Frankly, we're very proud of that, especially in the light of this discourse that we've heard all week, this horrendous accusation that talk radio somehow led to the events of last Saturday in Tucson with our so-called inflammatory rhetoric. Well, I'm pretty proud of the fact that talk radio, in this case my show, has been the tool, has been the vehicle, to stop Westboro Baptist Church from protesting outside these funerals all of this week."
Earlier Westboro Baptist Church dropped plans to picket Thursday's funeral of 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Green in exchange for an interview Jan. 15 on The Steve Sanchez Show in Phoenix.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church spokeswoman who plans to appear on Gallagher's program, has already been interviewed on a radio station in Canada.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
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