Unspeakable Extortion: Westboro Baptist Shakes Down the Media

Until very recently, the members of the so-called Westboro Baptist Church have been threatening to picket the funeral of Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old child gunned down in that January 8th killing spree in which Jared Lee Loughner attempted to assassinate Representative Gabrielle Giffords, and in the process shot anybody else he could target in the area. Among them was the little girl, who was one of the ones he killed.

It is despicable enough that the so-called Westboro Baptist Church has made it a point to picket the funerals of our war dead, on the questionable grounds that they died in defense of a state that tolerates (and, to their twisted ideology) fosters homosexuality. By the way, I keep using the necessary adjective "so-called" because, even the most conservative and fundamentalist of the true Baptist churches has absolutely disavowed this organization as an affiliate of theirs. What is more, there is some doubt as to whether they should even be considered a church. For the sake of brevity, I will continue to refer to this despicable outfit as the SCWBC and leave it at that.

At least the parents who lost these young soldiers, though their grief may border on the insurmountable, had the comfort of enjoying their children's childhood and could take the very small consolation that these fallen heroes died doing something they believed in. The parents of Christina Taylor Green have no such consolations. While it is true that Christina had a strong interest in politics and very much wanted to meet her congressional representative, that is not, by any stretch, the same thing as making the adult decision to volunteer for paid military service and fight a war.

And, again, I emphasize, this young lady was nine years old. Her time in the loving care of her parents got cut dramatically short.

Yet, despite all that, the SCWBC felt entirely justified in picketing her funeral. Here was their official statement on the matter:

You [meaning American society at large, not the murderer Loughner] ruined that child and put her in the cross hairs of a raging mad God! You raised her in the Catholic Pedophile Monster-priests rape children! You taught her idolatry all her life, inside and outside of that whorehouse you call a church.

On top of that, the official SCWBC position on Jared Lee Loughner is that he is an heroic instrument of God. Here is what they had to say in a message headlined "THANK GOD FOR THE SHOOTER-6 DEAD!"

Your federal judge is dead and your (fag-promoting, baby-killing proud sinner) Congresswoman fights for her life. God is avenging himself on this rebellious house.

From a general theological standpoint, if ascribing to yourself the power and intentions of God is the ultimate sin (an many believe it is in its various manifestations), then to attribute those same things to the vilest among us surely must be its equal.

The fact that Judge Roll and Representative Giffords held power does not in any way mitigate the enormity of the evil involved in their shootings, but the fact that an innocent child had to perish somehow seems even more appalling. And that the SCWBC was intent on picketing her funeral is beyond comprehension. But then, a new detail emerges that makes that prospect, at the same time, more comprehensible and even more disgusting.

It turns out that the SCWBC has expressed a willingness to forgo picketing at the child's funeral in exchange for air time in which to preach their doctrine. In other words, this is not about some sort of ideology, no matter how sick and twisted it may be; it is about extortion. A very small part of me could have had some microscopic sliver of compassion for the mental illness that has afflicted the followers of the SCWBC, but now I can only see them for the collection of thugs that they clearly and obviously are.

Cult founder Fred Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, made the announcement of the deal and stated that she and three other members of the organization will go on the air to deliver the desired message. We should not expect even the slightest degree of moderation as the founder passes the job off to his daughter. By all accounts, she is as vituperative as he is and maybe moreso.

At least two radio stations (call letters unknown as of this writing, but one of them in Tucson) will broadcast Ms. Phelps-Roper's propaganda. I think that was a mistake, even if it does save Christina Green's grieving family some measure of further distress. The SCWBC has successfully worked this ploy before, and they will continue to do so, as long as it gets them the airtime they want. On behalf of the decent, civilized people in our society, we need to stop caving in to this shameful tactic, and do so now, not later.

Arizona quickly and unanimously passed a law that will limit the cult's access to the mourners, even if they do decide to picket. Although my heart goes out to the girl's parents, if I were Christina's father, I would have told the cooperating radio stations: "Please take back your deal. I'd rather let them do their worst today than to spew more of their hate over the air tomorrow."

If you happen to catch Shirley Phelps-Roper's broadcast, make a note of who sponsored it. You know what to do next.

Sources

Cjonline.com

Westboro Baptist Church Picket Schedule

Huffingtonpost.com

Wikipedia