Anti-gay group to protest at soldier's funeral

A story from the paper this morning:

Anti-gay group to protest at soldier's funeral: "Westboro claims to have held more than 22,000 anti-gay demonstrations since 1991. But in the past year it has tried to connect its anti-gay rhetoric to the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, holding protests at more than 20 soldier funerals across the country.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps, said the group had already planned to be in Tampa this weekend for a protest of Gay Straight Alliance groups there.

'And then here came this opportunity to help the people of Sarasota connect the dots, and they certainly deserve that opportunity,' Phelps-Roper said. 'We're going to remind them that there is a God and a heaven and a hell and a day of choice.'

Phelps-Roper said America is 'feeling the sword of God' because it is pro-gay. A disapproving God 'has become America's terrorist' and is sending soldiers home in body bags as proof, Phelps-Roper said."

This is another shining example of what religion, and this brand of Christianity does to foster this idea that God hands out punishment for broad sweeping reasons. And of course, the whole connection is drummed up by irrational people using the same sad logic they did centuries ago to "connect the dots" between tragic events and the "hand of God."

If a God exists that does dole out punishment in the way these lunatics describe, then he isn't my god. Some innocent soldier dies because America is pro-gay? This is fairy tale stuff again. This is the whole problem with religion in general. People latch onto aspects of it and twist and turn it to promote their own agenda. It really disgraces the religion. The Baptists of the country should denounce the actions of this church. But they won't, because they want to tell everyone else how to live and how to be right according to them.

What is it with people who think that they can tell me or anyone else how to live. Gay people are pretty much the same as straight people. I have read statistics that show they don't commit crimes any more and perhaps even less than their straight counterparts.

The sad part is that this group is going to ruin this family's time to mourn the loss of their son.

The reason people are dying in Iraq is not a result of gay people in this country. It is a result of the power hungry in Washington. Those who think they can run the whole world without cause and effect and who had no plan how to manage the situation once the brutal dictator was out of power. In other words - the actions of a few men in charge caused the death of that soldier in Iraq. NOT GAYS or a GAY FRIENDLY society in the U.S.!!

Get a grip and go home Westboro Baptist Church. Get out of my town, my life and the lives of others. You and Pat Robertson should shut up and preach to your minions and dolts who believe the drivel you espouse.

Miracles

Another example of supposed "miracles" happening today as I opened my morning newspaper with the incorrect story regarding all the miners being found alive. Unfortunate turn of events. A terrible accident, which likely could have been avoided.

On the drive home last night, I was listening to CNN (on XM radio), and I heard the announcer talk about hoping for a "miracle" in the situation. They did an analysis of possible causes and the unlikelihood that anyone survived the explosion and resulting carbon monoxide and lack of breathable air.

Miracle invokes religion and God. Right?

from: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=50884&dict=CALD
miracle
noun [C]
an unusual and mysterious event that is thought to have been caused by a god, or any very surprising and unexpected event.

Or from Oxford

miracle • noun 1 an extraordinary and welcome event attributed to a divine agency. 2 a remarkable and very welcome occurrence. 3 an outstanding example, specimen, or achievement. — ORIGIN Latin miraculum ‘object of wonder’.

I really cringed at this use of miracle to describe a fortunate happening. The question that crossed my mind is why we don't seem to attribute the 12 of 13 who died to the opposite of miracle and make God responsible for that too. If God is in charge, then if he performs a "miracle" to save them, then why can't he be accused of "murder" or maybe a less severe term like "negligent disregard for their lives?."

Why does God get off the hook for death, but get all the credit for someone surviving against the odds?

Perhaps the users of such a word are simply saying "outrageously lucky" or "incredibly they survived this ordeal" when they use the word miracle, but I don't think so. When I hear "miracle", then it suggests the supernatural was involved.

Something to think about.

God Scorecard on this tragedy:
1 miracle 11 deaths (and many very distraught, grieving families)

Seems God is behind in this one. See me when an asteroid pummels into earth and wipes out half the population. Oh, that's right, the all loving, all caring, all good God acts in mysterious ways and we probably did something to bring it on. Just talk to Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell.

(A more reasonable explanation is that the universe is just humming along with no active God who watches over us a protects us, but instead we are just carbon life forms and randomly we may perish tomorrow or 2,000 years from now, but it is not attributable to anything except those random forces. That or it's God's fault? You can't have it both ways. Either God creates all life and takes it away, or he doesn't do either. I know, the Christians will talk about eternal life if I am saved and those miners are in a better place, away from the hardship that is life (at times) and all the doubts and questioning, etc. But all that is just conjecture. We really don't know - why - because NOBODY really KNOWS!)