The patriarch of the Westboro Baptist Church has died.
On one level, words fail to describe the absolute loathing and contempt I have for him and the organization of loathsome, repugnant, repulsive, malformed, misanthropic, knuckle dragging cohorts. That they are, and should be, an anathema to genuine human beings. Their masquerade as Baptists and as Christians is unconscionable. They represent the absolute worst of human kind. My reaction to his death is to wonder, deliciously, whether his having to face an angry vengeful God would be worse, or to face a kind and loving God who is the antithesis of his own beliefs.
And yet.....
In a discussion at work with a friend the other day, he made an astute observation. He and I understand that Westboro has no real relationship, no connection, to the Christian faith or the God of the Bible. What they vomited in terms of attitude and actions represents a position abhorrent to the beliefs of mainstream (and even offshoot) Christian theology and practice. That this group's misappropriating of both the name of Christ and the Church that worships the True God could lead others to think that Christians could believe and act that way, is blasphemous. What Westboro believed has nothing to do with Christ and Christians and Christianity.
Maybe just like jihidists have nothing to do with Islam.
My friends point was a good one. How much of the non-western world views the West (culture and faith) as being synonymous with Christianity? How many see people of Westboro's ilk as being what Christians are? Do we view Islam the same way? Do we hear only the shrill anti-western rhetoric of the most vocal of the extremists and assume it represents the views of a billion people spread across the globe from North Africa to Indonesia? Have we done anything to find the faithful, the mainstream, the rational followers of Islam and hear their words or see their world? There was an exhibit a couple of years ago at the Smithsonian that displayed the contributions of Muslim culture to the world and to the West. It was fascinating to see what that faith and civilization brought forth, even as today we see it only as destructive and hateful. Maybe like others see Westboro.
Perhaps this could be an opportunity to open lines of communication, open eyes and minds across a spectrum of religious belief. Even as a follower of Christ, I need to see others as being created in the image of God (Gen 1:27), made only a little lower than God Himself (Ps 8:3-8), something that I struggle with many times in my self-centeredness. Maybe this would be a time that Churches and Mosques and Synagogues and other houses of worship could reach out to each other, in understanding to close some of the distances in the world.
Wouldn't that be an amazing thing to see?
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