COMMENTARY | The passing of Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs has garnered a lot of attention, with most talking about how he inspired many and changed the world with his technological inventions. Unfortunately, the attention has also brought out some of the bad, and that includes those starving for media attention, like the Westboro Baptist Church.
The leader of the church, Margie Phelps, has declared her group intends to picket the funeral of Jobs as way of "condemning him for teaching sin to others," according to The Huffington Post. The message is even more bizarre considering that she sent the message via Twitter over her iPhone. When people pointed this out to Phelps, she said that it was God who created the iPhone, not Jobs.
The messages that Phelps has sent are not just distasteful -- spreading the word of hate has been known to incite violence -- but the congregation that calls itself the Westboro Baptist Church seems to care little about the effects of its staged protests on others.
The church has picketed the funerals of fallen military soldiers, intensifying the pain the soldiers' families are already experiencing. The reasons? More than slightly psychotic, Phelps says her group is trying to warn others to "flee the wrath of God's destruction," reports ABC News.
The church of hate holds signs at the funerals that read, "God Hates You" and "God Hates F--s." The members say that "God's hatred is one of his holy attributes."
Hate is something that drives people to violence and destroys communities and even nations -- not something that the God I believe in wishes upon us. What scares me is these people have been teaching the word of hate to their children for several generations now, with the founder of the "church," Fred Phelps, now approaching 82 years of age.
The WBC has even picketed the funerals of Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of congressman John Edwards, and the group planned a protest at the funerals of the Arizona shooting victims, with a flier on its website stating, according to The Huffington Post, "THANK GOD FOR THE SHOOTER -- 6 DEAD!"
Fortunately for the families of the shooting victims, the protest never happened. Radio stations The Edge out of Toronto and KXXT- AM in Phoenix offered to give the group airtime in which they could voice their opinions in an interview in exchange for not protesting.
Using religion as an excuse to promote hate and violence is surely one of the most heinous acts anyone can take part in, and preying on people who are mourning the life of a loved one is pure evil. Though I don't necessarily believe in hell, if there is one, the Phelps and their followers certainly belong there.
Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. It will be the members of the WBC who spend eternity in the misery they have created for themselves.
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