Two groups and two events - well - actually one non-event have captured my attention the past several days. There are times, I have to tell you, when it is hard to defend the faith in light of mis-directed folks like those expecting the world to end last Saturday, coupled with that,(pardon me for judging), evil body that calls itself "Westboro Baptist Church." I am relieved they didn't claim the title "Episcopal", but I feel badly for my Baptist friends in the faith.
We could say that the first group - led by a retired civil engineer turned fortune teller - is harmless. There are quasi-prophets all over the place predicting the end of the world. In this case the original prophesy was that the saved would be taken up last Saturday, while the world would rumble on for a few more months, killing off those left behind (sound familiar?). This has been modified - in light of the non-event. The prophet now claims total destruction in 5 months. Last Saturday was an invisible, spiritual rapture of the saved. Whatever.
This isn't harmless at all. A whole bunch of people gave up their jobs and spent their retirements promoting this false prophesy, and Oh by the way, lining our engineer cum prophet's pockets in the process. Additionally, many who might have considered a relationship with a true faith community are now reassessing that idea. Scripture is pretty clear: "Not even the angels in heaven know the time." That's good enough for me. Claiming to know the unknowable is putting yourself in a position above God. Last time I looked we called that pride - the original sin. With so much real hurt and need in the world we don't need people diverting spiritual and temporal energy into fruitless pursuits.
Bad as that was, the ugly was just beginning in Savannah, my fair city, Georgia. The Westboro crew came to town carrying their hateful and hate-filled signs and causing the usual stir among decent people of all religious and non-religious stripes.
The message they spew is a perversion. Individually they may simply be misled or emotionally wounded or (frankly) stupid. But as a "church", better yet, cult, they are evil and dangerous. It is a microcosm of the kind of paranoia and obsessive fear of the other that allowed Hitler and his henchmen to kill millions of Jews, religious and gypsys. It is dangerous not to take these people seriously because they are infecting souls around this country who are on the tipping point of joining in this godless movement.
"Be sober, be watchful," Saint Peter wrote, "for the devil like a prowling lion roams about seeking someone to devour." A perfect description of Westboro.
Thank God he also wrote, "Love one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." Amen to that.
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