Punishment

Notable loser Fred Phelps and his band of ignorant reprobates, the Westboro Baptist Church, have made headlines in the news the past several years for protesting the funerals of gay people and soldiers. He and his church believe that the Iraq War is God's punishment on us for allowing gay people to exist in our country.

In fact, they believe that pretty much anything bad that happens to Americans must be the work of a vengeful, homophobic god. Case in point: this past week, they wanted to picket the funerals of those killed in the VA Tech shooting. Clearly, they argue, the massacre was another punishment inflicted by god on a society that tolerates homosexuals.

They ended up not doing the pickets in exchange for getting some air time on a radio show.


But you know what the real punishment is for tolerating gays in America? Fred Phelps. Fred Phelps and other ministers of idiocy like him are the inevitable byproducts of a tolerant society that ensures equal protection under the law and protects the freedoms of speech, belief, and expression.

As long as we in this country tolerate gays - and blacks, and asians, and hispanics, and anyone who differs in religious creed or political ideology - we will have to put up with a few mentally stunted bigots who feel threatened by the freedom enjoyed by those around them.