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Westboro's message at odds with our view of Christianity
One role of a newspaper is to frame community conversation, and we feel a responsibility to share what we have learned about the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., and its planned protest in Cullowhee. What we report may affect how community members react when the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his congregation arrive later this month.
Westboro's members travel in a caravan of advancing press releases aimed at garnering publicity and provoking those they target, and they try to sucker reporters into spreading their message.
That's why this "church" and its impending demonstration at Western Carolina University represent such a dilemma: We don't want to further the group's cause by detailing the prejudice and hate that spews from their Web sites, but we think our community deserves to be aware of Westboro's trademark divisiveness.
Phelps and several of his children are attorneys, and though he is barred from practicing law, the family has a reputation for staging protests, inciting counter-protests, and then suing for violation of their First Amendment rights. Because we don't want to see local citizens tricked into playing Phelps' game, we're reporting on them at the risk of spreading their twisted gospel.
Based on everything we have learned, Westboro is not a church that in any way resembles the wonderful churches we are blessed with in Jackson County. Phelps - who has been called a "walking hate crime" by the director of the Human Rights Commission - preaches that God doesn't love everyone and espouses what we see as a most un-Christian message.
Some Christians do not agree with homosexuality, but we have not encountered any other church that appears to exist solely to incite altercations. Local attorney Eric Ridenour experienced Phelps' venom firsthand as a law student in Kansas and testified against him in court.
The Laramie Project, the play to be produced at Western Carolina University that has attracted Phelps' attention, has been compared to Thornton Wilder's Our Town in that its message is told through a myriad of community voices.
The play is less about the brutal murder of a gay college student named Matthew Shepard than about the town of Laramie, Wy., and how and why the crime happened there. Actors and writers from New York spent 18 months in Laramie interviewing community members to find out "what happens to a town like Laramie when something unexpected, unconscionable and unforgivable rips it apart." WCU is attempting something similar with their production; those involved with the production have asked WCU faculty, staff, students and local residents their opinions on hate crimes and intolerance and videotaped the interviews.
"This play examines one community's reaction to a violent crime. We're really interested in the opinions of our community, regardless of what they are, on homosexuality, violence, rights and the difference between tolerance and acceptance," said Claire Eye, the play's director.
As members of the press, we recognize our obligation to report both on the upcoming protest and on the manipulative tactics of the Westboro Church. Westboro's Web site invites reporters to "use any of our material free of charge for any reason," which makes it all too easy for those who need to write a story fast to pack it full of Westboro propaganda.
While we will report on the issue as we would on any other event that affects this county, we feel an obligation to inform our readers about the background, history and tactics of Phelps and his group.
With a recent appearance by one of Phelps' followers on the local radio station last week, Jackson County's conversation has begun. Let's leaven this discourse with facts about the "doctrine" this church "preaches" and the hate-mongering they are known to employ.
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