As I write this morning, I'm wrestling with how I feel about the media coverage of a faux-Christian hate group which is coming to Beaumont to protest at the funeral of a fallen soldier. This young man whose life was taken so early, whose family is already hurting so deeply, was not gay. (Not that what this snake-in-the-grass group plans to do would be appropriate if he were.) Staff Sgt. Edward Reynolds was simply a soldier fulfilling his duty when his life was cut tragically short.
Now his funeral has become a platform for a group who has the skewed belief that God has chosen this young man, and other men and women like him, to punish for our country's democratic inclusiveness. GACK! PTOOEY! BLEAH! BLEAH! Even writing that leaves a bad taste in my mouth!
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Phelps and those like him have wandered to the dark side. Here's where my ambivalence creeps in. What is the best way to neutralize such sliminess?
There is a part of me which advocates ignoring them as the gnats they are and keeping them from having the platform to reach others like them. This part of the state, unfortunately, has many generations of KKK-minded individuals living here. Vidor being a most notorious location at one point. I believe this area has come a very long way from where it was when I lived here in the 70's-80's. While prejudice still exists, it is not as rampant, nor virulent as it was back then. Good grief! We even managed to hold an interfaith worship service with Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist leaders without anyone taking a potshot at us!
Could it be that Phelps and his brood of vipers have chosen Beaumont as a recruitment place, where they might find like-minded individuals lurking in the shadows? If so, then by airing their intent to be present and protest, are we not aiding their cause? Would not ignoring them take the steam out what seems to me to be a publicity stunt? Of course, they would still do it most likely.
At the same time, visibility to the community at large has two advantages: (1) the hurt being inflicted on the family is being answered by an outpouring of love and concern by the community at large, and (2) it gives the opportunity for those who believe differently to live out their faith and counteract the false message that God hates.
Amazing to me that anyone who professes to be a Christian could even begin to embrace the idea that God hates .... anyone! "God so loved the world ..." The world! Not just this person, and that person, and the one over there. Not just Christians .... there weren't Christians when God through Jesus performed his act of restoration. God is not a god of exclusion!
So visibility gives us the opportunity to be inclusive. (Some part of me can't believe I'm saying this.) Even inclusive of such hateful people. God IS Love! What I pray is that my heart may be opened to be loving to mine enemies that their hearts may be opened to God's true love. Not quite sure how to do it, nor to be it. Not quite sure how to even express such a message to people who seem to be closed off in so many ways.
I guess I'm just going to have to live in ambivalence.
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2 comments:
I can't feel ambivalent. I'm too angry! Is nothing sacred? Can a family not insist that the funeral and burial of a loved one be PRIVATE? Funerals are not "open to the public", nor should they be! Most cemeteries are either privately-owned or church-owned, don't they have some right to say who does and doesn't attend a funeral service?
I am appalled at this trend. Would the mothers of these protesters be proud? I don't think so. It is a symptom of the illness slowing killing our society--the constant erosion of family values and sense of decency. These protesters aren't taught compassion, sympathy, and kindness as children. In fact, it doesn't appear to me that they are taught anything.
To me, this is ignorance and intolerance personified. Whether they have a constitutional right to do these unspeakable things is completely irrelevant in my book.
Actually, the funeral and the cemetary internment are private. Where this bozo's group is doing their despicable deed is public property, property that the family must pass in order to get to the funeral and cemetary.
Would the mothers of these protesters be proud? Hate to say it, but some of them actually might be. People like Phelps end up the way they are, in part, because of their upbringing. Some of those mothers are themselves deeply imbedded in the same type of fundamentalism. *very deep sigh*
The ambivalence for me is more along the lines of how to neutralize such atrocities and keep them from happening both here and in the future. My concern is that by giving this group such a prominent profile we end up encouraging them to continue this despicable campaign.
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