Factotum

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) have announced that they will picket the memorial service of recently deceased Australian actor HEATH LEDGER. The WBC published a news release the same day as his death which stated: "God hates the sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as 'Brokeback Mountain' - and He hates all persons having anything whatsovever to do with it. Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there...". The WBC, an organisation known for it's anti-homosexual, anti-semetic, anti-Islam, anti-American, anti-Irish, anti-Canadian, anti-...etc, views seems to thrive upon negative, headline-grabbing, attention-seeking statements. HATE is a favoured adjective. Although they use the name 'Baptist' in their title they are in no way connected with any known Baptist conventions or associations. Officially they are not even recognised as a Bible believing fellowship, much in the same way as Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda cannot be construed as Qur'anic followers. They have made comment on various individuals as well as horrific world events, including: the September 11th attacks in New York "God had caused the terrorist attacks as a punishment for tolerance of homosexuality, and that it was God's will that those who suffered in the attacks should die"; the death of Diana, Princess of Wales "Princess Di was a filthy whore, and was killed by God in the midst of her whoredoms"; the Virginia Tech massacre "Your military chose to shoot at the servants of God today, and all they got for their effort was terror. Then, the LORD your God sent a crazed madman to shoot at your children"; and Louis Theroux (after his 2007 documentary) "demon-possessed BBC documentary maker". On the 8th of July 2005, the day after the bombing of the London Underground, in which 55 people dies, the WBC released a statement that read: "Thank God for the bombing of London's subway today - July 7, 2005 - wherein dozens were killed and hundreds seriously injured. Wish it was many more.". Pastor Fred Phelps is quoted as saying: "Oh I am so thankful that that happened. My only regret is that they didn't kill about a million of them."  It's all very disrespectful and sensational. It's all very sick. But it's not out there on it's own. After 9/11, Al-Qaeda released a video which claimed: "The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate, with God's permission. There are thousands of the Islamic nation's youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live". Are Al-Qeada and the WBC linked or just diferent branches of the same hate-tree? There's just too much talk about hate from people who are supposed to be ardent supporters of religion and God. Apparently these people are telling us that God hates, not loves. And that must be a message that millions of other Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus just never found in the Qur'an, Bible, Torah, Tripitaka or Bhagavad Gita. Did everyone get it wrong? Or is Atheism the only real answer?