National Atheist Party invites Westboro Church to Reason Rally

[Tank]

Ok, makes more sense if they're already coming anyway. I saw them once protesting outside Harvard Law School and there was a counter-protest going on next to them, peacefully. I was impressed with the restraint of the other protesters, especially since my first impression was to find a rock and throw it at WBC

+1

[Traveler]

I'm thinking of going, although that weekend has THREE events I want to attend. Is anyone going? It'd be a lot more fun if I could look forward to maybe meeting someone I've at least heard of before.

[Guardian85]

The Westboro Baptist Church has said that they will be attending the event. This invitation is an invitation to pick on someone their own size, as opposed to cowardly and hatefully protesting funerals. We at the National Atheist Party are fighting hard to protect our secular rights and values, and we are a force to be reckon with.  If they are already going to be at the even the National Atheist Party wants them to know that they are more than welcome and will be met with smiles, reason and swag bags as opposed to the hateful ignorance that the Church seems to project on everyone they encounter.

Sort of turning the other cheek then? 

ISn't it bad when the atheists are more christian then the christians?

[Whitney]

I think it would be better if everyone just acted as if WBC doesn't exist; they only reason anyone knows about them is because they leverage publicity from negative attention.

[G-Roll]

Maybe one of them can have their god hates gays or anti evolution signs autographed by Richard Dawkins. I do hope they just show up and be civil but I got a feeling it will be one of their 6 person protests that people might not even notice.

[Stevil]

People certainly need not take them seriously. They are a running joke, good for a laugh. Extremely scared Christians trying to save their imaginary god from the horrors of mankind.

Honestly, years from now, you will wish you have a "God hates ....." billboard for old times sake, it is certainly a small timepiece of American history.

America will no doubt grow up one day, this religious craziness will surely fade away. Surely....

[Sweetdeath]

People certainly need not take them seriously. They are a running joke, good for a laugh. Extremely scared Christians trying to save their imaginary god from the horrors of mankind.

Honestly, years from now, you will wish you have a "God hates ....." billboard for old times sake, it is certainly a small timepiece of American history.

America will no doubt grow up one day, this religious craziness will surely fade away. Surely....

But how long will it take? I don't plan to waste my youth here finding out. XP I'm heading over seas to a more secular nation.

[G-Roll]

People certainly need not take them seriously. They are a running joke, good for a laugh. Extremely scared Christians trying to save their imaginary god from the horrors of mankind.

Nah, anyone who uses funerals of fallen soldiers to prove god is mad because we have gays needs to have an eye kept on them. Im all for free speech but it wouldnt bother me one bit if they where no longer allowed to harass grieving family members.

Besides these are the people that try to out crazy the suicide bombers out in the Mid East. Its people like them that wind up on the news for blowing up an abortion clinic or something of that nature.

[Truthseeker]

...and frankly, meh, fuck 'em.

Ali, my dear, you and I are going to get along swimmingly.

[Melmoth]

Mixed feelings about this. Frankly WBC thrive on publicity, so they'd love to come.

Good! Let them roll on down to the reason rally in their bullet-proof people-carriers with their silly plastic signs to make a fool out of the entire global establishment of homophobia. Let's give them more publicity. I want them to rise to stardom, so that any expression of an anti-gay sentiment, by anyone, will be unavoidably associated with these fools. They are an unintentional satire. They undermine their smarter sympathisers. They take all of their people-pleasing and disguise away, rip out the beating heart of their arguments and hold it up for the world to see what a twisted, hate-filled horror it really is.

I'd donate money to them, frankly, if I didn't think my motives would be misread.

[Ali]

They undermine their smarter sympathisers. They take all of their people-pleasing and disguise away, rip out the beating heart of their arguments and hold it up for the world to see what a twisted, hate-filled horror it really is.

Is it already cliched to make a Charlie Sheen joke?  When I read this, the first thing I thought was Melmouth is Martian for Spaceman Rock Star Full of Tiger's Blood and Winning (because I liked what you said that much) but I fear that the Moment of Charlie Sheen has passed.  *sigh*

[Melmoth]

It has. I've calmed down a bit.

Though quite seriously, I do think the Westboro Baptists are a good thing, just for being so transparently disgusting and universally hated. I also like how they give homophobic bigotry such a powerful anti-American look. Typically, in the States, homophobic public speakers will try to imply that gayness is somehow a threat to American cultural identity, wholesome family values and all that crap, as a way of justifying their hatreds; the WBC, meanwhile, has done everything it can to show that the opposite is the case, picketing at dead soldiers funerals and so forth.

[Stevil]

It has. I've calmed down a bit.

Though quite seriously, I do think the Westboro Baptists are a good thing, just for being so transparently disgusting and universally hated. I also like how they give homophobic bigotry such a powerful anti-American look. Typically, in the States, homophobic public speakers will try to imply that gayness is somehow a threat to American cultural identity, wholesome family values and all that crap, as a way of justifying their hatreds; the WBC, meanwhile, has done everything it can to show that the opposite is the case, picketing at dead soldiers funerals and so forth.

I agree with you Melmoth, they are a very good anti anti gay advertisement.

[DeterminedJuliet]

What are you hoping to show by extending this invitation?

I'm wondering that too because I can't think of anything productive.

Why can't the whole point be to annoy them slightly? 

Yeah.  I can't really think of anything productive that will come of it, but I'm childish enough to be fine with atheists (and anyone else for that matter) poking the WBC with a stick whenever they feel like it. 

Yeah. This was my first reaction. I'm not above a little stick-poking from time-to-time.

[Firebird]

Funny little fact: Fred Phelps was a highly-sought civil rights lawyer in Kansas in the 60's. Many of his clients were African-Americans whom he defended against racist Jim Crow laws. And he once sued President Reagan over his appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican, claiming it violated the separation of church and state. How he became a homophobic, hate-spewing preacher is beyond me.