Fallout From Sandy Hook, Part 2

In my last post on the Sandy Hook shooting, I talked all about the reactions people have had to gun laws in our country.  There's another side that's gotten a lot of attention in the last few days, that being some of the radical Christian right's views on the subject.  Well-known Christian figures such as James Dobson have shared their opinions on why this tragedy occurred, and Dobson's thoughts in particular have led to some angry blowback.  Here's a brief except from him on Sandy Hook:

"Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I’m not talking politically, I’m not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.

I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn’t exist, or he’s irrelevant to me and we have killed 54 million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences, too.

And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the scripture and on God almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that’s what’s going on."

I'm really confused over what homosexuality and abortion have to do with Adam Lanza.  Homosexuality existed long before the United States was ever formed, so claiming one had something to do with the other is absurd.  But bigger picture-wise, why exactly does Dobson have to turn this horrific event into a political issue?  How are these words supposed to bring comfort and peace to the families of those who lost loved ones and children last Friday?

I'm quite ashamed to be even marginally associated with James Dobson right now.  There was a time when I actually respected him, and I saw several of his videos when I was younger.  He always struck me as fairly soft-spoken in his views, but also acted in the best interests of Christians across the globe.  I never thought of him as someone who delved much into politics or intolerance.  

While I am morally opposed to abortion, I see no distinction between killing unborn babies and killing 20 first grade children.  Both are equally abhorrent in my view.  But a law passed 40 years ago does not have any direct correlation or connection to a school shooting now.  If Dobson is going to be that arbitrary, why stop there?  Why not say that repealing Prohibition was what led to Sandy Hook?  What about lowering the voting age to 18?  I guess citing those two constitutional amendments would make a man sound out of his mind if he drew a connection between them and a tragedy like Sandy Hook.

And then there's - sigh - the Westboro Baptist Church.  I feel like I'm wasting valuable time, energy, and thought into writing about the WBC and Fred Phelps because a.) it gives them free press, and b.) I could spend the time working on other much more rewarding things.  Still, they stuck their collective noses in places where they don't belong, so I suppose it merits discussion.

When news broke of the Sandy Hook shooting, Fred Phelps and his brainwashed sheep - er, parish - immediately praised God and proclaimed He had sent Adam Lanza as some kind of warrior angel to kill these kids because...wait for it...Carrie Underwood is a Christian and supports gay marriage.

You can't make this stuff up.  I honestly think if I wrote a script for a movie or TV series based off the WBC and its wacky statements, studios would laugh at me because they'd say audiences wouldn't believe it.  Part of me wants to laugh at the Phelps family for making such an absurd statement at all, but then I'm immediately reminded of the horrific shootings in the first place.

At this writing, members of the WBC have apparently arrived in Newtown in order to picket the funerals of the Sandy Hook victims.  Members of the surrounding community are planning on blocking out the picketers in order to pay proper respect to the deceased.  No word on just how long the WBC folks plan on staying in Newtown in order to make their presence known though.

Here's what confuses me about the WBC more than anything else: They arbitrarily target only military funerals and funerals of heinous shootings like Sandy Hook.  Why not gang-related violence victims or car accident victims?  The answer is, of course, obvious: It's because they know they won't get their name in lights if they show up at a funeral of someone who was shot in a gang-related incident.  In fact, they might even be accused of racism if they picketed such a funeral.  They know the kinds of targets they want to seek out.  Still, if they had any real guts they'd picket just about every funeral across the country.

But I have to ask the same kind of question of them that I would pose to James Dobson: Why only cite homosexuality and/or abortion as the sources of evil in this country?  The Bible also says in Ephesians 5:8 we shouldn't drink to the point of excess, so why don't they claim that repealing Prohibition is a reason for why our country is doomed in their eyes?  

The sad thing is there isn't a whole lot of legal action that can be taken against the WBC.  In fact, most of their budget they use for traveling to picket funerals comes from lawsuits they file against cities and individuals who have stood up to them.  Legally, they are within their rights to make the kinds of statements they like, despite being intentionally hateful and enraging.

Just as I am disappointed and upset to being tangentially associated with James Dobson, I am even more so when it comes to the WBC.  I went to Baptist churches for close to 15 years before switching to nondenominational.  I never went to any church that spread the kind of hate the WBC does, and I'd even question their faith in doing the kinds of things they do.

The irony to the WBC in particular is how remarkably small the church is.  There are less than 100 members, in the church, most of whom are direct family members of the head pastor Fred Phelps.  How they've managed to operate and sustain themselves for several decades I'll never fully understand.  

The easy thing to say is to ignore such a hateful group like the WBC when they make public appearances.  That's a much more difficult thing to do in practice, especially in the context of Sandy Hook.  I can only hope the victims' families can concentrate on their own lives and grief while the WBC tries picking another fight.  Not that there's any time of the year when such a tragedy could be called convenient, but given that Christmas is next week, I doubt there's a more difficult time of year to handle this kind of grief.