The Carpetbagger Report » Blog Archive » Considering a federal ban on funeral protests

From the article:

If you’re not familiar with deranged pastor Fred Phelps and his unhinged Westboro Baptist Church, consider yourself lucky. Phelps has an odd hobby: bringing his far-right followers from state to state in order to protest at the funerals for troops killed in Iraq, literally celebrating their death with signs that read “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “Thank God for IEDs.” (Phelps and his followers believe soldiers’ casualties are God’s revenge on a country that is insufficiently hateful towards homosexuality.)

All I can say is, “wow.” I’m actually in awe that someone could be that ignorant of the message that they’re claiming to promote. Regardless of your personal feelings on the sinfulness, or lack thereof, of homosexuality, I don’t see how anybody can give even a cursory read of the Gospels and still support this sort of behavior.

Even if you grant his premise, does he really think that this is going to accomplish anything?

One Year Bible Blog: March 14th readings

I think the thing that popped out the most for me about these readings is Luke 1:46. “And Mary said, ‘My sould magnifies the Lord,’” I know that Mike commented on the Vulgate showing this as “glorifies,” but I was attracted to “magnifies.” Now, I certainly don’t think that Mary (or anybody else) literally magnifies God, as in makes God larger. What I do think is that this speaks to the idea that we can focus attention onto what God is doing in the world. Just as a telescope uses a lens to zero in on a tiny section of the sky, in order to make it visible, so we can focus, or “magnify,” some aspect of God for the world.