Why I love the Westboro Baptist Church

Saturday, the 12th of November, 2011 the Westboro Baptist Church picketed in State College, PA to protest the sexual abuse of children by Jerry Sandusky, carrying signs with vile and hateful slogans.

A group of students from Penn State University organized a counter-protest across the street with an aim to ignore and marginalize the Westboro protesters.

While most people stayed on the opposite side of the street I could not help but go over and engage them in some confrontational dialogue and mock them openly.

Some say this is exactly what they want, that they crave the attention, and we should just ignore them. I say give them all the attention they want. Keeping them in the spotlight is the best possible thing for those of us that oppose their hateful rhetoric and everything it stands for.

All us fair minded folk know that hatred and bigotry is alive and well in this country. In particular, there is a lot of deep seeded hate in this country toward the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender community. Some of it is outspoken but much of it is far more subtle and masked in the guise of patronizing love and false humility.

While many Fundamentalists who oppose gay rights try to gloss over the uglier sections of the Bible and frame their arguments around loving the sinner and hating the sin, the Westboro folks are much more honest about what the Bible really says and far more open about the sentiment behind the bigotry toward gay people.

The effect they have on the debate is profound, but not in the sense that their hate speech is resonating with anyone; rather, it creates a caricature of fundamentalists that inevitably marginalizes them with the average person, pushing society away from ideas that would associate with such outright bigotry.

Yes, the things they say and do are offensive, and their actions are despicable, but they provide a perfect opportunity to highlight the hypocrisy of Christian fundamentalism and mock it.

Every time they are in the news they push people the other way and toward a more tolerant viewpoint.

As an atheist, I absolutely love the fact that they don't ignore all those really fun parts of scripture that most Christians like to pretend don't exist. When people read their signs it is my hope they pick up a Bible and investigate what it really says.

So, if someone tells you to just ignore these idiots, just ignore them instead and give our friends at the Westboro Baptist Church all the love and attention they crave.