Maybe Westboro Baptist Church IS being moved by the hand of God...

Counter-protestors stymie Westboro group 

Soldier funeral protestors leave in less than 10 minutes

Written by

Erin Quinn

It's hard to explain my religious beliefs in simple terms. I could write a book and still feel like I haven't explained myself fully. For the sake of this post, I'll do my best to give a simple synopsis. I believe everyone's beliefs are real, excluding anything part that says that any other belief than their own is the true faith. So in a way, I am a little bit of everything, but not quite anything you could pin down. 

I in no way consider myself a Christian, but I do believe that those who DO follow that faith are following a true faith. Their God is real, and their structure is sound, at least until they try to convince someone of a different faith that they are wrong. That's a whole different post, however, and maybe one of these days I'll get around to writing it.

I just wanted to make sure that was clear before going on, because I'm going to sound rather Christian in a moment. 

Reading the above article brought to mind something I've heard many Christians say. "God works in mysterious ways." With that in mind, what if the members of WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) really have been called by God to spread their painful, ugly message? I don't think God would be doing this because He really thinks that message is good or true. What if, instead, it's sole purpose is to get people to stop trolling forums in anonymous apathy? What if this is some cosmic goad meant to get people to band together to stand up for what's right and start working together, instead of bickering at each other over internet inconsequentials?

I can't remember anything in the past 10-15 years that has been so unifying as peoples disgust over WBC and their atrocious disrespect of their fellow human beings, and our brave soldiers in particular. Sure, we've had all sorts of factions raising a fuss in the media and on the internet over politics, the economy, celebrity scandals, and technological blunders, but none of those have managed to draw communities together like WBC has. People of all sorts of faiths, lifestyles and economic classes will stand side by side in order to keep WBC from spreading their filth. 

Whether one is Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, accepting or opposed to homosexuality and transgenderism, Atheist or Christian or Pagan or a follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, most of us agree that the message WBC is trying to spread is just plain wrong. People believe it strongly enough that they're willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with those they might not agree with on other topics, in order to show the victims of WBC that, differences aside, WBC crosses the line. 

Normally the whole "God works in mysterious ways" line makes me cringe. All too often it's used in poor taste to excuse tragic or horrific events. This time, though, it may just be that something ugly is what it takes to make something beautiful.http://www.dnj.com/article/20110614/NEWS01/106140325/Counterprotestors-stymie-Westboro-group