Think of it as people who are involved in some perverted sex act. As Shirley Phelps, the daughter of Fred Phelps, declares in the first of Louis Theroux’s trilogy of documentaries, “Don’t think of fags as just those guys taking it up the tailpipe. Adulterous sexual activity of any kind is sinful, especially homosexual activity.‘God hates fags’) that are expressive of a bizarre and bigoted theology which includes the following beliefs and assertions: In spite of their vanishingly small membership, the WBC are very well-known, particularly because of the press coverage afforded their public demonstrations, at which they display colourful placards adorned with deliberately provocative and offensive slogans (e.g. Nevertheless, as will be highlighted in the ‘Analysis’ section of these notes, the WBC and other entities listed under part b) of the syllabus all exhibit traits that are collectively representative of the wider phenomenon known as Fundamentalism. Taking into account the size of the group, the fact that they are disaffiliated with mainstream Baptism, and the famously incendiary and controversial nature of their beliefs and practices, the actions and declarations of the WBC should therefore not be regarded as representative of the wider Baptist movement that is, in fact, a major branch of Protestant Christianity. Most members are related to Phelps – who died in 2014 – though a small number are converts. There are about 100 million Baptists globally, and approximately half are members of the Baptist World Alliance churches.Ĭontrastingly, according to both the Wikipedia and the BBC journalist/documentary film-maker Louis Theroux, the congregation of the WBC tends to hover at around a mere 70. It is important to emphasise from the outset that the Westboro Baptist Church (founded in 1955 in Topeka, Kansas by Pastor Fred Phelps and hereafter referred to as the WBC) is independent of any other Baptist organisation. IMPORTANT NOTE 2 : Keeping ‘Evaluation’ questions in mind, there are considerable synoptic overlaps to be found in the content of these notes with Paper 1 topic 5.1 – Context to critiques of religious belief and points for discussion, and 6.3 – Religion and Science, as well as Paper 4B topic 6.1 – Pluralism and Diversity and 6.2 – Equality and Discrimination – Gender Lastly, an attempt will be made to explore how the examples mentioned in part b) might help to foster an understanding of the relationship between religion and morality in a contemporary context. Some of the scholarly perspectives mentioned in that previous blog entry might also help to make sense of the sometimes extraordinary beliefs and practices found within the most controversial contemporary groups like the Westboro Baptist Church. IMPORTANT NOTE 1 : this post only looks at the highlighted sections above. Nevertheless, although the issue of ‘religion and terror’ has been dealt with separately, additional brief observations will be made about it here. With reference to the ideas of R Dawkins and R A Sharpe. From the syllabus for Religion and Ethics (Paper 2):Ĥ.2 The relationship between religion and moralityĪ) Dependence, independence, autonomy, theonomy, heteronomy, divine command ethics, challenges from atheist and anti-theist perspectives , moral arguments for the existence and nonexistence of God.ī) Contemporary focuses, including the Westboro Baptist Church, religion and terror, conservative movements, including Quiverfull, biblical parenting.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |