I think this is called “enabling”.

Yeah, how? He’s not rich. In fact, he owes the father of that Marine millions. He’s not benefiting from the exposure; on the contrary, society benefits from exposing and deriding it.

Allahpundit on January 25, 2008 at 9:39 AM

Zealots care about getting their message out AP. It’s not about money for him, just like it’s not about money for the Jihadists. Giving him exposure encourages him to keep it up.

Yeah, how? … He’s not benefiting from the exposure;
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Allahpundit on January 25, 2008 at 9:39 AM

There is no such thing as bad press. Keeping his nuttiness in the news (good or bad) just encourages him to more nuttiness. Which is what he wants.

The point being that we are doing what he wants. And doing what he wants us to do just encourages him to keep doing it. In my book this is enabling.

But then again, not keeping him in the news keeps us from reminding ourselves what a nutty crank-pot he is.

The guy deserves a real physical beat down.

Hilts on January 25, 2008 at 9:09 AM

That’s just it. That is exactly what the Phelps clan is hoping will happen when they go to college campuses and funerals of soldiers and everything they do. Several of Phelp’s relatives are lawyers and this is how this “flock” stays not just afloat, believe me, they pretend to be poor and Christian, but they’re really just money grubbing charlatans out to make a buck by pushing people to the point where they lose control. Then the litigation begins. They’re not what I would call Christians!
If there is a just God out there, these people will be judged harshly when they die.

While in college, I had an encounter with one of his ilk. It went something like this:

fruitcake: “Hey, do you read the Bible?”
me: “Yeah.”
f: “Did you read it last night?”
me: “Yes, I did.”
f” “Whadd’ya read?”
me: “Philippians.”
f: “The whole book?”
me: “You got it, the whole book.”
f: “Let me tell you why you’re going to Hell…”
me: “I’ll be sure to say hi to you when I get there. Bye.”

The most important of these is to love your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul. The second most important is to love your neighbor as yourself

Phelps, you need to read the WHOLE bible, not just the parts that fit your diseased mind.

After that, I demand more Spicoli as a pallet cleanser.

Excellent answer to thuja. May I just add emphasis to what you implied. When Edwards cautioned about God’s just hatred toward sin-he never excluded himself, while implicating others. Mr. Phelps gives every indication that he sees himself as being exempt from God’s wrath because he is above reproach.

As a Christian who takes Scripture seriously, I cannot affirm homosexual behavior, no more than I can affirm adultery or any other immoral act, however I see myself as being as deserving of God’s wrath probably more so, apart from Christ, then anyone else. The term bigots and gay-bashyers are too nice of terms to use for Fred Phelps and his cult-like parishioners. Fred Phelps is an embarrassment to true Christians, who view him with disgust, outrage and contempt.

So they show this nutjob all the time and claim he’s a representative of “right wing” Christianity, but never show those imams who wish death to the Great Satan? Class-say
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mjk on January 25, 2008 at 9:04 AM

The Left needs to haul this guy out a lot to smooth the guilt of the Left for spitting on the military going back to the Vietnam war. It is also useful for redefining Christianity down

It is a shame this nut has been able to hurt so many people

The left is big on stopping ‘hate speech’ but only when it serves their purposes

This is a job for the Media Research Center. How much equal time is given to sharia supporters in the US?

If they have to edit out Fred shrieking about “homosexuals and their sculpted, hard and muscular.. and well-oiled…”

I mean, dude, really.

To relate Huckabee to this hateful individual is despicable conduct in and of itself. The majority of evangelicals would agree that Phelps is an extremist, including myself. Homosexuality IS a sin, however, evangelicals believe in showing love for ALL people (that doesn’t mean they legitimize the homosexual lifestyle).

Livefreeordie on January 25, 2008 at 11:33 AM

A joke man, Geez, lighten up.

You Hucksters have about as much sense of humor as the PaulTards do.

Where did you find that Huckabee campain ad?

conservnut on January 25, 2008 at 8:52 AM

Ha ha, I wish i’da thunk that up.

TheSitRep on January 25, 2008 at 8:56 AM

To relate Huckabee to this hateful individual is despicable conduct in and of itself. The majority of evangelicals would agree that Phelps is an extremist, including myself. Homosexuality IS a sin, however, evangelicals believe in showing love for ALL people (that doesn’t mean they legitimize the homosexual lifestyle).

Don’t get me wrong, homosexuality is a gross sin, and I’m against it completely. However, these people have taken one sin and turned it into the ONLY ISSUE that matters. Sorry folks, but there’s a LOT more wrong with the world than homosexuality. It’s merely a symptom of a larger disease.

It’s one thing to stand up for morality; it’s quite another to tarnish all of Christianity by spewing un-Christlike bile like this.

conservnut on January 25, 2008 at 8:52 AM

Ha ha, I wish i’da thunk that up.

TheSitRep on January 25, 2008 at 8:56 AM

Puritanism and many forms of that particular brand of Christianity has its place, I suppose. But what happens is what Jesus always said about the Pharisees in the Bible – people taking the word of God and hitting people over the head with it. Jesus spoke about basically loving someone into the family of God, not blasting them with “You’re a sinner, you’re going to the bad place, you’re a terrible, terrible person” because it just makes people mad.

God is to be feared, that is for certain, but we are also given the opportunity to approach Him as a child approaches his loving and compassionate father.

That is what this Phelps person and his church are distorting. Self righteousness and condemnation will not turn people to God. Screaming at people during funerals will not make them repent.

Brokeness in knowing your own faults and knowing you’re not good enough is what God desires of us. Knowing we need God to forgive us for what we do, what we say, what we are. Knowing we are not good enough on our own.

Phelps is distorting the doctrines of Jesus for his own. He is using his church to forward his own theologies to the detriment of all other churches. He is perverting the message so that he can feel like he is the only messenger of God and driving people further away from their Christian friends and neighbours.

That’s the problem most people in the church have with Phelps. Churches are now acknowledging the mess ups they made of the church and how people’s desires over-rode the message.