Our silence shouts 'No'
Toolbox
Published: August 29, 2009
As three Montpelier clergy, we speak for ourselves by saying, "No." No to the messages of the Westboro Baptist Church. No to their need to affront. No to targeting high school students. No to their intolerance of people who are gay, lesbian or Jewish or who think differently. No to the hatred and violence in their hearts and on their signs. No to their understanding of God, church and following Jesus.
We think they are misguided, misdirected and mistaken. They are misguided by their assumptions about the Bible, misdirected in using abuse, and mistaken about the meaning of "Christian" and "church."
The Westboro Baptist Church is an extremist fringe group. Even those who feel homosexuality is wrong do not agree with what the Westboro Baptist members say or how they say it. They do not typify Christians any more than they typify Americans.
We believe that God is transcendent love holding us in love and loving us into being our best self, despite our imperfections. We hold that Christians are people who seek God by following the way Jesus lived, trusting him as our guide to God. We believe a church is a community of people who lean on each other to make their faith journey stronger, better and more joyful. We conclude that being a Christian is not about one's sexual orientation, and certainly not about attacking high school students and bystanders with hate speech. It is about loving God and loving God in neighbor, self and creation.
Engaging a 2-year-old's tantrum only begets more tantrums. We do not want to give the Westboro Baptist Church what they want: negative attention and a chance to feel persecuted and therefore more Christ-like. We do not want Montpelier to hear our silence and mistake it for agreement. We do not agree.
The Clergy Consortium of Trinity and Bethany Churches
The Revs. Rebecca Clark, Mark Pitton and Amy Pitton
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