I would like to comment on Josh Andersen’s article in the October 18 issue.
First of all, I consider myself a fundamentalist Baptist. The Westboro Baptist Church has been in the news several times over the past several years, and I would like to make it clear that they do not represent mainstream fundamentalist Christians. The WBC is a nothing more than a fanatical, hyper-Calvinist fringe group that even Jerry Falwell and other fundamentalist Christians have condemned repeatedly.
The WBC claims that it is impossible for some people to receive salvation, even if they want to, and that God wants those people to go to hell. My position (and Falwell’s) is that God loves everybody unconditionally but hates sin. Falwell personally referred to Fred Phelps, head pastor at WBC, as “a first-class nut.” The WBC has vowed to picket Falwell’s funeral when he dies, saying that he is going to hell.
The WBC claims that God selectively predestines certain people to hell and hardens their hearts against Him, making it impossible for them to become born-again Christians. The WBC’s blatantly un-Christian tactics are disgusting and only create anti-Christian sentiment from non-Christians.
I call upon other conservative Christians to speak out against this hate group so people know that the WBC does not speak for a vast majority of fundamentalist Christians. -T. M., University Staff