[The Hunter of Jahanna]

This is an article that I think points out something that a lot of people in this debate have said. Basicaly,believing in god might make you a good person but it doesnt AUTOMATICALY make you a good person.BOTH Good and Shitty people believe in god.

Posted on Tue, Oct. 29, 2002 Anti-gay group plans protest at local church BAPTISM FOR BABIES OF GAY COUPLE ANGERS KANSAS CONGREGATION By Frank E. Lockwood And Valarie Honeycutt Spears HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS An anti-gay group that pickets gay people's funerals and celebrates hate-crime killings will gather in front of the Cathedral of Christ the King next month to protest the recent baptism of a gay couple's quadruplets there. Fred Phelps, the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., said 12 to 15 members of his congregation will travel to Lexington for the Nov. 24 protest. It'll be Phelps' second Kentucky appearance. He and his followers waved "God Hates Fags" signs near the entrance of Fort Campbell after a gay soldier there, Pfc. Barry Winchell, was beaten to death with a baseball bat on July 5, 1999. Phelps said he has held thousands of anti-gay protests across the United States. Yesterday, Phelps called gays and lesbians "vile, hell-bound beasts" and accused the priest who baptized the infants of being "demon possessed." "This is a monstrous sin against God," Phelps said. Yesterday, Kentucky Baptist officials quickly distanced themselves from Phelps, noting that the Primitive Baptist minister has also picketed against the Southern Baptist Convention and evangelist Billy Graham. "It's certainly safe to say that this particular individual or group certainly wouldn't be considered as someone who speaks for Kentucky Baptists or Southern Baptists," said Kentucky Baptist Convention spokesman Robert Reeves. As for Phelps' claims that God hates homosexuals, "We believe that God loves all people and that we as Christians and as Baptists want to approach all people from that standpoint," Reeves added. Thomas Shaughnessy, spokesman for the Catholic diocese of Lexington, said he didn't understand "why a Baptist church would concern itself with the sacramental life of the Catholic Church." "Quite frankly, it smacks of old-time Catholic-bashing, not to mention gay-bashing," Shaughnessy said. The reaction from Westboro Baptist Church stemmed from Saturday's ceremony in which Rev. Paul Prabell blessed domestic partners Thomas Dysarz and Michael Meehan as he would any other parents, and baptized their 3-month-old quadruplets at Lexington's Cathedral of Christ the King. The four babies were conceived through an in-vitro fertilization that paired a surrogate mother's eggs with the sperm of Meehan, a Lexington lawyer, who plans to raise the children with Dysarz, his male domestic partner. The quadruplets' July 26 birth via surrogate mother to gay partners is thought to be unprecedented. It drew worldwide attention to the two men. Catholic church doctrine prohibits surrogate motherhood and views homosexual acts as sinful. But officials at the Catholic Diocese of Lexington and Prabell based their decision to go ahead with the baptism after determining that the children would be raised as Catholics. Dysarz said yesterday that he and Meehan were not aware of the planned protests. Dysarz said he was concerned that the group was using words of hate as though God was saying them. Meehan defended Prabell. "I feel badly for the priest, that they are denouncing him for doing what he thought was right. He didn't condone homosexuality, he blessed the children." "I've always believed that God loves all people. It's not up to some church in Kansas to decide who should be baptized," Meehan said. Meehan said that some people quote Leviticus when they say the Bible condemns homosexuality. But Leviticus also says, "you should not bear hatred for your brother in your heart," Meehan said.

[ 10-29-2002, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: The Hunter of Jahanna ]