Westboro Baptist Church and the Poor Fools Therein

So guess what's coming to a town near me?
"The circus!?"
Nope!
"The Rolling Stones?"
Nope!
"The Airshow?"
Nopety, nopety, no.
This Sunday, a church in our bay area called Our Lady of Peace will be the sight of picketing by protesters from Westboro Baptist 'Church'. I put that in quotes because a hateful group like them have no right to call themselves a church. More like a cult, but I'm trying to be Nice Monica, not Evil Monica today.
They are protesting at this beautifully named church, because they claim that Catholics spew lies about Jesus, promote idolization of Mary, and of course everyone's favorite accusation, rape children.
Let me start with the last one. If you're going to judge the ENTIRE Catholic church by the disgusting pedophile priests, let me ask two things.
First. The problem of pedophile priests has the postmodern movement of the 60's to thank. So say hello to one of the many fruits of your work, libertines.
Second. Allright! Let's judge ALL Catholics by the sins of some monsters who call themselves Catholic. Let's also judge ALL Muslims by the terrorism of those ISIS fellows who call themselves Islamic. Oh, I'm sorry, was that logical consistency too much for you? Do you need a pacifier and a safe space?
[Deep breath, suppresses Evil Monica]
Can I just say that it is deeply ironic for them to be protesting at a church called Our Lady of Peace?
They are going to bring their evil signs, "God Hates F**s*", and stand in front of a church called Our Lady of Peace. A Church known all around the area for its 20+ foot tall statue of Mary the Mother of God, with her arms outstretched in welcome and kindness to a weary world.
They say that we are promoting idolatry by honoring the Mother of God. Yeah sure, just like you worship your favorite singer or a leader you admire! Oh wait, I'm pretty sure I meant honor, or in the case of a singer or leader, admire.* Big difference between worshipping and honoring. Look at Marian Icons, especially in the Byzantine tradition.
In these Icons, Jesus is always in the center of the picture, sitting on His mother's lap. Her arms are protectively wrapped around Him, but also gesturing towards Him. Because Mary is a way to know Christ. Jesus wants you to honor His mother. And there is plenty in the Bible to promote that.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in the God my Savior.
For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden:
For, behold, from henceforth all generation shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great things:
And holy is His name
And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation
He hath shewed strength with His arm,
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts
He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree
He hath filled the hungry with good things
and the rich He hath sent away empty.
He hath holpen His servant Israel
in remembrance of His mercy.
As He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed forever.
Luke 1: 46-56

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
Revelations 12:1

You can ignore the above passages and others like them, but you can't deny that Catholics are not inventing this out of nothing.
And about God hating certain people?
What, you think that Jesus died on the cross for perfect people? Why would He die on the cross unless there were sinners to save? You remember the Samaritan woman at the well, right? Living with a man who wasn't her husband? That's sinful, and she was forgiven. Cohabitation is a sexual sin just like homosexual behavior (note I say 'behavior', that means acting on the feelings. I don't say being homosexual is a sin in and of itself), and she was forgiven. God does not hate gay people. God loves them and wants them to come home. How much does God love gay people? Refer to the top of this paragraph, He died on the cross for them!
It may be hard, Westboro, but God loves gay people just as much as He loves you. He wants you BOTH to be in Heaven with Him. You can start down that path by putting down your hateful sign and starting to spread the word of God through love.

*I'm not putting Honor of Mary in the same box as admiring a singer, that's just an easy metaphor for what I was trying to demonstrate.

Why Ignorance Is NOT Bliss

Whew, haven't written anything on this blog for about (checks) a year. A year.
So what happened? Well, as a young adult in the midst of education and job stuff, KC suddenly became very busy. And because she wasn't there to remind me, I forgot to. I also lost confidence in my ability to write about a controversial issue without sounding like I'm spitting venom.
But I'm back, because when I'm passionate about something, I see it through to the end!
So here we are, and I'm just going to touch briefly on something that made me and KC really irritated back at school.
One of her friends, let's call him Chuck for the sake of having something to call this anonymous person. One of her friends at school was personally a very committed prolifer. But when asked to join our group (keep in mind, we did things like baby bottle drives and praying in front of clinics. Nothing too hard!) he said "Well, I think that the less we say about abortion, the better. Ignorance is bliss, right?"

Is it April Fools day or are you being serious?

Now Chuck is agreeable and smart, but in this one area we were flabbergasted (that is a fun word).
Ignorance is most definitely the problem here. You are not helping babies by keeping your mouth shut.
Ignorance about the abortion issue hurts everyone involved. It hurts the woman who thinks she only has one option. It hurts the baby who is killed as a result of the woman's ignorance. It hurts prolifers, who are assumed to be crazy nuts.
If you make an effort to educate people, then the woman won't feel so trapped. She will know that she has other options. And as a result, more babies will be saved. You can show people that prolifers are normal people like everyone else, and that we are open to conversation.
Don't use tired clichés like 'Ignorance is bliss' to try and justify whatever it is that keeps you from acting.