By Alice Woldt, Transitional Executive Director, Washington Association of Churches
The member denominations and institutions of the Washington Association of Churches deplore the message being brought to Seattle by Fred Phelps and his band of hate-mongers from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. We stand in support of you, our brothers and sisters in the Seattle faith community, that are the object of their vitriolic attacks, whether threatened or real.
We celebrate the diversity of theology, social teaching and religious doctrine in our Christian community. But we are called to a common belief through Jesus Christ. Our common spirituality and faith is rooted in our deep convictions about a God of love, justice, inclusion and stewardship.
We reject the God of Fred Phelps — Phelps, who has threatened to disrupt worship and work at your institutions on Sunday and Monday. Phelps’ God of extreme hate, racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia is a God which we do not recognize.
Our God is the loving hand that embraces all creation. We know that God’s grace is offered to all, unconditionally. God’s love embraces people who are in pain, who struggle for a voice in their own destiny and who seek dignity in their personal and community lives.
Yes, God loves Fred Phelps. But the insistence by Phelps that God hates others is counter to the teachings of the Bible and to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Our faith compels us to resist and challenge those who claim moral authority but in fact increase violence and undermine human rights. Hate crimes are on the rise. Hate spewed by the likes of Fred Phelps fuels the violence we witnessed this past week at the Holocaust Museum in Washington , D.C. and in Seattle at the Jewish Federation offices in 2006. It encourages racial and LGBT-related attacks on the streets of our city.
We pray for your well-being and support your efforts to not call attention to this small minority of individuals who are misguided in their interpretation of our scriptures. We recognize our own shortcomings in dealing with the forces of evil related to the “isms” that are so deeply embedded in our cultures and religions. The Washington Association of Churches has historically provided leadership in addressing these issues. I will engage our religious leadership in how we might work together to confront these challenges in a deeper and more spiritual way.