Maybe there is a God after all?

TOPEKA The Topeka Fire Department is investigating a small fire outside of a church whose members protest at soldier’s funerals.

A fence and garage at Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church became engulfed in flames early Saturday, according to the Topeka Capitol-Journal Web site. The fire did not spread to the church building.

Topeka Fire Marshal Greg Bailey said the cause of the fire has not been determined. However, a spokeswoman for the church, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said she believes it was deliberately set.

Members of the church frequently picket military funerals, arguing that the deaths of U.S. troops overseas are part of God’s punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Bailey said damage is estimated at $10,000.

Associated Press

Sigh.....

If I were a "joiner", (which I am not) I would consider myself an Ethical Humanist. This belief system (religion, if you will) is based on the concept of "deed, not creed" meaning that no stock is put in the mystical. Faith, especially in a deity, is not part of the program. The secular humanist believes in the ethics of loving one's neighbor for the sake of doing so and not for biblical reasons. That "doing the right thing" prevents, for instance, Mookie flinging the garbage can through the pizzeria window.

That having been said I am in the throes of a moral quandry because as a secular, ethical , humanist I forbid myself from taking joy in any other human being's sorrow. And yet...

You know that kid on the Simpson that always beats up Bart? Read this in his voice and direct it at Rev. Phelps: HA HA!

If you didn't get it from the AP clip above, the Westboro Baptist church has taken it as their mission in life to (in the name of a peaceful loving god) desecrate the funerals of US servicemen and women by holding up placards that say lovely god-like things such "God hates Fags" and "Your Son's Death is God's Retribution for Homosexuality". Then there's the Reverend himself. Some days, ain't it great to be a Catholic? Sure our guys are pederasts. But they are pederasts with degrees from accredited colleges. What seminary cranked out that freak? And Baptist? I thought they were the happy protestants what with the big hats and pastel suits and the clapping in church. Man, the Methodists will never let them live this one down.

On Saturday, a garage on church property caught fire. According to reports the cause of the fire hasn't yet been determined but if Occam had anything to say about it, I wouldn't go looking for zebras, ya know? This guy has managed to offend, insult, and injure everyone from the gays to the gun nuts, from the bikers to the priests. The question isn't "who set the fire". The question is "what took them so long?"

But the best part is that this close minded, first class hate monger has the audacity to go running to the government because he may just be the victim of a hate crime. Screw Allanis Morissette. That shit is ironic.

My husband is a former Marine, I have loads of friends in the Navy, some still active, some overseas. There are wonderful people in my life whom I adore and respect and admire who, alas, love Liza with a Z more than me. So you can see why this guy offends me on every level and I don't offend easily. To my very core I want to LMFAO! in capital letters three feet tall. But what does that make me if I do? If I allow him and his screwed up view of the world to make me hate as he hates, to make me feel schadenfreude instead of sympathy.

Yes, it is pleasurable when the universe aligns itself in such a way that people who richly deserved to get screwed actually do get screwed. In this case I am taking the moral high road and trying really, really hard not to enjoy it quite so much. For the first time ever, I am actually hoping for a case of divine retribution.