Taking a break from protesting soldier funerals, the lovely people of Westboro Baptist Church will get back to their core mission tonight as they invade Oklahoma City. 

A production of “The Laramie Project”, a play chronicling the aftermath of the murder of a young man named Matthew Shepard who was killed specifically for being homosexual, will take place at Oklahoma City University.  Westboro, led by Fred Phelps, dislikes this play mainly because they believe it is unfair to the cold blooded killers who they feel were doing the work of God.  Which God, I’m not sure, because most Baptist churches preach from a bible that says:

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Here is how Fred Phelps interprets the above passage, which clearly states an opinion on killing but makes no mention of gay sex, in the press release announcing his church’s intentions to spend this evening at 23rd and Blackwelder:

Matt Shepard has been in Hell now for ten years, with eternity left to go on his sentence – without parole, or time off for good behavior. All else about Matt is trivial and irrelevant. You will join him soon. Deal with it.

For those who want to peacefully counter-protest the hateful speech of people like Westboro Baptist Church whose rhetoric is not entirely unlike that of some of our local lawmakers, The Peace House is asking you to meet them at the Chapel at OCU at 6pm tonight.  Personally, I will not be there because I’m not sure I could remain peaceful.