{"id":834,"date":"2011-01-11T09:05:02","date_gmt":"2011-01-11T09:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html"},"modified":"2011-01-11T09:05:02","modified_gmt":"2011-01-11T09:05:02","slug":"westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html","title":{"rendered":"Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green’s Funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

How to build angel wings for the Westboro funeral counter-protest<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"167793_1732454067833_1132968610_1945994_961398_n.jpg\"<\/span>Westboro Baptist Church<\/a> has made headlines again. Infamous for tacky protests and hate-filled messages, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church<\/a> plan to picket the funerals of Tucson shooting victims<\/a>, including 9-year-old Christina Green<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They have set up protests at Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral, and at the funerals of fallen U.S. military heroes. Their extreme message of hate is once again on display.<\/p>\n

The actions of the Westboro Baptist Church <\/a>and Fred Phelps<\/a> run so contrary to the red letters of Christ’s gospel, and I am saddened by this new low, but resolved to speak even louder for Christ’s transformational love for us.<\/p>\n

It is through that love that we are transformed and rescued. And in response to that vast and bottomless love, how then do we live? With hate for those unlike us? Or with that same vast and bottomless well of love?<\/p>\n

Christ’s gospel is one of love, comfort, and empathy. Their is a response to the Westboro Baptist Church protest of the shooting victims organized by the Tucson community to shelter the Green’s<\/a> and the other families from the protests. See the excerpt from CNN.com below for more details.<\/p>\n

Tucson just isn’t that kind of town, says Christin Gilmer.<\/i><\/p>\n

Gilmer
\nis referring to the actions of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka,
\nKansas, which has made its name protesting the funerals of people who
\ndied of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even Coretta Scott King.<\/i><\/p>\n

But
\nwhen the church announced its intention to picket the funeral of a
\n9-year-old girl — one of six people who died Saturday during the
\nattempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords<\/a> — Gilmer and
\nothers put their feet down.<\/i><\/p>\n

Tucson is a “caring, loving, peaceful community,” according to Gilmer, who said two of the six people killed were friends. <\/i><\/p>\n

“For
\nsomething like this to happen in Tucson was a really big shock to us
\nall,” she said. “Our nightmare happened when we saw Westboro Baptist
\nChurch was going to picket the
<\/i><\/p>\n

They’re planning an “angel action” — with
\n8- by 10-foot “angel wings” worn by participants and used to shield
\nmourners from pickets. The actions were created by Coloradan Romaine
\nPatterson, who was shocked to find the Topeka church and its neon signs
\noutside the 1999 funeral of Matthew Shepherd, a young gay man beaten and
\nleft on a fence to die in Laramie, Wyoming.<\/i><\/p>\n

“We want to surround them, in a nonviolent way, to say that our community is united,” Gilmer said. “We’re a peaceful haven.<\/i><\/p>\n

“You don’t mess with Tucson,” said Gilmer, 26, who described it as “a little dot of blue in a sea of red.”<\/i><\/p>\n

But
\npolitical persuasions don’t matter, she said. Republicans, Democrats,
\nindependents, right, left and center — they’ve all offered their
\nsupport. Forty-two people have signed up on a Facebook page called
\n“Build Angel Wings for the Westboro Funeral Counter-Protest and
\nMeeting,” and more than 4,500 have signed up on another page to “Show
\nSupport for the Families of the Tucson Shooting Victims<\/a>.”<\/i><\/p>\n

“People,
\nbusinesses, they’re all donating material and money to build the angel
\nwings,” said Gilmer, who is helping organize the action. She added
\nthey’re donating to a fund created to help pay for services for the
\nshooting victims.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nIf there is anyone on the ground in Tucson who is part of this effort,
\nplease leave a comment with instructions and links for how others can
\nget extend their love in a physical, protective way to the victims of
\nthe tragedy of the Tucson shootings.<\/p>\n

Or you can make a donation to Christina Taylor Green Memorial Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Click here to subscribe to Red Letters.<\/strong><\/a> Click here to follow Tom Davis on Twitter.<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to build angel wings for the Westboro funeral counter-protest Westboro Baptist Church has made headlines again. Infamous for tacky protests and hate-filled messages, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket the funerals of Tucson shooting victims, including 9-year-old Christina Green. They have set up protests at Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral, and at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-current-affairs"],"yoast_head":"\nWestboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green's Funeral - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green's Funeral - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to build angel wings for the Westboro funeral counter-protest Westboro Baptist Church has made headlines again. Infamous for tacky protests and hate-filled messages, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket the funerals of Tucson shooting victims, including 9-year-old Christina Green. They have set up protests at Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral, and at…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-11T09:05:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/files\/import\/167793_1732454067833_1132968610_1945994_961398_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green's Funeral - Red Letters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green's Funeral - Red Letters","og_description":"How to build angel wings for the Westboro funeral counter-protest Westboro Baptist Church has made headlines again. Infamous for tacky protests and hate-filled messages, Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket the funerals of Tucson shooting victims, including 9-year-old Christina Green. They have set up protests at Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral, and at…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html","og_site_name":"Red Letters","article_published_time":"2011-01-11T09:05:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/files\/import\/167793_1732454067833_1132968610_1945994_961398_n.jpg"}],"author":"Tom Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html","name":"Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green's Funeral - Red Letters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/files\/import\/167793_1732454067833_1132968610_1945994_961398_n.jpg","datePublished":"2011-01-11T09:05:02+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-11T09:05:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/files\/import\/167793_1732454067833_1132968610_1945994_961398_n.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/files\/import\/167793_1732454067833_1132968610_1945994_961398_n.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2011\/01\/westboro-baptist-church-plans-to-protest-at-9-year-old-christina-greens-funeral.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest at 9-year-old Christina Green’s Funeral"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/","name":"Red Letters","description":"Christian, Christian Inspiration, Christian News, Christian Activism News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92","name":"Tom Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","caption":"Tom Davis"},"description":"Tom Davis currently serves as CEO of Children's HopeChest (www.hopechest.org), a global orphan care ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs. A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}