A Response to the WBC Site "God Hates Australia" Part 5.

In this part we look at the last section of the Westboro Baptist Church's "God Hates Australia" site.

If you are joining us late, please start from part 1.

But on with the show. The section in question is "Australia's Poster Children For Sin". Because we all know that sin has to have poster children. So in this case they are talking about celebrities.

Their first "poster child" is of course Heath Ledger. A man who is only here because he played a gay man in a movie. That was it. They even start this page of with the following:

Two words…..BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN!!!!

This is what they have to say on Heath Ledger:

Heath Ledger: Actor, died by an overdose in January of 2008. This young man was raised by parents who were divorced (I know shocker, right) who taught him to chase after every lust in his evil heart. Not only that, but do whatever it takes to be famous because that’s more important than serving God. This is what happens when you spit in God’s face with fag propaganda….you are sent a strong delusion by the hand of your God!

Based on only the laziest of research (I'm putting in a little more then they put in to make this site though) they ignore the fact that apart from being divorced, both his parents had remarried, and neither of them were gay. I don't know what exactly they taught him but I personally doubt that he was taught to "chase after every lust in his evil heart".

Now I would like stress here that the only thing that causes him to be "evil" is because he was in Brokeback Mountain that is his only crime. If he weren't in that movie I would be certain that he wouldn't be on this page.

There is one thing here that I have noticed. Back in Part 3 I pointed out that they used their "religion" page to basically bash Catholics. But nowhere have they mentioned Mel Gibson. I find that a bit odd, but I wonder whether it has something to do with the more fundamentalist views that Mr. Gibson holds, even though he is a Catholic. I suspect that they might consider him to be doing "God's work".

But continuing on, we meet our second "poster child for sin":

Portia de Rossi: Actress, Ellen Degeneres’ so called wife. This lady has a platform that instead of doing her duty and obeying her God, she would rather live in defiance! Shame on you, Australia, for teaching this woman from her youth up that it’s ok to be gay…look at what you’ve done. She will be held accountable for her actions, but don’t think for one second that you are innocent regarding this matter!

Portia de Rossi was born in Geelong, Victoria in 1973. However I really doubt that Australia taught her that it was ok for her to be gay. In Part 4 I posted the paragraph that mentioned that homosexuality was finally decriminalised in all states in 1997. I however didn't really go on about it there. I will here however.

The history of the decriminalisation process for homosexuality started in 1972 in South Australia. For those playing at home you would remember that back in Part 1 I pointed out that SA has the fewest rights for homosexuals compared to the rest of Australia. It's somewhat ironic in a way that a state that led the way is now backwards.

This process started during the time of Don Dunstan (who is one of our greatest premiers) which saw the passing of a "consenting and in private" type of defence, not knowing all of the facts I'd assume it was watered down by the hostile Legislative Council but the Sodomy law was repealed in 1975. It still had to be in private but it was a start. The ACT would follow in 1976 and they also equalised their age of consent.

De Rossi would have been 8 when they finally decriminalised homosexuality in Victoria, in 1981. NSW would outlaw descrimination against people who were, or were considered, homosexual. NT would legalise homosexuality in 1984 and WA, confusingly to me at least, decriminalised male homosexuality in 1989, and set the age of consent for homosexual acts to 21. Queensland repeals their sodomy law in 1991. Finally in 1997, Tasmania repeals the laws preventing you from being gay in private.

Although the law worked like that, public opinion takes far longer to change. Even today I would think it fair to say that homosexuality is only tolerated in Australia, but people aren't as accepting. The gay community is still fighting for acceptance and equality among the wider community.

Lastly, Portia de Rossi was married to Ellen DeGeneres in 2008 in the United States. However I don't know how their marriage has been effected by the passing of Proposition 8.

They separate these two people with the following Bible verse:

Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Well it's a proverb so you can't really quote mine the Bible here, but I would guess that it refers to proud people regardless of sexual orientation. I suspect that the interpretation used by the WBC here is actually a narrowed interpretation of the proverb in question.

The next grouping of people are as follows:

Here are a few more proud, arrogant, rebellious brute beasts!

Peter Allen: Entertainer, died of AIDS related throat cancer.

Peter Allen who died in 1992, did die of AIDS related throat cancer. What puts him on this list would be, I suspect, because he is The Boy from Oz. The musical is based on his life. However, if this were the case then I would have thought that Hugh Jackman would have also been on this list. I would assume that had Brokeback Mountain either really sucked, or was never made, he would be.

Rob Astbury: Journalist, highest paid sports journalist in Australia but is more famous for being the ex-lover of Graham Kennedy; HIV positive.

Was. He was the highest paid sports journo. He also, after Derryn Hinch decided to be a jerk and outed him, his HIV status and claimed that Kennedy (who is considered the King of Comedy/Australian Television, even after his death) was also HIV positive, took a more active role in gay rights and AIDS education.

This is actually the second HIV positive person mentioned in this list. I guess the WBC still believes in the old "AIDS is a gay only disease" argument.

Darren Hayes: Singer of Savage Garden, is currently in a civil partnership with his boyfriend in England…YIKES!

Darren Hayes entered into a civil partnership with Richard Cullen in 2006. He is from Queensland, so it would be impossible to claim that "Australia taught him that it was ok to be gay" because he would have been 20 when the law regarding sodomy and homosexuality was finally repealed.

Anthony Venn-Brown: Evangelist for the Assemblies of God dog-kennel; the original founder of Youth Alive (you know how these fags love to attract children to their filth)!

Anthony Venn-Brown was an evangelist for the Assemblies of God. He is now a gay ambassador (apparently that is the term he uses), and has been since he came out in 1991. He has an autobiography entitled A Life of Unlearning which talks about his struggles within himself and being part of an organisation that considers homosexuality to be an abomination.

I don't know how long exactly this page has been around for, I can't find anything for the main site so I think that it has only appeared in the last 6 months. But this kind of innacuracy is to be honest unacceptable. He hasn't been a minister for 18 years but they still list him as a member.

It should also be noted that the WBC does not seem to think highly of the Pentacostal organisation, we all know that the "dog-kennel" is a dead giveaway.

Lastly, I suspect that Mr. Venn-Brown is only on here because of his past as a preacher, because it reflects badly on denominations that aren't the WBC and for his founding of the Youth Alive programme, because it is "evidence" that "homosexuals are paedophiles", even though there is no evidence that supports that. It is however a view that is used continuously by the WBC.

We finish this look at the last section of this site with a Bible quote:

Isaiah 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

It's actually from a passage relating to Babylon. Not gay people. You fail again Westboro Baptist Church.

A Response to the WBC Site "God Hates Australia" Part 4.

After a brief delay (read: I couldn't really be bothered to write something) we continue our journey into the hatred that is the Westboro Baptist Church.

Today, we'll be looking at "Australia's Evil Government". Now before we start we'll play a little game.

What do you think makes our government evil? Is it:

a) Our involvement in the War on Terror.
b) The transition from a more conservative government to a more liberal one.
c) Gay people.

If you didn't answer c. then you clearly haven't picked up anything from the last three parts of this series.

Of course it's gay people. It's always gay people and this is no exception:

Australia has made it number one priority throughout the last 30 years of the 20th century to make it ok to be a fag. The last law to make it legal to be a fag was passed in 1997. Not only do they say it’s not illegal to be a fag, let’s add on top of that a law to recognize those unnatural relationships.

Tasmania’s The Relationship Act was passed in 2003 stating: A relationships register for significant relationships & caring relationships (same sex couples or heterosexual de facto couples). These “relationships” provide for certain legal benefits such as property division, will, hospital visits, etc.

Let us start with the obvious. Their basis for the determination of "natural" is based on the beloved verse from Deuteronomy. That is it. Never mind that quite a few animals display homosexual behaviour nope.

Because we all know that the Bible is far more knowledgeable then anything that science has come up with...

Their second paragraph I assume is supposed to make people think "those damn Australians, I hope God sends them all to hell" or something like that (WANTED: Fundamentalist Christian to tell me what I am supposed to think here.) . However, all the law states, based on just that paragraph is that homosexual couples are able to get de facto status. Oh dear, gay people have the same rights as a group that this church would hate anyway based on what they think of about sex.

Quite a few places in the world already have such laws. There would be quite a few homosexual couples that would be quite happy to have such a status, in the same way that there are heterosexual couples that are quite happy with that status. But apparently that is endorsing some vague form of sin.

I guess it doesn't help when groups like Evangelicals Concerned Inc. exist that have their own, possibly better interpretation of the Bible which I only know of but can't actually prove to you right now.

When I can I will provide the evidence.

But let us continue

If you think those laws are bad enough…wait for this next part. That’s right ladies and gentleman; let us take a look behind the scenes at certain people who have taken over the Australian Government. These are the best and brightest out-of-the-closet fags and dykes in good old Australia!

Michael Kirby – Justice of the High Court of Australia
Shayne Mallard – City Council
Bob Brown – Senator, First open fag member of the Australian Parliament
Penny Wong – Senator
Andrew Barr – Legislative Assembly
Penelope Gail Sharpe – Legislative Council
John Hyde – Legislative Assembly
Louise Pratt – Legislative Council
Giz Watson – Legislative Council
Gary Singer – Deputy Lord Mayor
Thang Ngo – City Council

Very detailed there isn't it? It's also out of date.

Let's just fill in a few gaps here first, and explain some things for those who don't know much about Australian politics:

Shayne Mallard is a councillor for the City of Sydney.
Gary Singer was a Deputy Lord Mayor, of Melbourne.
Thang Ngo was a councillor of Fairfield in NSW.
Michael Kirby was until recently a HCA justice.
Senator Bob Brown is currently a Greens Senator for Tasmania.
Senator Penny Wong is a senator and also the Climate Change and Water Minister. She is also the first Asian born person and the first openly gay person to be a member of a Federal Cabinet. Incidentally she is also represents South Australia in the Senate, a state which has the fewest rights for homosexuals.
Andrew Barr is a member of the ACT Legislative Assembly, and a member of the ACT Cabinet. He is the first openly gay person to be elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Penelope Gail Sharpe (who clearly prefers to be called Penny) is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.
John Hyde is a member of the WA Legislative Assembly. He is not to be confused with the WA Senator with the same name. He is the first openly gay man to be elected to WA Parliament.
Louise Pratt is now a member of the Senate, she was a member of the WA legislative council.
Giz Watson is a member of the WA Legislative Coucil.

Now based on what I have found, all (with the possible exception of Thang Ngo, I couldn't find anything on him) of these people are openly gay. But wow. Look how well they have infiltrated and "taken over" the Australian government. I guess Bob Brown, Penny Wong and Louise Pratt must be some unstoppable gay Labor-Greens power bloc in the Senate right?

Actually they make up less then 4% of the Senate. There are 76 members of the Senate so they have the potential to be outvoted by 73 other people.

So what we see here is some good old fashioned scaremongering. Except that it is crappy scaremongering. Because based on this 100% of the House of Representatives isn't homosexual. Really good work there huh?

October 10, 2008 – After four days and nights, Australia decides to decriminalize abortion in the state of Victoria. Parliament had such a tough decision to make…should we defy God or shouldn’t we? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Parliament had a tough time with this one; as a matter of fact, they had a “marathon sitting week.” Don’t worry - in the end they decided to spit in God’s face (shocker, I know) with a vote of 23-17! Shame on you Australia; you think you’re smarter than God about the matters of the womb. Think again. Your final destruction is nigh at hand. PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD!

What we see here is really nothing more then a temper tantrum from a four year old.

That is really all it is. Here we see the member of the WBC who wrote this complaining that they didn't get things "their way" even though they have no actual right to demand any change in Australia whatsoever.

But on to some bad science:

According to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission in Australia, there is need for a third gender. Not only can you mark female and male on official documents, you can mark "intersex" if you are transgender. WTF, mate?!? Here's a thought…how about if you just be thankful for what your God gave you. You can defy God and spit in His face all you want, but guess what? You can't change your chromosomes. Go ahead and mutilate yourselves and call your gender "intersex" it doesn't change the fact that you were either born with two X chromosomes or an X and a Y chromosome…you silly unthankful brutes!

People are either born with two X chromosomes or an X and a Y. Well yes, most of the time.

Women with Turner Syndrome don't fit in the XX/XY definition of male and female because they are XO. Yes, they don't have a second chromosome. They are women, but they don't fall into the classification given by the WBC.

Then there is XX male syndrome. This is where the sex chromosomes have a partial crossover during meiosis. They look like men. They may have the chromosomes of a woman but they look like a man.

It raises an interesting question here. Would a group like the Westboro Baptist Church call an XX male who is homosexual an abomination even though under the XX/XY system he is a woman?

The same line of reasoning would follow for a woman with Swyer syndrome only in this case it's a person who looks like a woman but has XY sex chromosomes.

Then we can talk about more abiguous ones like Klinefelter's Syndrome. This is an anomily where you get a man who is XXY.

What I am getting at here is that things are never as simple as you want it to be. I don't actually know the official stance of transgender people, I would have assumed that you would let them tick a "transgender" box, because there actually are intersex people in this world.

But I'm going to conclude with the bible verse they mention in the article. It is just before the tantrum:

Job 12:17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.

I'm actually confused here. I wonder if they mean "He" as "God" as the passage mentions or do they mean "he" as in "Satan" who only appears at the start of the book. I'm sorry to say that based on the context of the page either is technically a valid interpretation.

I do, however, get the funny feeling that this verse was only chosen because it mentions both councillors and judges.

A Response to the WBC Site "God Hates Australia" Part 1.

Before I begin, as far as I can tell the following is actually a site that belongs to the Westboro Baptist Church. Looking up on whois gives me the same result for the following site and the American counterpart (which is linked to from their main site). Otherwise it is the most elaborate form of Poe's Law that I have ever encountered.

Without further adieu I shall introduce you to God Hates Australia part of the God Hates the World website.

At the moment I'm going to write about this.

Their first section on why God apparently hates Australia.

The first subsection is, and no surprises here, is entitled "Fags":

FAGS

When you throw the standard that the Lord your God set since the foundation of the world right out the window, what you get is a country that has NO morals! Every year that evil country known as Australia holds numerous Fag Pride Parades. Here are just a few examples of how these arrogant beasts roll: Pride March Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Pride March Adelaide, SA, Australia: Gay Mardi Gras Parade, Sydney, Australia.

Psalm 81:12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Let's start with the obvious here. Morality is quite subjective. What one society considers immoral may be considered to be moral in another society. We can see throughout different societies similar themes appear, justice for example, not killing someone as another. The main "morals" that Phelps and his ilk are going on about refer to the Biblical laws regarding sex. I do not believe that I have ever seen, heard, or read, about the WBC going on about people wearing clothes of two different materials, or eating prawns. If someone can show me evidence to the contrary I will gladly point it out. WBC "morals" appear to be ones where you can't divorce, be abstinant until marriage, and Leviticus 18:22.

For some fun according to Wikipedia the US has 141 LGBT events (if I counted correctly), Australia has according to Wikipedia 13 of them. I don't really have a comment here, I just thought it would be interesting to point it out.

By the way WBC, there are groups in Australia that hate gay people as much as you do, I find it interesting that you don't talk about them. Perhaps that might destroy the image of the "oppressed religious sect with outspoken views" that you like to try and press.

The verse from Psalm 81 is a psalm entitled "God's Appeal to Stubborn Israel".

The next section please:

DIVORCE/REMARRIAGE

46% of Australian marriages end in divorce. What is wrong with you people!?!

De 22:22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

Take that and smoke it on your barbies!

Do you think the Lord was kidding when He said: What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder (Mark 10:9)? Here’s the answer, NO, He was not kidding; now what?

From the Australian Bureau of Statistics the crude divorce rate in Australia was 2.3 per 1000 in 2007, from the excel document provided they state as a comparison that in 2006 the crude divorce rate was 3.6 per 1000. According to this site the Australian and US divorce rates (as a percentage in 2002) were different by 0.2%. Why not work on fixing the divorce rate in your own country instead of bashing someone elses.

The Deuteronomy verse applies to adultery, which is relevant to the WBC because they don't believe in divorce. Funnily enough according to the Bible the very verse they quote is actually grounds for getting a divorce as well. They are basing their divorce opinions most likely on Matthew 5:31-32 which actually contradicts Deuteronomy 24:1 which basically says that a man can divorce his wife "if he finds something objectionable about her", gives a pretty broad range of reasons for divorce for at least a man there.

As for Mark 10:9, that is just the same as the verse from Matthew that I mentioned, except with the "adultery" part removed. So which one is it? Do we listen to Deuteronomy, which gives really broad grounds, Matthew which gives a single ground, or Mark which gives no grounds?

ABORTION

This may shock some of you, alright maybe only the ones that have their heads in the sand, but abortion is legal in all circumstances even when a reason is not given.

That’s right dear friends; when you live in Australia you can fornicate your brains out and when you’re done with all your filth, just kill that child that occurred because of your nastiness!

You don’t mess with the matters of the womb…at the end of the day it is still murder. You killed that child…their blood is on your hands! You are murderers plain and simple.

John8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Firstly, in Australia abortion is a State, not a Federal issue. The only consitancy throughout Australia is that abortion is legal when circumstances arise where the health of the mother is at risk. The only state where you can argue that abortion is legal with no questions asked is in Victoria up to 24 weeks (thus the rubbish pouring out of Danny Nalliah's mouth) and it is also legal in the ACT. In NSW and WA it is legal only for health issues surrounding the mother, economic circumstances, fetal defects, mental health issues, rape and apparently social factors and also in WA up to 20 weeks. In SA, NT, and Tasmania the law does not allow abortion for economic and social factors. SA allows abortion for those factors up to 23 weeks. Finally Queensland, which has the strictest abortion laws in the country does not allow an abortion for fetal defects, the only exception is if the baby would die soon after birth anyway.

Each state has other requirements like mandatory counselling in WA, to the abortion must be performed in a hospital and be approved by two physicians (SA).

Seriously, it takes 5 minutes to even do the most basic search on the subject.

PROSTITUTION

In Queensland, private sex work and prostitution in a brothel are legal; however, unlicensed brothels and massage parlors used for prostitution are strictly prohibited….oh now you pretend to have a standard! You aren’t fooling anyone!

In New South Wales, prostitution is legal except near churches, schools, hospitals and similar venues. Does anyone else see the big elephant standing in the middle of the room here? Anyone….anyone? You upside down people think that if you keep it from the eyes of church-goers and children that the Lord can’t see you? Oh, how totally wrong you are!

Hebrews 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

What idiocy we see here. In Phelps' world there wouldn't be prostitution possibly. That's assuming that his secret sex stopping police aren't corrupt or anything. If the crime world has taught us anything it's that no matter what you do you will still have crime, even in the most puritanical society that you could conceive of.

The fact is that in Queensland has a standard, and it would work a hell of a lot better then a WBC "standard". We know that organised crime will find a way to take control of illegal business, just look at the US during Prohibition, and they have far fewer standards then the Queensland government would.

I honestly would have thought that they would have mentioned SA here. Just to clarify, wheras our interstate counterparts have a vague idea of what should be done we don't. Essentially the police ignore the law regarding prostitution unless the brothels do something illegal that isn't prostitution and then they do something. It's all because we have a large enough section of parliament who want to keep it illegal and the Rann government doesn't want to revisit the issue.

Until last year WA had a strange situation where the brothels were located in certain places with the tacit approval of the police, then they passed legislation that decriminalised it.

Your "big elephant" only seems to apply to those who believe in a God. What a stupid elephant. Then again this is the WBC, what do you expect?

ADOPTION

Fags are allowed to adopt children in the Australian Capitol Territory and Western Australia. Stepparent adoption is allowed in Tasmania….um…..ok!?! There are still certain provinces in Australia that don’t allow same-sex couples to adopt children….it won’t be long before that will change! These evil beasts aren’t satisfied until everyone bows down to their disgusting lusts!

Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Firstly, we don't have provinces, we have states and territories. Get it right, we aren't Canada.

Second, I can see that you seem to be talking about SA (NT is no apart from "exceptional circumstances"). Of course you are, since we are backwards land. We must be some sort of ideal state for you, if only we weren't part of that fag loving rest of Australia right?

And why shouldn't it change? I don't see the problem at hand, and I think that it is wrong that we aren't doing something about it here in SA. Many of the other states have laws that allow adoption of some sort or another, so why shouldn't we?

By the sounds of this it seems that WBC believes that gay people are also paedophiles, I had no idea. I thought paedophiles were paedophiles.

Bible quote wise I'm guessing that they consider us to be Judah, the nation that the verse is referring to.

So we've reached the end of this first page of filth, just four more to go. Part 2 may be found here.

WBC, Hatred and the Victorian Bushfires

I should have been more detailed in my research, and I would have found what I wanted.

When I wrote this post I had initially wanted to see what the Westboro Baptist Church had to say and compare that to what Danny Nalliah had to say.

Turns out he's coming to Australia. I'm guessing that he would have already arrived by now so he can be nice and fresh for the picket tomorrow, on the national day of mourning.

Don't believe me, read their press release.

This just infuriates me. I think that I am lucky that I'll be in Adelaide while they are wherever the hell they happen to be, which is Melbourne.

I found a website too, God Hates Australia, part of the "God hates the world" portal thingy. As far as I can tell it does belong to the WBC, the link to the American one is exactly the same as the link from the main WBC site.

It's funny how religious people can boil down the fires into "God's punishment for X" or "God's punishment against X". To Catch The Fire Ministries it's abortion that God killed all those people for, but to WBC it's homosexuals.

If God hated abortion then why weren't the fires only affecting places where abortions can be given "Pastor" Nalliah, and if the fires were, as you claim Phelps, God's hatred of homosexuals then why didn't it affect areas that are known for homosexuality instead of just some vast swathe of Victoria?

And these people wonder why they are criticised so harshly.