Could the Westboro Baptists Ironically be helping the LGBT movement

Possibly, but certainly not intentionally. The stories from people who've left the "church" proves that. What I don't understand is why they aren't called as, and treated as, a cult. It's weird, I guess that's Christian privilege?

 

Well, the bigoted Christian right ARE insane and irrational, but do a good job of covering that up occasionally. The WBC are so far right they're being scowled at by the aliens whose planet they're invading, so don't really do a good job of garnering support.

And while they may do a great service by discrediting the opposition, I wouldn't complain if their church was crushed by a precisely-placed meteor strike.

 

No, they simply force the more mainstream opponents to gay rights to use softer rhetoric. The Westboro Baptist Church are depicted as the fringe of the Christian right, but their views on gay rights are representative of an awful lot of Christian people.

 

I would disagree with that thesis. The WBC has set itself apart as tasteless because they protest at military funerals, which raises the hackles of the patrioritic right. As Mogget has pointed out before, when the WBC limited itself to AIDS victims, nobody cared.

A substantial minority of Americans do share WBC's view that homosexuality is immoral and should be punished (even if they disagree with WBC that the punishment should be death).

 

It's a really interesting point. But I don't think bigots will drop their beliefs because of louder and crazier bigots.

 

WBC is just a bunch of bigot assholes..... plain and simple

 

Quite frankly, they make it easier for churches such as the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and conservative Anglican ones to get away with saying homophobic/heterosexist remarks, because they can simply say that they're not as bad as the far-right Baptist and Pentecostal churches and their kind, of which the WBC is by far the most famous. It also takes away from the gravity of having many right-wing "super-church" networks that more quietly preach what is essentially the same message, given that they preach to enormous congregations that actually listen. So no, it does them discredit, but it certainly doesn't help LGBT, womens', or other religions' rights.