Westboro to Panama City May 19th, May 26, May 28
So this isn’t a happy post, but in my opinion, an important one.
850ME is meant to be a place that has a positive impact on our community at large. Sometimes that means making sure the community knows about something… in this case the planned visits of “The Westboro Baptist Church” on May 19th, 26th, and 28th. If you never heard of them, I’ll let Wikipedia’s introduction paragraph do the heavy lifting:
An American independent Baptist church known for its extreme ideologies, especially those against gay people.[2][3] The church is widely described as a hate group[4] and is monitored as such by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.
It is a Catch-22 with Westboro. One of their primary goals is attention, and even by me taking the time to write this post they achieve that goal. But inaction is worse in my opinion. Whether you are able to be there or just make sure the word gets out – it doesn’t matter. It is all an action towards showing Westboro that we are a strong community who won’t stand for hate.
The current itinerary is:
MAY 19
First United Methodist Church in Panama City, FL May 19, 2013 9:20 AM – 9:55 AM
First Baptist Church in Panama City, FL May 19, 2013 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
St. Dominic Catholic Church in Panama City, FL May 19, 2013 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM
MAY 26
St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Panama City, FL May 26, 2013 9:45 AM – 10:15 AM
Victory Baptist Church in Panama City, FL May 26, 2013 10:20 AM – 10:50 AM
North Star Church in Panama City, FL May 26, 2013 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM
May 28
Tyndall Airforce Base in Panama City, FL May 28, 2013 12:15PM – 1:00PM
Bay Highschool in Panama City, FL May 28,2013 1:45 PM – 2:30PM
There is an Facebook event page if you are interested as well.
Usually they ‘protest’ at funerals, but I just held my breath and waded through their website and every mention about coming to Panama City is general hate-speak not affiliated with a specific event or funeral. Which, I would consider good news as I really can’t fathom what it takes to be vile enough to impede on a grieving family.
P.S. As a metal fan, nothing would make me happier than seeing a sea of Slayer shirts. Can we buy them in bulk somewhere?
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