AP file photo, 2006

You may or may not know that the St. Louis area is host to the picketing of the Westboro Baptist Church today. Thankfully, it is one day only.

I know of several people who will attend– in order to counter demonstrate– in order to say, No, God doesn’t hate America, or soliders, or gay people.

A September 2009 AP story tells of a $5 million dollar lawsuit thrown out on first amendment grounds, of a the WBC picketing a slain soldier’s funeral.

This is the kind of stuff they do for fun.

They are convinced that most Christians, Jews, all gay people, and probably you and me are all going to roast in hell for eternity due to their particular interpretation of the Christian bible. For example, they claim that John 3:16 doesn’t apply to most people.

In case you’re interested in the counter demonstration, here’s the schedule:

2:10 PM - 2:40 PM Northwest High…

www.ucc.org

I‘ve been accused by someone within my denomination of assaulting the first amendment. He describes activities I’ve had a major role in as a “full-fledged assault on conservative media” – “an organized campaign . . . a carefully planned, well-funded systematic assault on talk radio and Fox News that involves at least seven major liberal American religious denominations.”

I’ve never seen myself as a part of something like that and I’ve never been described that way before. It brings home the talk about cyberpolarization — how we tend to use media that reinforces our own viewpoints and therefore are not aware of misinformation and are not sensitive to insults and accusations lacking objectivity and logic.

Jeffrey Lord (From The American Spectator)

And it gives me a lens from which to see how it works. It occurs to me that others might be interested in that view. So I’m going to first…