Gallagher’s fury had not a little to do with the semantic choices that Westboro has made-and which have made it famous. At a protest against New York State’s legalization of gay marriage, I witnessed Maggie Gallagher, a pugnacious, Roman Catholic leader of the anti-gay-marriage lobby, scream at a group of Westboro members: “You blaspheme the name of Christ!” No church is more disliked by homosexuals, their allies, and even other Christians who would never ordinarily align with the gay rights movement. No congregation in the world spends as much time preaching against homosexuality as this small Topeka band of believers. And no institution has been more associated with being extremist and anti-gay than Westboro Baptist Church. Nearly all former Christians I interviewed cited judgmental behavior as one of the push factors that sent them running from the church.
But gradually over the last few decades, the word Christian has become associated with condemnation. There are social justice Christians, moral crusader Christians, Christians who believe in “Jesus-as-good-man-but-no-more,” and those who hold to a “Jesus-is-the-only-way” Christianity. The term Christian means radically different things to different people. Excerpted from the book "Does Jesus Really Love Me?"
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