The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. announced on Twitter Sunday plans to picket Marquette’s campus Dec. 8 from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m.
The church describes itself on its website as strongly adhering to the Bible’s teachings. “(We) preach against all form of sin (e.g., fornication, adultery [including divorce and remarriage], sodomy), and insist that the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace be taught and expounded publicly to all men,” its website states.
The tweet, directed at the Tribune and Marquette’s twitter accounts, included a press release picture from the church. “Tell us why the media is telling this despicable tale: Teacher to student: ‘If you don’t support gay marriage, drop my class’? Why are your students publishing junk-law articles on the subject of fag marriage if (Marquette) is a ‘Christian’ school?” the press release states.
The press release refers to an incident that occurred earlier in November during philosophy doctoral student Cheryl Abbate’s Theory of Ethics class.
“To explore (philosopher John Rawls’s equal liberty principle), Abbate asked students to name possible violations of the principle, such as laws that require seat belts and laws that prevent people from selling their own organs,” according to an article from Inside Higher Education. “When one student suggested that a ban on gay marriage violated the principle, Abbate quickly moved on to the next topic, as there were more nuanced examples to discuss before the end of class,” according to the Inside Higher Education article.
The incident was first reported in a blog post from associate political science professor John McAdams, since the unidentified student reported it to him, before being picked up nationally by various news outlets.
“After the class, another student approached Abbate to tell her that he was ‘very disappointed’ and ‘personally offended’ that she hadn’t considered his classmate’s example about gay marriage more thoroughly,” according to the student’s recording of the conversation, which Insider Higher Education obtained. “The student said he had seen data suggesting that children of gay parents ‘do a lot worse in life,’ and that the topic merited more conversation.”
Abbate disagreed, according to the student’s recording, and the conversation ended with the student saying “it’s still wrong for the teacher of a class to completely discredit one person’s opinion when they may have different opinions” and that it is the student’s “right as an American citizen” to challenge the idea.
Abbate responded by saying the student didn’t “have the right, especially (in an ethics class,) to make homophobic comments or racist comments,” according to the recording. She also invited the student to drop her class if he disagreed.
The Westboro Baptist Church is publicly known for its extreme anti-homosexual views and pickets that have included “God hates fags” signs. Its beliefs and actions have been explored through a few documentaries, including 2007’s Fall from Grace.
