Photo Credit: demotivationalposters.org

The smaller text above reads, "NOTE: The Ku Klux Klan, LLC. has not or EVER will have ANY connection with The 'Westboro Baptist Church'. We absolutely repudiate their activities."

Loath as we are to admit it, America has long played host to hate groups. For a nation that was, supposedly, born from brotherhood and democratic cooperation, at least some of us put a lot of energy into antagonizing and hating “the others.” Throughout our history, hate groups have clashed with compassionate Americans. But when have these groups ever gone against one another? When has fire directly fought fire?

Two such groups did go head to head recently. Last Tuesday, three members of the Topeka-born Westboro Baptist Church protested funerals at Arlington National Cemetery while President Obama and others paid respects to soldiers interred there. The WBC members at Arlington acted in their usual fashion, waving garish signs declaring that “God Hates Your Prayers” and Americans ought to “Pray for More Dead Soldiers.” Also in their usual fashion, the WBC members raised anger and disgust amongst others at Arlington, attracting counterprotesters, which included members of the Klan.

Yes, the KKK protested the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Yes, the Ku Klux Klan, that all-American cult of racial hatred, white supremacy and radical nationalism, whose beginnings lie with the grudges of bitter Confederate veterans, whose crimes against humanity include nigh innumerable lynchings, murders, and beatings, and whose terror and bigotry have created an empire of fear over a great deal of the South and those living it, thought that the Westboro Baptist Church had gone too far.

It does seem somewhat odd that a historic, well-documented, stalwart institution like the KKK would get riled about a couple of Westboro homophobes, let alone expend the effort to stage a counterprotest. Back in April 2010, it “denounced” the WBC, but that was more of a passive, self-preserving move by the Klan to avoid affiliation with the fanatics out there.

However, it seems that this demonstration in Arlington by the WBC touched a nerve with the Klan, or at least the “Imperial Wizard” of its Washington, D.C. chapter, Dennis LaBonte.

“I’m a veteran,” said LaBonte to CNN on the day of the protest. “I spent nine-and-a-half years in the military. I’ve got brothers and sisters that are buried in this cemetery. I think it’s an absolute shame that [the WBC] show up and disrupt people’s funerals.”

It’s rare to see a hate group leader with a sense of morality, or at least a generally accepted one (such as respecting the gravesites of fallen soldiers). It’s uncommon to see that same hate group leader appear to be the more levelheaded, sympathetic individual of a pair. And it’s especially surprising that the Westboro Baptist Church– a fledgling, 50-year-old institution in comparison to the century-plus-old Klan– has caused the Imperial Wizard himself to shake his head in dismay.

As for the WBC’s response to the KKK, one member, Abigail Phelps, daughter of the church’s leader, Fred Phelps, commented that the Klan “have no moral authority on anything. The Bible doesn’t say anywhere that it’s an abomination to be born of a certain gender or race.”

So, the Bible does not condemn certain races or genders. Why is that? Could it be perhaps that someone cannot help as to what race or gender they are born?

If that is the case, why should that philosophy not extend to other spheres of humanity that cannot be helped, such as sexuality? Race cannot be helped. Gender cannot be helped. Sexuality cannot be helped. Why not lump the three together and combine them into an overarching principle of theological reasoning: The Bible doesn’t say anywhere that it’s an abomination to be born of a certain gender or race. Given new intellectual insight on the matter of abominations and the preventability thereof, we shall add sexuality to that as well. Look for the Sexuality Tolerance Clause in the Book’s new edition, which shall be released sometime between the fourth and fifth Raptures.

Biblical interpretation aside, this understated battle between Klan and ‘Boro represents a great change in bigoted American society.

The throne has been ascended.

The torch has been passed.

The Westboro Baptist Church has replaced the Ku Klux Klan as America’s Greatest and Sorriest Ragtag Cesspool of Scumbags.

To translate that to a more personal level: Congratulations, Dennis LaBonte. You are a more compassionate human being than Fred Phelps. You have been staggeringly damned by the faintest of all possible praise.

As for Mr. Phelps, your prize of a rainbow-painted flaming cross shall soon arrive in the mail. However, you will be charged for postage. It is a gift from the thousands of soldiers– gay and straight– who have died for this country, as well as the millions of gay adolescents and adults through the ages who have been killed and driven to suicide by prejudice, and they’re having somewhat of a hard time getting their finances in order.

Note: In no way has the KKK redeemed itself for the atrocities it committed in the past. This incident at Arlington only shows that it has been, at least in this instance, surpassed in callousness by a similarly vile institution. Both of these groups, the Ku Klux Klan and Westboro Baptist Church, represent an intolerable and unnecessary amount of hatred in America and loyalties of the M-A Bear News do not lie with either of them.