"We Need Something Different": Understanding Westboro Baptist Church’s Ministry of Rebuke through Empathic Research Methods

This article examines responses to the controversial picketing and media-savvy provocations of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). Since WBC’s conduct is widely perceived as cruel, people often respond with anger and animosity, which reinforce WBC’s self-representation as a persecuted church. Convers...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Publié dans:Journal of religious ethics
Auteur principal: Gray, Hillel ca. 20./21. Jh. (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Wiley-Blackwell [2020]
Dans: Journal of religious ethics
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Westboro Baptist Church / Provocation / Interview / Écoute / Empathie / Jugement moral / Rejet
RelBib Classification:AD Sociologie des religions
AG Vie religieuse
CA Christianisme
KBQ Amérique du Nord
KDG Église libre
NCC Éthique sociale
Sujets non-standardisés:B Westboro Baptist Church
B Listening
B comparative religious ethics
B Empathy
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Résumé:This article examines responses to the controversial picketing and media-savvy provocations of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). Since WBC’s conduct is widely perceived as cruel, people often respond with anger and animosity, which reinforce WBC’s self-representation as a persecuted church. Conversely, I have engaged Westboro Baptists in interviews that function as "bridging conversations." This methodology centers on critical-empathic listening, comparative religious ethics, and a disciplined restraint from expressing moral judgment. I argue that this response is supported by the data and understandings obtained, metapragmatic commentary, my rapport with churchgoers, and evidence of their empathy. In conclusion, I gauge the methodology’s risks and consider its expansion, for example, with undergraduates who have joined our conversations. In an era of polarized discourse, nonjudgmental listening is a counter-intuitive response that troubles entrenched binaries, including the public fashioning of WBC as a dehumanized enemy.
ISSN:1467-9795
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/jore.12308