365: Red; March 20, Death, Vindication, Rebirth

These are the shoes worn by the presenter at a talk given by someone I consider a close and loved friend. Two years ago, never in a million years did I imagine I'd ever be in the same country, let alone the same room, getting a hug from this guy. Life is bizarre and unpredictable.

I met my friend at a talk by another person, Christine Shelska, who was speaking about the Discovery Institute in the US. This is the group that has repackaged the ridiculous idea of creationism and calls it "intelligent design" and is foisting it on the minds of young children and changing the textbooks to boot. Ok. I'm done editorialising. My friend was at this talk. I could not believe he was there, that I could get anywhere near him, let alone shake his hand, and I was beyond stunned when, after this talk everyone was heading out for beers and I was invited along.

You will have heard the patriarch of the Westboro Baptist Church - otherwise known as the most hated family in America, or the God Hates Fags people. If you don't know about this family, click that link and read Louis Theroux's article. Louis has done two documentarys on this family and knows them very well.

My friend is a child of this madman. My friend suffered, as all his siblings have, harsh beatings and much abuse at the hands of their father, but worse, grew up in a highly skewed, weird, mind-bendy religious family. My friend literally ran from the house he grew up in at the stroke of midnight, the day he turned 18. He has struggled and been bitterly sad, and he has distrusted, self-medicated and struggled to be normal in a world that he was taught to loath and be terrified of.

In 2001, everything changed. The short story is this lovely, peaceful, soulful, sweet, honest and loving man - who is absolutely everything his father was not - has become one of the most influential and best known voices in the secular, humanist and atheist communities but also leads the charge against bigotry  and hate towards the LGBT community. I'll let you read up.

This is Nate's statement following the death of the man who was his father:
http://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/pages/PhelpsPR

I'm very happy to know him.