Final answer:
The Westboro Baptist Church's interpretation of tragic events as divine punishment for tolerating homosexuality is an 'idiom of distress' within the cultural systems model, reflecting their specific cultural context and attitudes toward societal events.
Step-by-step explanation:
The interpretations of events and experiences by members of the Westboro Baptist Church, where any event leading to the death of American citizens is seen as an act of a wrathful God due to the society's tolerance of homosexuality, is called an idiom of distress. This concept is part of the cultural systems model, which analyzes how cultural context shapes the expression of personal distress and causal attributions of events. In various cultures, these idioms of distress can be communicated through specific phrases, actions, or displays recognized within that cultural group. The Westboro Baptist Church's view is an example of a cultural interpretation where societal events are perceived as divine retribution, which correlates with historically similar attitudes, like those during the AIDS epidemic where it was seen by some as God's punishment for tolerating homosexuals.