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Ear to the Ground

Homophobic Church Ordered to Pay $10.9M for Picketing Funeral

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Posted on Oct 31, 2007
Church demonstrator
airamerica.com

A member of the Westboro Baptist Church holds up signs bearing a couple of the church’s typical slogans.

A Maryland court has ordered leaders of Kansas’ fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church to pay almost $11 million in damages to Albert Snyder, the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.  Snyder sued the controversial church after members picketed his son’s funeral in March 2006.


CNN.com:

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags.”

A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.

But the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.

The church and three of its leaders—the Rev. Fred Phelps and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, 46—were found liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress.

Snyder claimed the protests intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.

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By CICI, November 18, 2007 at 2:39 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

What a bunch of idiots those people are, I’m glad they lost and they are the only ones that are gonna burn in hell cause God hates them!

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By Ga, November 2, 2007 at 3:53 am #

*sigh* Those who will site “free speech” regarding this case should be reminded that there are many instances where “speech” is decidely NOT protected by the First Amendment.

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By purplewolf, November 1, 2007 at 10:12 pm #

These creatures descended in my area of the country a few years back when all the church burning was at it’s height.They came to disrupt three funerals in the area of three of our service people killed in Iraq. They made a mockery of and totally ruined an already tragic event five miles south of me. The funeral servive was shouted down, these religious nutjobs threatened the people who attended. A few days later about eight miles west of me,the second funeral in less than a week for this downed warrior took place. We had some of the local motorcycle groups assist in holding up tarp baracades to shield the funeral services from this group of sickos.The third event I didn’t hear how that went,to much censorship on the victims of George Bushes Folly you know.After the third time they disrupted a funeral service the state passed a bill making this activity illegal and it seemed to work as this group left and I haven’t heard much about them in our state since. It’s about time they pay up for the added cost of police to hold these idiots at bay, the emotional stress they add to an already bad situation. How would they like it if the regular people did the same thing to these Westboro misguided crazies when they have a similar thing happen to them.But,being the god freaks that they are,I am certain no one in their church would volunteer for the military.They just hide in their hole in the ground and only come out to reek havoc.

That was about the time three people were arrested for the church burnings and I felt that it was to bad that these arsonist couldn’t have ended on a high note by taking out the Westboro Baptist Church before they were caught.

Okay god freaks: If you dance to the music you gotts pay to the piper.PAY UP!

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By michael, November 1, 2007 at 6:03 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I was wondering about the statement that this one lady was protesting for the church while standing on the american flag .  I am quiet sure the necons are just as upset as I am . I am postive in the next few days we will a surge of support for some amendment to make this illegal or condmen this intorable act.  OH I forgot when one of their wacko christian right wingers do this its ok

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By False Patriots, November 1, 2007 at 5:00 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Atleast they are doing something.  It may lack some taste, but all you do is lip service while the NWO gets bigger and stronger.  What about the amount of people the army muder, rape and torture, I guess that’s okay because its our american way.  They are murders but hide behind Bush and company command - they are causing world destuction but we have so sit on our asses and be patriotic or else its a no no.  If we complain then we are ungrateful cause they are risking there lives - we are no lonnger the freedom fighters but the terroist of this world.

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By desertdude, November 1, 2007 at 4:05 pm #

These people give Christanity a bad name. They are
nothing but bigots. I am glad that they have to pay. Maybe now true Christians won’t be blamed for what stupid bigots do.

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By reyme, November 1, 2007 at 4:05 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Thank you all for your comments for I realized I was torn in my feelings about the decison. As my mother died not long ago,it was easy to feel the pain on top of the grief the family endured with those particular loony pickets. But it reminded me of a ACLU case quite a number of years ago as to whether Neo-Nazis had a right to march. If we restrict one group’s free speech who else gets restricted? I think if there was a public meeting place in every town where whomever wanted could hold signs or give a speech on whatever topic ,perhaps at least the families could mourn in peace.

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By tomack, November 1, 2007 at 4:01 pm #

Now they can practice all the free speech they want—in the poor house. These people are despicable, and take free speech to the verge of criminality. I am very happy they lost—so far—this case. It’s only unfortunate that they are not doing a little time behind bars as well.

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By ms, November 1, 2007 at 1:10 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I was SO happy to hear of this decision.  Maybe like that small group of white supremisists in Idaho a few years back, this group can be forced out of existence financially.  However, I don’t think they are a group of “misguided” christians.  They are evidence of the radical, brainwashed form a person can take when deprived of independent thought and forced to conform to a simplistic, fundamentalist way of life.  There is no difference between people like this and the so-called Islamo-Fascists we are being programmed to fear right now.  Americans who value their rights to live as they choose need to wake up to the fact that a good percentage of people in this country want our government to enforce their view of morality on all of us.  This group might seem extreme, but how many of their values and their warped ways of thinking are being preached from pulpits all over the country?

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By Akira_Maritias, November 1, 2007 at 12:58 pm #

Spot on, Logician!

The Westboro church has been doing this for quite a while; they picketed a few other gays and even had to make some signs for bikers because bikers started protecting the gay funerals by revving their engines to drown out their terrible words and waving American flags.

You notice that nary a single church has said ‘that’s wrong’. It’s always the individuals defending their religion, and only when this reaches the top of the headlines. Once it trickles down, the Christians will forget, and the hate will spread.

Keep in mind that the Westboro Church is saying pretty much what most Republican Christians say, just much more loudly and with far more violence.

Appalling, really. I hope God lets me, an atheist girl, spit in all of their faces, swear at them, kick them, then we can all take a fun trip down to hell so I can beat the crap out of them, and maybe God’ll give me a few days in heaven as a reward for hurting those sick bastards that slandered his name.

Honestly, it’s this kind of hate that makes me shake my head at religion the most.

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By Conservative Yankee, November 1, 2007 at 11:32 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Just for me… I want Nazis picketing my funeral.  I want signs saying “thank god for cancer, another dead Jew.” I want my death to show other people who these folks are, and give the people like myself a “warning” to avoid these folks, and watch them.

The real beauty of free speech is; One gets to see people as they really are.

Correcting the first amendment by forcing these folks into the closet is (IMHO) the wrong approach.

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By rowman, November 1, 2007 at 11:11 am #

This is nothing more than a group misguided “Christians” and they should not be viewed as a representative of the Christian church.

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Note that God is love. Not that he is like love, or reminiscent of love He is love!

Whatever is detestable is Gods eyes is for him to judge. Not you or I or anyone else.

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By Logician, November 1, 2007 at 11:08 am #

Eeeyow!

I can’t add a thing to the obvious sense of the previous posts.

By the way, if you all checked out their site (know your enemy, after all!) Phelps’ gang praise god for the deaths in the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, cause the mayor didn’t give the closest queer Phelps the key to city when he jerked off over the city’s acknowledgement that gays are people, too.

Just another wonderful example of why mankind will NEVER evolve until ALL religions, new age mumbo jumbo spiritualism, etc, etc, et nauseating cetera, are eradicated.  The pure malevolent shit that is produced by magical thinking FAR outweighs ANY benefit it has EVER produced. (Actually there has NEVER been any benefit that I know of, but I know there are less evolved humans out there who, gosh darn it all, just can’t live without the drooling comfort of following some schizophrenic psychopath’s make believe creation story…)

Anyway, it just fascinates me that if there are REALLY so many “religious” people who disagree with these biblical literalists, why are NO, repeat NO churches ANYWHERE taking public action to do something about them?  Come on, you know why!  They AGREE, they’re just too chickenshit to do the actual protesting themselves. 

Just like the “moderate” Muslims who just “deplore” the jihadists, but just can’t seen to get themselves together enough to do anything about it.  Religion is shit, no matter which psycho-nut-job-crap you drool over, and the hate will not end until religion does.

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By Donovan, November 1, 2007 at 9:36 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I fucking hate religious people.

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By W. Chambers, November 1, 2007 at 8:51 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The picketing by the leaders of Kansas’ fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church at the funeral of Lance Cpl Snyder was pure evil.  Satan must be pleased with them.

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By thomas billis, November 1, 2007 at 7:55 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I am sorry I am going down as a purist.The free speech that is hardest to defend is the one that makes you sick to your stomach.This example for me surely falls into that category.If we do not stand for free speech what do we stand for.Somebody has got to stand for the ConstitutionYou cannot accuse the other side of trampling on the Constitution when they attack things they do not like and then when we do not like it we trample on it again.I may be living in a dreamworld but I am going to continue on as if this nightmare can only end if more good people take stands on the Constitution.Free speech is basic and to quote someone much smarter than I"I may disagree with what you say but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.”

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By cyrena, November 1, 2007 at 12:07 am #

Well ya know, as soon as I read this, I decided that this gang would be a perfect target for the new HR 1955 law that the House so overwhelmingly passed last week. The one on the prevention of “Homegrown Terrorists”.

The ‘Thought Crime Bill” that makes it overwhelmingly illegal to indulge in any violence of a religious or political nature. Now of course it wasn’t written with THESE terrorists in mind, but rather those ‘others’ that we’ve bashed around for the past 7 years. Those Islamics and stuff.

But hey, I read the language, and decided it would be a perfect way to rid us of all THESE types. Might not be such a bad idea after all. Through their asses in the pokey, and let ‘em keep their signs. They can use them on each other.

(I’m glad to know they were fined. THAT has been the traditional remedy, and it works quite well, but I’d still like to see ‘em in the slammer).

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By Bert, November 1, 2007 at 12:06 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I guess one benefit of this is that it kind of
showcases some of the homegrown yahoos that we’ve
got in the dear ol’ Yew Ess Ayyy, normally I have
no grievance with the Churchies, comma, when they
try to go on a social engineering tear and develop
A Serious Case Of Stupid, well, then there’s kind
of a problem.

I doubt any of em would be able to really recite
from the Founding Father’s hallowed documents with
any real accuracy either, and just at the point
where they put ‘god’ and ‘hate’ in the same sentence,
well, if the Almighty WAS still sticking around,
I’m pretty sure there would have been some
spontaneous Rapture-like events only with smoke
and lightning and stuff, kind of like a bugzapper,
but on a somewhat larger scale. It’s kind of widely
theorized that the Exalted Being took off and went
fishing or something, left a ‘back in 3 days’ note,
and that was a couple decades ago. If these are
the people tying up the prayer line all the time,
would YOU answer?

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By WykydRed, October 31, 2007 at 10:47 pm #

Couldn’t have said it better, Rae.

I know, it puts another restriction on Free Speech, and I hate that fact, but so many restrictions have already been put on the First Amendment, including the rights of other religions to practice freely, what the hell. The world’s in the toilet anyway. At least a very large turd went first.

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By RAE, October 31, 2007 at 10:40 pm #

I’m a pacifist. I would never kill any living thing that wasn’t threatening my life. I abhor violence in all forms.

However, I would give a standing ovation to the news that the “Phelps Gang” - those hate-filled, holier-than-thou, mentally defective hypocrites from the Westboro Baptist Church - were “helped” to meet their Maker by “unnatural forces.”

I can’t think of a more offensive, obnoxious, odious group of loathesome ignoramuses than they have proven to be.

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By Cholo, October 31, 2007 at 10:02 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The idea of people born in America openly abusing the freedoms this country guarantees, to hate in the name of some god, makes the idea of a constitutional amendment allowing to shoot these bastards on sight actually very palatable.

If there is a god, and if He indeed punishes those who sin, God saves us for the punishment reserved for America for letting these cretins roam our beloved country.

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