States move to bar protests at soldiers’ funerals

MSNBC ^ | 02-06-06 | AP

[jecIIny]

States move to bar protests at soldiers’ funerals Fundamentalists’ picketing may provoke clash of privacy, free speech rights The Associated Press Updated: 8:48 p.m. ET Feb. 6, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio - States are rushing to limit when and where people may protest at funerals — all because of a small fundamentalist Kansas church whose members picket soldiers’ burials, arguing that Americans are dying for a country that harbors homosexuals.

During the 1990s, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., went around picketing the funerals of AIDS victims with protest signs that read, “God Hates Fags.” But politicians began paying more attention recently when church members started showing up at the burials of soldiers and Marines killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[jecIIny]

At least one other article was posted a day or two ago on the efforts of one state. This is a bit broader in its scope. These people make my blood boil. I am seriously shocked that serious violence has not happened as a result of these evil people.

[Paleo Conservative]

Here's their street address:

3701 W. 12th Street
Topeka, KS 66604-1730

Here is a link to a map of their street address.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&addtohistory=&formtype=address&searchtype=address&cat=&address=3701%20Sw%2012th%20St&city=Topeka&state=KS&zipcode=66604%2d1730&searchtab=home

Here's their mailing address:

Westboro Baptist Church
P.O. Box 1886
Topeka, KS 66601

[Mr. Blonde]

As disgusting as their behavior is, these laws will probably all be struck down eventually.

[conservative in nyc]

States are rushing to limit when and where people may protest at funerals — all because of a small fundamentalist Kansas church group of sleazeball lawyers whose members picket soldiers’ burials, arguing that Americans are dying for a country that harbors homosexuals.

There. I fixed it. The Westboro Baptist Church is as fundamentalist Christian as Buddhists, Jains and Sunni Muslims. Their "church" and protests are a front to shake down cities and towns who violate their "right" to protest.

[Theresawithanh]

That such laws even need to be made is a sad and disgusting commentary on what our society has become. Protesting at funerals, fergoshsakes! What happened to respect for the deceased and for their families?

[conservative in nyc]

And to further my point, from the article:

Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps’ daughter and an attorney for the church, said states cannot interfere with their message that the soldiers were struck down by God because they were fighting for a country that harbors homosexuals and adulterers.

Lawmakers are “trying to introduce something that will make them feel better about the holes we’re punching in the facade they live under,” Phelps-Roper said. “If they pass a law that gets in our way, they will be violating the Constitution, and we will sue them for that.”

[jecIIny]

This dude is not just a bigot. He is a criminal con artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Fred_Phelps

[I still care]

I wish they wouldn't call these people fundamentalists. When they say they are a baptist church, and call them fundamentalists, they give the wrong impression.

This group is a family cult. They are totally outside traditional Christianity.

[punster]

Wait until Fred Phelps dies. He will be wishing that he had invested in a set of asbestos underwear.

[speed_addiction]

Maybe at 600 maybe 700 yards. Just to see if I still have an eye.




What We Are About To Do Here Is What The Good Lord Would Call A Cleansing of the Wicked. I Call It A Good Old Fashioned Texas Ass Kicking.

[Welsh Rabbit]

I am seriously shocked that serious violence has not happened as a result of these evil people.

Just a matter of time, imo.

[conservative in nyc]

Thanks for the link. He's not just a bigot and a criminal con artist, but an Algore supporting (at least in the 80s and early 90s) Democrat who has literally coddled up to the likes of Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro. At least Castro was smart enough to rebuff his advances.

Every time an article calls him "right-wing" or a "fundamentalist Christian", we should point this out. Fred Phelps is neither right-wing nor Christian, in any sense of the word. He's an unstable, trouble making, criminal extortionist whose "church's" lawyers threaten to shake down anyone who dare oppose him. According to the link, he so scared off one Wichita police chief that the wimp wouldn't allow his officers to arrest the Westboro loonies even if they committed numerous crimes unless the crimes were violent.

[PalestrinaGal0317]

The WBC is nothing more than a gathering of slimeballs. However much it makes my blood boil, however, I would protect their right to be a bunch of east ends of westward-traveling equines (so long, of course, as they do not actually do anything illegal, ie, going into a place of worship and interrupting the funeral, etc, in which case they should be charged with the stiffest penalty possible).
I also would protect MY right to call my local Rolling Thunder chapter the millisecond that I heard that the WBC was planning a "protest" (read: desecration).

[oyez]

Just what I was thinking, some A'ole's ego is immense that he can't allow the deceased to have his last moment and the bereaved to have a funeral in peace. Its just not human.

[chmst]

The mailing address hmmm... Here in Albuquerque we have a free newspaper that has ads that are borderline soft core porn. Maybe I should stuff some of those ads in an envelope and send it to them. (^8

[vpintheak]

Shame it has to come to this. Decency has been tossed out the window a long time ago under the banner of "diversity" and "rights."

[Anti-Bubba182]

Below is a link with a lot about the sordid history of Fred Phelps.

Rev. Fred Phelps