Free Republic

-- Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages to a grieving father smiled as they walked out of the courtroom, vowing that the verdict would not deter them from protesting at military funerals. Members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags." "Absolutely, don't you understand this was an act in futility?" said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church. The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality....

Father: Funeral protest made him sick By ALEX DOMINGUEZ Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 10/25/2007 10:24:57 AM EDTBALTIMORE -- The father of a Marine killed in Iraq took the stand in his invasion of privacy suit against a fundamentalist church that pickets soldiers' funerals, saying protesters carrying signs at his son's burial made him sick to his stomach. Albert Snyder said Wednesday he had hoped for a private funeral for his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. "They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family," Snyder testified. "They wanted their message heard and they...

Men and women of the Patriot Guard Riders have one main mission: Show respect for soldiers killed in war and shield the mourning families and friends from protesters. Protests and military funerals President Bush signed a law on Memorial Day banning protests within 300 feet of national cemeteries. Last month, he said it "ensures that families of fallen service members will not have to endure protests during military funerals." Florida law also states that anyone who willfully interrupts or disturbs a military funeral honors detail commits a first-degree misdemeanor. On Saturday, the men and women of this national motorcyclists organization...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas church group that protests at military funerals nationwide filed suit in federal court, saying a Missouri law banning such picketing infringes on religious freedom and free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo., on behalf of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, which has outraged mourning communities by picketing service members' funerals with signs condemning homosexuality. The church and the Rev. Fred Phelps say God is allowing troops, coal miners and others to be killed because the United States tolerates gay men and...

BEEBE, Ark. (AP) - Counter-protesters worried that members of a Kansas Baptist church would disrupt a soldier's funeral Wednesday exceeded the number of family members and friends who came out to mourn. A counter-protester was detained briefly but no other incidents were reported. Six members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., carrying signs reading "Don't Worship the Dead" and "God Is Your Enemy," gathered near the First Baptist Church of Beebe to protest the funeral of Spec. Bobby West, who was killed by a roadside bomb May 30. Arkansas in April passed a law prohibiting protests within...

Associated Press | May 25, 2006 WASHINGTON - Demonstrators would be barred from disrupting military funerals at national cemeteries under Legislation approved by Congress and sent to the White House Wednesday. The measure, passed by voice vote in the House hours after the Senate passed an amended version, specifically targets a Kansas church group that has staged protests at military funerals around the country, claiming that the deaths were a sign of God's anger at U.S. tolerance of homosexuals. The act "will protect the sanctity of all 122 of our national cemeteries as shrines to their gallant dead," Senate Majority...

Wiping away tears and clutching a picture of her dead son, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq begged state lawmakers Thursday to limit protests at funerals, saying no parent should have to go through what she went through when she buried her son last November. Julie MacKenzie said a group of protesters from a Kansas church showed up with signs that said "Thank God for dead soldiers" and other messages for those who attended the funeral for her 20-year-old son, Tyler... trying to balance the free-speech rights of protesters and the rights of families to mourn peacefully and...

E-mail Author Send to a Friend Version March 23, 2006, 7:30 a.m. Burying Funeral Protests What does the law say? By Eugene Volokh Fred Phelps has pioneered the charming practice of protesting people's funerals. It began with picketing funerals of gays while carrying signs saying things like "God Hates Fags." It then moved on to picketing funerals of soldiers with signs saying things like "Thank God for 9/11" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" (the theory being that God is punishing America for its toleration of homosexuality). There is a move afoot in some cities and states to ban...