This story sickens me! This is what faith based belief teaches. Sure the protestors seem extreme in their actions, but they are getting their information from the Bible.

What is wrong with telling the world the truths about “God”? Don’t you know homosexuality is an abomination? Why wouldn’t God be the hand that is killing our troops? It all makes perfect sense if you believe the Bible to be the word of God.

How can so many deny that the Bible is hurtful literature?

Dallas News / CNN
Taken From:
(http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-funeralprotests_20tex.ART.North.Edition2.910c703.html)
(http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/21/funeral.motorcyclists.ap/)

Gay-hating church's protests at funerals provoke restrictions

Protests by preacher Fred Phelps, who demon- strated at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka earlier this month, are the target of legislation. The day before his town was to honor a local soldier killed in Iraq, Chief Hobbs received word that a Kansas church group would picket the funeral to promote its belief that the deaths of U.S. troops reflected God's wrath against America's tolerance of homosexuality.

"It was hard to take," he said. "These people were just unbelievable."

Such demonstrations by members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., and the publicity-loving Rev. Fred Phelps have led at least 14 states, from Vermont to Mississippi, to weigh measures that would make it more difficult to protest at funerals.

In Mr. Phelps' case, that means preventing funerals from being used as a platform for anti-gay messages. One fear is that the protests could lead to violence.

With help from two other police agencies, Chief Hobbs and his officers managed to keep the peace, even dissuading irate residents from taking matters into their own hands.

But the potential for violence didn't escape some Oklahoma lawmakers: They think it's time to restrict what they regard as hate speech and appalling behavior.

In Oklahoma, the Senate has passed a bill, and the House is expected to consider one this week, despite concerns that such laws could produce unintended consequences for free speech and assembly, not to mention costly, protracted legal challenges by church adherents.

Mr. Phelps, who has led the Westboro church since 1955, said state lawmakers know their proposals are "manifestly unconstitutional" and likely to be challenged in court.

"It's irresistible to these amoral, unprincipled demagogues masquerading as statesmen," he said. "The rabble is roused, and it's great politics.

"I doubt there's even one out of 1,000 that could even quote the First Amendment. They're blatantly un-American and lawless. That's the truth," he declared.

Mr. Phelps' group has protested during at least one Texas funeral, gathering outside Dimmitt's Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for the funeral of Sgt. Jacob "J.J." Dones, killed in Iraq on Oct. 20.

The Texas Funeral Service Commission said there are no laws restricting demonstrations at funerals in Texas.


According to experts, the Westboro church is primarily composed of members of Mr. Phelps' family and is not affiliated with mainstream Baptist organizations. Mr. Phelps, 76, is a disbarred attorney and father of 13.

His group has trumpeted its anti-gay message in many contexts, many of which have no explicit connection to homosexuality. From the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 to the Columbia shuttle disaster, any occasion in which Americans are killed is interpreted by the group as divine retribution for tolerance of gays.

For example, the group's adherents showed up recently at a memorial service for 14 West Virginia coal miners who died in two separate January accidents.

Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, a retired Army chaplain co-writing one of the Oklahoma measures, said state lawmakers and elected officials from Vermont to California have requested copies of his measure, all hoping to defuse "an inflammatory situation."

He decided to pursue a new law last summer after learning the group picketed outside the funeral of Army Spc. Jared Hartley in Newkirk, a town of 2,000 or so near the Kansas border, about 90 minutes north of Oklahoma City.

"It could have gone either way," said Chief Hobbs. "It was pretty volatile there for a while. Thank God it didn't turn out to be a free-for-all."

When Mr. Wesselhoft made public his proposed legislation, Westboro members showed up at his church, the First Southern Baptist Church of Del City, Okla., protesting outside Sunday services.

Mr. Phelps said his church "couldn't have asked for a more effective" means to spread its message than for "these legislatures to get in a furor" over the funeral protests.

He likened the legislative responses to the Muslim outcry over a Danish newspaper's cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad, noting that he grabbed headlines this month when he referred to Kentucky lawmakers as "the Kentucky Taliban."

"God is through with this country," Mr. Phelps said. "It is now Brokeback Mountain territory. This nation is doomed.

"It's a powerful message, and it needs to be delivered," he declared.

Counterdemonstrators have shown up at many of the funerals where Westboro members picket. About 100 bikers were at the Del City church, revving their engines to drown out the Westboro protesters' comments.

Both the Oklahoma measures seek to restrict the time and location of funeral protests – establishing, for example, 500-foot buffer zones from the property lines of funeral homes, churches, mosques, cemeteries or other locations where services are under way.

The House version would prohibit demonstrations two hours before, during and two hours after services. The Senate-passed plan would ban protests an hour before, during and four hours afterward.

Both would make violations a misdemeanor under Oklahoma law. Proposed penalties include a range of possible fines – from $500 to $2,500 – and possible jail terms – from 30 days to 60 days – depending on which plan is approved.

The House could take up its version this week. A joint House-Senate conference committee may be necessary to iron out differences between the two.

"This is an inflammatory situation," said Mr. Wesselhoft, who is from Moore, a south Oklahoma City suburb. "I'm surprised somebody hasn't been hurt. I'm very concerned about it."

But Mark Thomas, executive director of the Oklahoma Press Association, sounded a cautionary note during a House hearing.

While stressing his trade organization representing the state's newspapers is not opposed to the measure, he reminded lawmakers that constitutionally they cannot restrict groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church without also banning counterdemonstrators – some of whom, for example, might want to show support for troops.


State lawmakers insist they are not proposing new limits on free speech and assembly without giving careful thought.

"I'm a strong supporter of the First Amendment," Mr. Wesselhoft said. "We cannot regulate content of speech – but we can regulate time, distance and manner.

"This is for families, grieving, laying their loved ones to rest. They have a right to do it without harassment."