Westboro Baptist Church Still Stupid, "Thank[s] God For Dead Soldiers"

[Seil]

Link



So I was reading TIME today - my copy of Shiny Things Inc. was back-ordered - and I past by this article. 'Cause the site won't show it in it's entirety, here's a different link:

Link!

What happened is that Albert Snyder's son, Matthew Snyder died in Iraq. When Matthew's body was brought back home, he had his funeral. The funeral route - the route the hearse takes to the cemetery - was plagued with a few protestors, each holding up signs like "God Hates Fags," and "Thank God For 9/11" - included among the protestors was a thirteen year old girl. These were people who flew over 1,000 miles to do this.

Matthew Snyder is not gay. However, the protestors are not protesting gays in the military - they're protesting against Americans continued acceptance of gay people. They're saying that God is punishing America for it.

Mr. Snyder, a little upset that people shouted that his son was going to hell during his funeral, sued the protestors. That link is to the court transcript. This one is to a story on the trial.

Snyder sued for emotional distress, while Westboro Baptist maintained a defence of free speech. Guess what - Westboro won:

Now, more than four years after his son died in a Humvee accident in Iraq, Snyder's legal battle is headed to the Supreme Court. And his tireless efforts have drawn support from across the country, including a wave of donations after he was ordered to pay the church's court costs – a $16,500 judgment that the congregation plans to use for more protests.

Well, Snyder won first - gaining a large sum in the millions of dollars, if I remember the TIME article correctly. But Westboro appealed, and won. The good news is that the fee has been paid more than full by supporters of Snyder and haters of the baptist church.

What the fuck. Terry Jones wants to burn qurans, and Westboro supporters are holding up signs saying "Thank God For 9/11."

There's just no words to describe the evil of the Phelps clan:

[Shyria Dracnoir]

You know, I'm all for individual rights, but endorsing forced sterilization of these kinds of stupid people is starting to look really appealing...

[Gregness]

Were I in the dad's shoes I would have sued too.




AFTER I put the entire lot of protestors in the hospital with a massive assbeating of course.

[POS Industries]

Originally Posted by Gregness

AFTER I put the entire lot of protestors in the hospital with a massive assbeating of course.

The problem is that this is precisely what they want you to do. It's a racket designed to try to incite people to violence against them so that they can sue pretty much everyone--you, the local police, the military, etc--and win money. It's exploitation of people's beliefs and emotions by a family of attorneys who figured out how to chase their own ambulances.

Westboro is not a church. It's a scam.

[Gregness]

Originally Posted by POS Industries

The problem is that this is precisely what they want you to do. It's a racket designed to try to incite people to violence against them so that they can sue pretty much everyone--you, the local police, the military, etc--and win money. It's exploitation of people's beliefs and emotions by a family of attorneys who figured out how to chase their own ambulances.

Westboro is not a church. It's a scam.

Yeah, I understand that completely.


Still, it'd feel damn good.

[Amake]

So God is actually terrorizing America to rid it of the gay plague. That is the story you're using to sell people on your church. I can't wait to pray to that holy spirit.

[Archbio]

It's exploitation of people's beliefs and emotions by a family of attorneys who figured out how to chase their own ambulances.

That seems to be the gist of it.

There's a lot of people expressing heinous opinions in the world, but I'm pretty sure most if not all of them aren't actively trying to get the hate directed at them, unlike those clowns who put a lot of effort into that and only that. They'll admit as such. It's an aberration that the idea that it's a "scam" explains very well.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

What the hell Westboro. This isn't going to help the Baptist Church. More like hurt it, a lot.

Jeez you don't do that at a guy's funeral, out in the open.

[Thadius]

Well. I, uh, seem to be conflicted here.

On the one hand, while I normally never even consider religion at all, I have to admit, I respect this church for its cunning and shrewdness. A part of me, a small part of me, hopes and wishes that the instances that are pulled out and shown to the world are not in fact representative of the majority of the rest of the church.

The only thing that's preventing me from walking however far/short a distance I would need to in order to join this cunning group is the SHEER BURNING HATRED this story and many more like it have managed to pull from me. And then I remember why I hate all religions, shrewd people or no:

I HATE intolerant people.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Thing is I always thought the Baptist was tolerant for gays/Lesbians.

Guess not from the looks of this. Unless it's just that one church.