Posted on 06/04/2006 4:22:58 AM PDT by Elkiejg
The father of a Westminster Marine killed in Iraq is planning to file a civil lawsuit against a religious extremist group that picketed at his son's funeral.
The suit, to be filed in the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on Monday morning, will claim the protesters intentionally disrupted the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in March and inflicted emotional harm on the family, according to Sean Summers, a York, Pa.-based lawyer involved in the case.
Albert Snyder will be suing the Rev. Fred Phelps and unnamed members of his Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, Summers said Friday.
Members of the church picketed outside of St. John Catholic Church during Snyder's funeral service, displaying signs that read "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "Semper Fi Fags." The group claims the death of Snyder and other U.S. troops is God's retribution for what it calls America's tolerance of homosexual activity.
Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in a noncombat vehicle accident in the Al Anbar province of Iraq on March 3.
You beat me to it. But add to that 17-23 as well apply. Nothing they are doing is authorized in scripture.
Matthew 7:15-23 (NIV)
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Most of Phelps's family are lawyers - he is trained as one as well, but he's been disbarred.
It's tough to fight when you pay your lawyer at retail rates, but your opponent gets his legal services at wholesale.
This is what's kept the Phelps scam going for so long.
Good Lord.
Phelps has had his nameplate waiting in hell for some time now, I reckon.
Hopefully the suit will sue severally and individually as well.
Nice fantasy. Except in this case it has repeated been proven not to be. So now what do you do?
I like solving my own problems -
And this is just what they are doing, solving their own problem in the real world.
Doing nothing is a sign of weakness that will only encourage bigger attacks.
You're right, I thought about that after I posted it. That's worse.
Well what do you want him to do Hit? Punch him out? Not that I wouldn't like to see that.
One word:
Inbreeding. Those people (I refuse to call them a 'church')
are crazy and just plain mean for the things they do.
You approve of this litigation? Any bad lawyer jokes on this one?
Yeah, I have been following that. That also, is an excellent way of handling the problem and I am sure they are appreciated. Both those approaches are better than yet another law, IMO.
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