Free Republic

TACOMA, Wash. - A rabidly anti-gay church known for its loud protests is planning to picket Saturday's funeral for the two sons of missing mom Susan Powell, who died in a raging house fire Sunday. Margie Phelps of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church sent out a tweet saying the church will attend the boys' memorial service as a protest against the pending legalization of gay marriage in Washington state. The two boys, Charlie and Braden Powell, were killed Sunday in a gasoline-fueled house fire set by their father Josh Powell after they arrived for a supervised visit. Powell himself...

Antagonists (hardly 'pro-testers'} from the Westboro 'baptist' 'church' (truly neither) left Atchison, Kansas after attempting to picket the funeral of one of the young men killed in the recent grain elevator explosion. This site has video of them leaving mere moments after arrival, having been surrounded by local citizens. Additional video is available at http:/www.fox4kc.com/2011/11/03/federinco-to-be-laid-to-rest-westboro-plans-to-picket/#00id=E0bGF5MjrvalDKdke7Soh1rLIa6Im6g1. The locals from A-town were singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" when the Spirit moved the antagonists to depart.

click article link to read storyA member of an anti-gay church that pickets at military funerals said via Twitter that church members will come to Carson City in the wake of the shooting deaths of three Nevada National Guard soldiershttp://www.rgj.com/article/20110907/NEWS/110907005/Anti-gay-church-hints-will-protest-funerals-slain-guardsmen-Carson-IHOP-shooting?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

GRAND RAPIDS -- The Westboro Baptist Church -- notorious for twisting scripture to justify persecution of homosexuals and picketing at funerals -- have announced their intent to protest this week's memorial services honoring former first lady Betty Ford in Grand Rapids. On the Topeka, Kansas-based church's website, the fringe group said they will picket services on Thursday because Ford divorced her first husband William Warren prior marrying the late president Gerald R. Ford. In Westboro's eyes, that makes Ford an adulterer who "loved to sit with tawdry reporters and blather about sex." The announcement declares the group's intent to picket...

Members of a controversial church plan to protest today's memorial service of a 21-year-old Marine from Gastonia who was killed while serving in Afghanistan. But friends of Lance Cpl. Nicholas O'Brien say they are making plans to drown out Westboro Baptist Church's message. Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/06/20/2392145/group-to-protest-marines-memorial.html#ixzz1PonvdMN2

I just caught a story on WFAA-TV News about the Westboro loons coming to Dallas on Sunday June 5, 2011 from 6:15 PM to 7:00 PM. The site of their event is the American Airlines Center, timed to occur just prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. Their claim is: GOD HATES THE NBA! Fred Phelps and his crew go on to claim: WBC will picket the NBA game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat to warn this nation that they need to tear down their idols and worship...

In predictable, yet despicable fashion, members of Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas are spreading their hate around for recent tornado victims. Fred Phelps and company have allegedly been trolling the Facebook pages of missing tornado victims, leaving hateful and taunting comments. While most of those comments have been deleted, they have left family members and supporters shaken and angry. On Monday, when only 89 deaths had been confirmed, WBC posted a scathing and gleeful document on its website, celebrating the deaths as proof of God's anger over rampant homosexuality. The most recent flier, dated May 25, begins by thanking God...

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) has found a new group of people to rally against. The Kansas church, most infamous for its hatred of homosexuals, posted a document last Monday on its website celebrating the deaths of the Joplin, Missouri tornado victims. “Thank God for 89 dead & counting in Joplin, Mo & 1 dead in Reading, KS!” the document declared in capital letters. “God’s whirlwind is pounding the enemies of Christ! WBC will picket your raging blasphemous stinky memorials!”

Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket Hilliard school Tuesday, April 26, 2011 03:23 PM By Charlie Boss The Columbus Dispatch The Westboro Baptist Church, known for its anti-gay protests at schools and high-profile events, is making a pit stop at Hilliard Darby High School next month. Hilliard school officials sent an e-mail alert to parents today, alerting them of the group's protest scheduled from 7:10 to 7:40 a.m. on May 10. "While the group does have the right to gather in protest as well as free speech, they will NOT be exercising that right on school grounds," Hilliard Darby Principal...

On Saturday USMC Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, who was killed in action in Afghanistan April 7, was buried in Brandon, Mississippi. That, by itself, is a sadly unremarkable – though certainly noteworthy and solemn – occasion for us to mark. And in fact when Sgt. Rogers’ body returned to Brandon it was greeted by hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of well-wishers who gathered at the roadside to honor the fallen American hero. The dashboard camera from Mississippi state trooper Elmo Townsend’s cruiser gives an indication of the scene last Thursday. What is most notable about Sgt. Rogers’ funeral in Brandon,...

Louis Theroux has paid another visit to the so-called "most hated family in America" and found his own image on one of their controversial placards. More information can be found here.

Ten United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading - after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan today. Protesters broke into UN offices in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the America turned violent. A small breakaway group attacked the UN compound, throwing stones and climbing on blast barriers to try to gain entry. They seized weapons from guards and opened fire before storming the site. An Afghan police source, who asked not to be named, said the chief of the mission in the city was wounded but survived. Among those murdered...

Those horrible, intolerant, heartless gay-haters at the Westboro Baptist Church are preparing to spread their evil message at Elizabeth Taylor's funeral ... a higher power tells TMZ. Margie Phelps -- daughter of WBC Pastor Fred Phelps -- took to Twitter today to announce the church is going to picket non-lesbian Liz's funeral ... all because Liz was apparently some sort of gay "enabler" and (God forbid) an AIDS activist.

An estranged son of anti-gay Kansas pastor Fred Phelps said Wednesday that the spiritual leader of Westboro Baptist Church hit his wife and beat his children with a mattock handle until they bled. "I think what he does out there is evil," said Nathan "Nate" Phelps, during an appearance on HLN's "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell." Nate Phelps is the seventh of the Westboro Baptist minister's 13 children. The younger Phelps severed ties with his family on his 18th birthday and said he hasn't had contact with his father in three decades. Nate Phelps is currently writing a book about his...

Fresh off their Supreme Court victory allowing them to picket funerals of military soldiers, members of the Westboro Baptist Church have announced plans to picket the funerals of seven Mennonite children killed Tuesday night when their Perry County farmhouse caught fire. The children, ages 7 months to 11 years, were killed when a fire started in the home while their mother was milking cows and their father was on his milk delivery route.Their three-year-old daughter managed to escape and alert the mother, but the fire had already overwhelmed the wooden structure, police said. The group from Topeka, Kan., said the...

Lost and saved alike can agree that if they never see Westboro's Phelps gang again, it will be too soon. The Supreme Court has found the cult's outrageous behavior to be protected by the First Amendment. Many on the right have disagreed with the decision because they rightly desire to protect the grief stricken families of fallen patriots from the evil taunts of the death loving Phelps family. If the government shuts down these jokers, who's next? The lefty media delights in describing the WBC as "Fundamentalist Christians." Nothing would please the left more than seeing the public proclamation of...

Now that the Supreme Court has decided Westboro Baptist Church had a legal right to picket his son's funeral, Albert Snyder has to reimburse Westboro for at least some of its legal costs. The bill, which covers things like Westboro Baptist's costs for making photocopies, could balloon to more than six figures. At the moment, Snyder owes $16,510.80 for the costs of appealing the case to the Fourth Circuit court of appeals. Attorneys for Westboro have filed for additional costs from the 2007 trial in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Those costs are about $100,000, Snyder's attorney, Sean Summers, said...

The Incompetance of Sotomayer and Kagan The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, ruled Wednesday that members of the renegade Westboro Baptist Church have a constitutionally protected right to protest military funerals even though their demonstrations are widely despised and deplored. The case presented the justices with a high-profile question about the breadth of First Amendment speech and assembly protections. A majority of justices ruled that these fundamental rights outweigh the concerns of grieving family members who would rather not deal with what they say are obnoxious protesters from the Kansas church. "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to...

With the recent decision by the Supreme Court, some information came to light that I do not think is well-known. And that is, Fred Phelps ran for office 5 times... wait for it... as a DEMOCRAT! In the link there is audio of Michael Medved making this point and then a dissenting email a few days later where Medved again drives the point home. there are also links to a couple of blogs that knew this information some time ago as well as photos of similarities between leftist demonstrators and the Democratic Westboro Baptists. There are also photos of the...

This hub is going to be imageless, because I have no intention of promoting the slimeballs who make up the activists in the Westboro Baptist Church. In a ruling with a lone dissenter today, the Supreme Court ruled that they DO have a right to protest. I'm not going to go into detail, but the leader and the activists and protesters have developed some kind of very nasty obsession with protesting issues about gays. Sadly, it means they show up at funerals of people in the military, and others, and overall are obnoxious, rude, nasty, and hateful. Alito was the...

A group of hacktivists acting under the banner, "Anonymous," has warned a church with a controversial history that unspoken retribution will follow it continues its practice of inflammatory protests. In an open letter to the Westboro Baptist Church, Anonymous has put the anti-gay, fundamentalist church on notice that "the damage incurred will be irreversible," and that "neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover." The Westboro Baptist Church is led by Rev. Fred Phelps. It has drawn particular attention for carrying out anti-gay protests at funerals of military servicemen with signs celebrating the deaths of...

Arizona residents are locking arms to stop the Westboro Baptist Church from disrupting the funerals for victims of Saturday's shooting in Tucson, with bikers and others organizing a massive counter-protest and state lawmakers fast-tracking a bill to hamstring the group. The Kansas-based Westboro church is notorious for showing up at the funerals of dead soldiers and other high-profile gatherings wielding anti-gay signs. But when the church announced it would picket the funeral Thursday for the 9-year-old girl fatally shot over the weekend at a Tucson grocery store by a gunman who allegedly killed five others and injured 14 others attending...

Controversial nut-job minister, Fred Phelps from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas told anyone who would listen to his disturbing rant on YouTube that “the shooter was sent by God.” These Westboro Church leaders are equally as guilty as the “shooter” who took his anger out on innocent folks gathering to meet their Congresswoman last Saturday. The facts first, Jared Loughner was a lone shooter operating on a limited mental capacity who killed six and injured 11 others. His killing swathe included a federal judge, clergy member, Republican, Democrat and a nine-year-old child. Continue reading on Examiner.com: “The shooter was sent...

Funeral pickets to be met by 'angels'By the CNN Wire Staff January 11, 2011 2:25 a.m. EST Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Tucson just isn't that kind of town, says Christin Gilmer. Gilmer is talking about Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, that has made its name picketing the funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even Coretta Scott King. **SNIP** They're planning an "angel action" -- with 8-by-10-foot "angel wings" worn by participants and used to shield mourners from pickets. The actions were created by Coloradan Romaine Patterson, who was shocked to find the Topeka church...

The Left does some truly despicable things in this world, but this is a new low for Democrats. Former three-time Democrat gubernatorial candidate Fred Phelps Jr. (commonly called just “Fred Phelps”) and his Westboro Hate Group have announced plans to disrupt the funeral of 9 year-old shooting victim Christina Greene. Christina was murdered by Jared Lee Loughner yesterday in his assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The little girl was born on September 11th, 2001, so her parents have been cursed with a horrific trifecta of high profile trauma: their daughter born on the worst day in our generations’ lives,...

Lance Cpl. Terry Honeycutt, a 19-year-old, was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan in late October. The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at New Life Church in La Plata. Phelps-Roper said she plans to picket from 9:15 a.m. to the start of the service with a group of six to seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church. The Honeycutt family was made aware of the planned protest via Facebook on Friday, but Terry’s mother Christine is not concerned about the picketers. “We kind of expected it,” she said. “We’ve seen it before and read about,...

People ask why we counter Westboro “Baptist” Church, why not just let them be the proverbial “If a tree falls in a forest and no hears it, did it fall”? BELOW is why we counter them. FReepers, students, patriots and Veteran Harley riders (about 50) defended our Fallen Heroes this Veterans Day at Arlington Cemetery. We came by the dozens and overwhelmed Fred Phelps’ one-branch family tree called Westboro “Baptist” Church. They started the morning with about a dozen miscreants. Two hours later when they left, only 3 had stayed around. A special thanks to those who took their shift...

In what has to be some of the best news of the weekend, Pastor Fred Phelps and the hate-mongering parishioners from Westboro Baptist Church were unable to protest at a fallen soldier's funeral this weekend as they had originally planned.

VETERANS DAY, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 8AM TILL NOON Westboro Baptist Church, aka Fred Phelp's one-branch family tree, is once again targeting Arlington Cemetery. WBC will be there on Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11, to protest our fallen heroes. We will be there from 8AM (to start setting up) till noon to be sure our patriotic message is seen long after WBC leaves. WBC will be there from 9 till 11AM The DC Chapter will have our Walter Reed MOAB, flags, banners, posters, patriotic music, HOT COFFEE, and light snacks. Our past 4 times opposite WBC have been at the Arlington...

A radical religious group, mostly known for protesting at military funerals, claims it will be present at the funeral service of a local fallen National Guardsman that will be held Thursday afternoon. Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan., sent a press release with the time and place of the funeral of Staff Sgt. Willie Harley, 48, of Aiken, stating church members will be there to protest. The church also claims it will be present at the funeral of Spc. Luther Rabon, 32, of Lexington, which is scheduled for Saturday. Both men were killed on Oct. 1 when an improvised...

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices, in a rare public display of sympathy, strongly suggested Wednesday they would like to rule for a dead Marine's father against fundamentalist church members who picketed his son's funeral - but aren't sure they can. Left unresolved after an hourlong argument that explored the limits of the First Amendment: Does the father's emotional pain trump the protesters' free speech rights? The difficulty of the constitutional issue was palpable in the courtroom as the justices weighed the case of Albert Snyder. His son died in Iraq in 2006, and members of a family-dominated church in Topeka,...

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Jewish defense organizations long -- and proudly -- have upheld a delicate principle in defending the First Amendment: Hate the speech, defend the speaker. But a Supreme Court case whose arguments were scheduled for Wednesday have put that precept to the test: A Maryland family is suing the Westboro Baptist Church for picketing the funeral of its scion, Matthew Snyder, a soldier killed in a noncombat accident in Iraq. Jewish organizations that routinely have defended free speech that others might find abusive are sitting this one out. The American Jewish Committee has not filed a brief; the...

My wife is a teacher in Dayton. The Meadowdale High School and Elementary school are preparing for a Phelps protest on Monday. No one seems to know why, but they are preparing for it.

York, Pa. (AP) - One thing Al Snyder wants to make clear: His boy fought and died for freedom in Iraq, but not for the right of some "wackos" to spew hate at soldiers' funerals under the protection of the Constitution. "It's an insult to myself, my family and the veterans to say this is what our military men and women died for," Snyder says, barely concealing his anger. Yet more than four years after the death of his only son, Matthew, Snyder is in the middle of a Supreme Court case that raises almost precisely that issue. The court...

Shirley Phelps-Roper calls out Florida preacher for plans to burn Quran ... 'cause she did it first By Justin Kendall, Thu., Sep. 9 2010 @ 2:00PM Terry Jones has angered the Westboro Baptist Church.... Shirley Phelps-Roper is reportedly calling Jones a poseur. Fred Phelps' daughter told the Star that Westboro's was burning the Islamic religious text on a Washington, D.C., street back in 2008. "We did it a long time before this guy," Phelps-Roper told the Star... "They'll browbeat him and he'll back down at the last minute," she said. "He's an apologist. He doesn't serve God."

With my classic interview with Shirley Phelps Roper becoming part of documentary movie, We decided to share that classic interview as well as the interview with Duane Dog Chapman the "Bounty Hunter" from our archives of the Conscience of Kansas radio program with host Paul A. Ibbetson. We invite you to listen and comment on the show!

<p>On Sunday April 18, Westboro Baptist Church came to Gainesville. One of their stops was a liberal "Open doors, open hearts, open minds," church near us, so we took part of our Sunday Service time and went as a church to stand with them.</p>

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Bellevue has paid a member of a Kansas church that protests at soldiers’ funerals $17,000. In exchange, Shirley Phelps-Roper has dropped her lawsuit against the city. The settlement with Westboro Baptist Church, which says troop deaths are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality, was signed last week. The church says it shows that responding to public anger by taking action against it costs taxpayers. City attorney Michael Polk didn’t respond to a message seeking comment. Phelps-Roper was arrested during a 2007 protest in Bellevue after she and her son allegedly mutilated the U.S. flag. The...

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/22/super-heroes-vs-the-westboro-baptist-church/ They've faced down humans time and time again, but Fred Phelps and his minions from the Westboro Baptist Church were not ready for the cosplay action that awaited them today at Comic-Con. After all, who can win against a counter protest that includes robots, magical anime girls, Trekkies, Jedi and...kittens? Unbeknownst to the dastardly fanatics of the Westboro Baptist Church, the good folks of San Diego's Comic-Con were prepared for their arrival with their own special brand of superhuman counter protesting chanting "WHAT DO WE WANT" "GAY SEX" "WHEN DO WE WANT IT" "NOW!" while brandishing ironic (and some...

The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, which is headed by Fred Phelps and which has made headlines over the past few years for a series of protests of events such as the funerals of Meet the Press host Tim Russert (because of his Catholicism and what they termed his "tolerance of homosexuality") and Jerry Falwell (whom they termed a "false prophet') and perhaps most notably the funerals of American servicemen killed overseas, have announced that they plan to picket the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con from 1:15 pm to 2 p.m. on Thursday, July 22. The reason they're going to protest...

Members of Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church reportedly will be in Johnson City on Monday to picket near the memorial service for Airman Benjamin D. White, an Erwin resident who died last week in Afghanistan. "Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy where they pray to the dunghill gods of Sodom and play taps to a fallen fool," states a Westboro flier forwarded to media outlets by the Unicoi County Sheriff's Office. The flier goes on to say that the "message will be preached in respectful, lawful proximity" to White's memorial service at Grace Fellowship Church on South Greenwood...

TOPEKA - The estranged son of a controversial Kansas pastor encouraged people to feel sympathy for members of his father's church, "at least for the young children stuck in that situation." Nate Phelps, 51, spoke in Topeka over the weekend, marking his first trip in 20 years to the city where his father, Fred Phelps, runs Westboro Baptist Church. He alleged that he endured fear, intimidation and abuse before leaving the family and church on his 18th birthday. He said that while society is quick to take steps to protect children, it seems "curiously blind" when religious beliefs jeopardize a...

Your recent editorial “Funeral protests cause disdain” addresses the vexing First Amendment issue in the lawsuit against the “Christian” church that picketed the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2006: Should “hate speech” be constitutionally protected … or punished? Albert Snyder was awarded damages against Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka after its members waved inflammatory signs at his son’s funeral saying “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” (God’s “payback” to America for tolerating homosexuality, claims the church), but the 4th Court of Appeals reversed the verdict, ruling that the...

One of the most controversial families in the country is heading south to protest "rebellious brats," a Jewish publication and an indie rock festival. Enlarge photo Dylan Slagle, AP In this March 10, 2006, file photo, Westboro Baptist church member Gabriel Phelps-Roper, 10, and his sister Grace Phelps-Roper, 13, both of Topeka, Kan., protest at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder in Westminster, Md. .Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, whose membership consists mostly of family members of its pastor, Fred Phelps, has planned nine protests around the metro Atlanta area on May 5-6. The small Kansas group, known...

Equally painful to so many, myself included, is the court’s decision to force the Al Snyder family, the family that brought the private lawsuit against Westboro, to pay over $16,000 of the Phelps family’s court costs. It would seem that the courts have said to grieving military families across the nation that attempting to stop the Westboro Baptist Church from joyously telling them that their loved ones are in hell will be a costly endeavor on all fronts.

In an astonishing display of common sense the Klu Klux Klan has releasd a statement repudiating the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church, denying any connection or sympathy with the hate group. The Westboro Baptist Church, notorious for the phrase "God hates fags", is best known for its protest activities, which include picketing funerals of fallen soldiers. The church runs numerous Web sites such as GodHatesFags.com, GodHatesAmerica.com and others expressing condemnation of homosexuality. The group bases its work around the belief expressed by its best known slogan and the address of its primary Web site, God Hates Fags, asserting that...

GOD HATES JUDGES by Ann Coulter April 7, 2010 In an opinion that may have been written by Heidi Montag, a federal court of appeals recently threw out a jury verdict in favor of a father, Albert Snyder, who had sued protesters at his son Matthew's funeral for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Solely because Matthew was a Marine, a Kansas-based cult, consisting mostly of members of a single family, traveled to Maryland in order to stand outside Matthew's funeral with placards saying things like, "God Loves Dead Soldiers," "God Hates You," "You're Going to Hell," "Semper Fi Fags," "Thank...

“Progressives” are like pig farmers. In an effort to bury opposing viewpoints they sling pejorative slop, labeling as “bigot,” “hater,” “wingnut” or “racist” those with whom they disagree. It’s the height of intellectual sloth. The ad hominem approach – chief among logical fallacies – undergirds an effort to both marginalize conservative viewpoints and avoid arguing on the merits the controversies of the day. For liberals, to set sail in fair debate is to navigate treacherous waters. We’ve seen this tired tactic abused ad nauseum in recent days by the mainstream media and Democrats. Aided by hard-left outfits such as the...

Next fall, the U. S. Supreme Court will hear the case of Snyder vs. Phelps, in which it's possible the speech-related practices of an obnoxious group will be curbed -- but at the price of some new First Amendment fetters. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed the March 10, 2006, funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, a U.S. Marine who was killed a week earlier in Iraq. They displayed placards reading, "God hates you," "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Semper Fi Fags." The deceased soldier's father, Albert Snyder, sued the church and its founder, the Rev. Fred Phelps,...

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters told Fox News he will defy a court order and not pay the protesters' appeal costs. Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., told Fox News he does not intend to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps, the leader of Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church, which held protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006. "I don't think I'm going to be writing a check until I hear from the Supreme Court," Snyder told Fox News on Tuesday. "I'm not about to pay them anything." The Court...