Westboro Church Protesters Confronted By Zombies

Members of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church showed up to picket at a Seattle-area military base last week, but were confronted with an unusual counter-protest: dozens of people dressed as zombies.

 

Eight members of the church, known for frequently picketing military funerals and other events as a protest against the progression of gay rights, found themselves confronted with the counter-protest while picketing outside of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Friday. The playful counter-protest was launched by Spanaway, Wash., resident Melissa Neace, who spread the word of her idea on Facebook.

“We wanted to turn something negative around, into something people could laugh at and poke fun at,” Neace told The News Tribune. “It was the easiest way to divert attention from something so hateful.”

The Facebook group that Neace launched was called “Zombie’ing Westboro Baptist Church AWAY from Fort Lewis!” Soon after its launch the group gained hundreds of members, with many coming out on Friday to let their opposition to Westboro’s position be known.

Though it’s unclear exactly what was officially being protested by the Westboro picketers, who are known for their extreme ideologies, a quote announcing their plan appeared on the group’s website.

“When you goofy, unthankful, flag-worshipping fools decided that you would declare war against the Lord and against His anointed, you put yourselves in the cross-hairs of a raging mad God. We will come to tell you a few things, to wit,” it read.

Picketers dressed as zombies on Friday said that their affiliations with their military and what they called the church’s “hateful” message prompted them to come out to the counter-protest.

“I come from a long line of military, including my husband. So if they’re going to protest my troops, I’m going to protect my first amendment and protest them,” Ashlee Nerad told KIRO.

Westboro’s next picketing is tomorrow at the funeral of Army Sgt. Erik N. May in Valley Center Christian Church in Valley Center, Kan., according to their website. Sgt. May died in Afghanistan on July 14 while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom, according to The Associated Press.

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Boy, 9, stages own protest of Westboro Baptist protesters

 

Nine-year-old Josef Miles felt the urge to make his own counter-protest sign upon encountering protestors from the Westboro Baptist Church during Graduation Day activities Saturday on the Washburn University campus. Securing a small sketchpad and pencil from his mother, he created his own sign that read simply, "God Hates No One."

Patty Akrouche says she's "never been prouder" of her 9-year-old son Josef Miles than she was this past weekend.

As Akrouche wrote on her Facebook page, she and Josef were on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka when they encountered some of the protesters from the tiny Westboro Baptist Church, which has gained notice in recent years for protesting against homosexuality, abortion and other issues outside the funerals of military veterans and celebrities.

Westboro's followers are infamous for their signs that — using an F-word we won't repeat — say "God Hates [Homosexuals]."

"Josef was determined to make his own statement so we went to the car and with pencil and his sketch pad, he made up his own little sign that reads 'GOD HATES NO ONE,' " his mom wrote. "Those people are scary but he stood strong, was respectful and stood by his convictions. He will be a good man, I have no doubt. I got my Mothers Day present early."

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Westboro Baptist Church to Protest Major Atheist Rally

The Westboro Baptist Church, seen here protesting outside the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, claims they will protest the funerals of those who died in the tornado earlier this week.

Westboro Baptist Church, the controversial group that has protested at funerals and high schools, plans to protest the upcoming Reason Rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

According to a post on their Twitter Account, WBC stated "Dear @ReasonRally: How gracious of you! We accept your invitation & will picket your parade of fools 3/24. Love,WBC."

The Reason Rally, which is sponsored by secularist organizations like the American Atheists and the American Humanist Association, will take place on Saturday, March 24.

In response to the Reason Rally, many Christian groups like Reasons for God and the Christian Apologetics Alliance will be holding a counter event called "True Reason."

Carson Weitnauer, director of Telos Ministries, is part of the "True Reason" mission and holds a low opinion of WBC.

"The important thing to note about Westboro's protest is that they were deliberately invited to be there by the organizers of the Reason Rally," said Weitnauer in an interview with The Christian Post. "It is unclear to me why the organizers of the Reason Rally believe that having Westboro attend the Reason Rally will enhance the credibility of their event."

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Weitnauer also believed that it was unlikely that Westboro's protest would in some way harm the witnessing efforts of the "True Reason" counter event.

"Only if the media pretends that Westboro somehow reflects mainstream religious practice in America or around the world," he noted.

"My hope is that journalists will report on the real story: the unreasonable attempt by the Reason Rally to caricature the 75-85 percent of Americans who consider themselves Christians or religious as being like the Westboro protesters."

Featured speakers at the March 24 event will include secular biologist Richard Dawkins, comedian Tim Minchin, Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel program "Mythbusters," and skeptic James Randi, creator of "The One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge."

According to Weitnauer, the "True Reason" event being done in response will be nothing like the typical counter demonstration found at large scale National Mall rallies.

"We will not have obnoxious signs, attempt to disrupt the gathering, chant loudly, or otherwise protest. We don't think that protests are a good way to advance the cause of reason," he explained. "Therefore, what we are doing is daring to take the atheists at their word and offer respectful, reasonable dialogue, on a person to person basis, with those who are interested."

To advertise for the Reason Rally, groups like American Atheists posted billboards throughout the country, including in communities that were largely Jewish or Muslim. One billboard sign was set to be placed in an Orthodox Jewish community of New York but the billboard owner changed his mind and refused to post it.

Headed by Fred Phelps and comprised mostly of Phelps' family members, Westboro Baptist Church is unaffiliated with any Baptist denomination.

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Staged photo? Westboro Baptist Church claims protest at Whitney Houston funeral when none is apparent

Westboro Baptist Church, the small congregation known for its propensity to hurl promises of hell at funeral mourners, claims to be in Newark confronting protesters at the funeral of Whitney Houston.

A Twitter account cited as that of the church pastor's daughter, Margie Phelps, tweeted a low-resolution image of protesters this afternoon as the funeral took place.

Star-Ledger reporters on the scene said access to that area had been restricted all day, and confirmed no active protests were occurring in the place depicted in the photograph.

Phelps tweeted several taunting messages to media outlets and Occupy Newark protesters who organized to surround Westboro Baptist members if they showed up today:

"Did my friends @BET see these lovelies? Such fun singing to @OccupyWallSt This picket is rocking the house! @NJ_News "

"All NJ & all who came to lie about Whitney's Godless life saw these beauties!She's in hell! #NoWordsByCelebsChangeThat "

Occupy Newark protesters reported they were on their way to confront Westboro's members, but as of 1:30 p.m. didn't respond to requests for confirmation they were there.

Star-Ledger reporters on the scene confirmed the presence of three Occupy protesters with a sign that reads "Occupy prays for another soul our community could not save."

 

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Memorial Service for Whitney: family, fans and celebrities say goodbye

The fans have gathered with banners 

in front of the church in Newark.

Before the funeral of Whitney Houston's coffin with the mortal Estonians of the pop stars of the church in their community has been brought. The coffin arrived Saturday morning (local time), at a Baptist church in Newark, near New York, as an AFP correspondent reported. Houston had sung in the church as a child in the gospel choir.

For the funeral service at noon (18.00 GMT) have announced a number of musicians and actors, including soul legend Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and actor Kevin Costner, with the Houston "Bodyguard" spielte.Newark. The police closed the area around the church in New Hope from a wide area, officers were patrolling on horseback in the street. Before the church was a flashing neon sign that with purple letters on the 11 February deceased singer recalled. "Whitney Houston 1963-2012," was read out, and "We will always love you" in reference to Houston's hit "I Will Always Love You". Numerous sympathy cards were attached to the bars of the red brick church, many with heart-shaped balloons. On the floor were burning candles, some worshipers took off flowers and teddy bears.

For security reasons, the pop star's fans were asked to stay home and not come to church. A few tried yet in the very cold morning, approaching the place of burial. Journalists have had to wait at some distance behind metal barricades.

Whitney Houston was found dead on Saturday last week, in the bathtub of her hotel room in Beverly Hills. The cause of death is unclear for now. According to speculations, the 48-year-old died from a lethal mix of drugs and alcohol.

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The Westboro Baptist Church Released a Whitney Houston Parody: ‘God Will Always Hate You’

 

The Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket Whitney Houston’s funeral, set to take place in her native Newark, N.J. Saturday, one week after her death.

“Yay! 2 pickets in NJ-Whitney Houston funeral & [legislature],” Margie Phelps, daughter of church pastor Fred Phelps, tweeted this week.

The controversial Topeka, Kansas-based “church” is known for picketing the funerals of soldiers, celebrities and gays. According to the Christian Post, it‘s unclear why exactly the church would target Houston’s funeral: she was Christian and grew up attending church in Newark.

But in a separate tweet, Margie Phelps referred to Houston as a “gay icon.” She also posted a picture of a sign church members will presumably carry, reading “Whitney in hell” and depicting her smoking a small pipe, a reference to her drug addiction past.

Ahead of Houston’s funeral, members of the church released their own rendition of Houston’s famous song “I Will Always Love You,“ titled ”God Will Always Hate You.”

 

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The Westboro Baptist Church "Endorses" Obama

 

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Timothy Phelps had this to say about the Republican candidates and President Obama:

He's a liar, thief, and adulterer... that's Newt Gingrich, the so-called "champion" of the conservative party. These people claim to be Christian, New Gingrich and Mitt Romney and some of them others. They aren't pure followers of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't trust [any] of them with a handful of change to go get me some bubble gum. There's nothing of any value in [any] of those human beings. I would rather have Obama.”

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Westboro Baptist Church targets Joe Paterno funeral

 

Anti-homosexual hate group to picket late Penn State football coach over Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case

 

The Westboro Baptist Church hatemongers have a new target - the funeral of Joe Paterno.

The anti-gay group made the announcement Sunday via Twitter.

"Joe Paterno is dead. WBC will picket his funeral," wrote Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro's leader, Pastor Fred Phelps. "He's in hell. Don't partake of your neighbor's sin!"

Paterno, the beloved former Penn State football coach, died Sunday at the age of 85 due to lung cancer. His long career came to a crashing end when he was fired for not doing enough about the child sex abuse scandal involving his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

The Paterno family said Monday the late coach would be buried Wednesday.

The first public viewing will be held on Tuesday starting at 1 p.m. at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus. Another will be on Wednesday starting at 8 a.m., followed by a private funeral service at 2 p.m. A memorial service will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Jordan Center, the basketball arena next to Beaver Stadium.

Westboro followers have used dozens of funerals to promote their anti-homosexuality message. They targeted the services of Apple's Steve Jobs and Michael Jackson, as well as many military funerals.

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Westboro Church calls Joe Paterno, the 'Pope of Happy Valley'

 Members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church say they will be traveling to Penn State to picket the football stadium on Saturday, prior to a game between the Nittany Lions and Nebraska.

The Westboro Baptist Church's announcement came care of its website. The organization, known for picketing at military funerals just to make grieving families feel even worse seems to be on the popular side of this story, about sexual abuse of young children.

The church's website has a separate tab that calendars its picketing plans and along with Penn State, this week's schedule includes showing up on Friday November 11 at a performance of the "Laramie Project" in Krehbiel Auditorium at Bethel College.

The "Laramie Project" is a theater production that chronicles the reaction to the 1998 death of Matthew Shephard, in Laramie Wyoming. Shephard's death was considered a hate crime and brought attention to the issue of violence directed at homosexuals.

On Saturday November 12, the Westboro Church intends to be on the scene at Beaver Stadium. There they intend to add their two cents or more to the growing outrage at Penn State administrators and coaches, over what many are calling the callous inaction of those that were aware of more than one incident of inappropriate behavior between a former coach and a minor child.

Westboro calls head football coach Joe Paterno the "Pope of Happy Valley", just to compare him to the Catholic popes that supposedly sat idly by while priests preyed on young boys in their parishes and schools.

"Now, Penn State has the wrath of God raining down on them in righteous judgement! They have taken from the playbook of the Catholics. Let's diddle the little kiddies and hide it from top to bottom! Fitting that the head cover-up artist is called the Pope of Happy Valley," Westboro posted on its website.

Jerry Sandusky, the Nittany Lions former defensive coordinator and trusted colleague of coach Joe Paterno was indicted last weekend on 40 counts of child endangerment and molestation for activities that span the 15 years between 1994 and 2009. Read: Jerry Sandusky's unfortunate title for an autobiography, "Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story"

The indictment goes into a fair amount of detail about a football program grad assistant who in 2002 witnessed Sandusky and what appeared to be a 10 year-old boy in the football locker room showers. Read: "New Sandusky accuser and mothers of victims speak out to media"

The student's account of what he saw, as taken from the grand jury finding of facts is unspeakable. The incident was reported to head coach Joe Paterno who sent the information up the chain of command to his Athletic Director Tim Curley.

Curley and school VP Gary Schultz met with the witness and from there, no one heard about the incident again until last weekend's indictment. Curley and Schultz were not credible on the stand during their testimony in front of the grand jury and were also indicted on charges of felony perjury. The grad assistant's testimony seemed more believable to the jury members.

After the on-campus incident in 2002, Sandusky is accused of criminal acts with other young boys, all of whom were part of a charitable organization he founded for at-risk youths. It was a 2009 incident at a local school that got the ball rolling on an almost three-year investigation by law enforcement.

Jerry Sandusky allegedly went on to hurt other boys after the Penn State shower episode and it is precisely that fact that has had many calling for Joe Paterno's resignation and the dismissal of any culpable university personnel.

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The Westboro Baptist Church: Forcing parents to explain homophobia 

 

The ink had barely dried on headlines announcing the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs this week than Margie Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church announced that they would be picketing his funeral with their anti-homosexuality signs because he…knew gay people and didn’t spit at them, I think. It’s not clear to me why they’re going to picket Jobs’ memorial except that the Westboro crew is like the Arnold Horshack of pop culture, thrusting their collective hat into the air and screaming “Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!” to gain our attention whenever something happens, regardless of the event’s relevance to their message of bigotry.

I’m well read enough to understand that the Westboro people have every right to show up and wave around signs that say terrible things about gay people as long as they don’t break any trespassing laws in so doing. The Constitution says they can and the Supreme Court recently upheld their right to be flagrant bigots. I get that and I’m mostly ok with that. I just wish they would stop because their flavor of hatred is so hard to explain to children.

I don’t have any mental hang ups about explaining homosexuality to my son when the time comes. That one’s easy: some men love women, some women love men, some men love men, some women love women. End of story. It’s as easy as explaining race: some people have lighter skin, some people have darker skin, some people have medium skin. Or height: some people are tall, some people are short. These are simple facts and don’t require a whole lot of complicated reasoning. Homosexuality just is. Race just is. Height just is.

What’s very, very hard to explain is the different sets of value judgments some people place on these facts. Racism doesn’t make nearly as much sense as the basics of race. I’m not sure I even have the vocabulary to explain why a person might dislike another person because of the appearance of their skin. I have the same problem with homophobia. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around why one person would judge another person because of who they’re attracted to.

OK, that’s not entirely true. If someone was too attracted to my husband to keep their hands off him, I would judge PLENTY.

I know there are people out there who think homosexuality is a sin or they think it’s a choice. I’m not gonna go there on the sin question because I’m not qualified to address that, seeing as I’m not a deity. But the choice thing? I don’t buy it. If it was a choice, then I would have had to choose heterosexuality at some point in my development and I never made that choice. It was innate, which is why, at the age of 15, the first time I saw Christian Slater in a movie, my reaction was “WANT!”. Whereas my reaction to Winona Ryder in the same movie was “She gets to make out with Christian Slater. JEALOUS!”. I’m pretty sure some of the gay guys I knew had the exact same reaction to that movie and their reaction was just as innate as mine. None of up sat down and reasoned out where we fell on the Winona Ryder/Christian Slater Attraction Matrix.

But for all the evidence that mounts up that sexual preference is as hardwired as eye color, there are still those who judge and condemn gay people in the ugliest of ways. It breaks my heart that someday, probably soon, I’ll have to explain to my son why people use mean words to talk about the parents of his friends just because those parents are gay. That judgment and condemnation isn’t a part of his world yet and I’d like to shield him from it for as long as I can. But those Westboro people don’t agree and they keep parading hate around in the streets.

The thing is, neither homosexuality nor homophobia is going anywhere.  That’s a pity because it means we parents have to figure out how to explain different kinds of hate as well as different kinds of love.

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The great “fag-o’-lantern” harvest: The Westboro Baptist Church visits Madison

 

In the battle between hate and tolerance, Saturday morning’s protests outside Covenant Presbyterian Church amounted to an exchange of dirty looks over continental breakfast.

Across the road from the West Side church, about 10 members of Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church wielded their infamous, brightly colored signs: “FAG CHURCH,” with two stick figures assuming the position; “FAG O LANTERN,” in honor of the season and all; “GOD LOVES A HUMBLE HEART,” which seemed out of place among a group so prone to loud colors and blunt block letters. The group, which members say is one of several the church can dispatch for gay-hating, funeral-picketing purposes, flew in Friday night to target the church for ordaining the Presbyterian Church’s first-ever openly gay minister in a same-sex relationship, Scott Anderson.

The group of counterprotesters standing in front of the church outnumbered the Westboro folk by at least 50, but they seemed to be taking things better.

“What are they singing?” one counterprotester asked.

“Something very offensive, actually,” another replied.

“They called me a whore,” beamed a kid in an Elmo T-shirt who’d just walked across Segoe Road to visit the opposition.

Perhaps the crowd was in a calm, constructive frame of mind, or perhaps Westboro just doesn’t inspire the same visceral disgust and fury when it isn’t feeding off the grief of a dead soldier’s family. Perhaps it was the fact that there was a yard sale going on at a house half a block away. A “FAG O LANTERN” sign and a waffle iron all in one place? That’s a damn successful weekend morning by any standard.

The counterprotesters didn’t scream or even seem all that outraged, but they did take up a food donation. Most of the folks on the LGBT-friendly side just provided benevolent mass, not bothering to bring signs or flags. Of those who did, most held up rainbow flags. This being a left-leaning demonstration, the gestures ranged from clever (“God hates poly-cotton blends!” read one sign) to clueless (dude in a “V” mask, you were out of place that day).

Westboro was also out-gunned on the singing front. Margie Phelps, capably boosting two signs in each hand, would occasionally belt her way into a lonesome “GAAWWD HATES A-MERICA!” Across the street, members of a local Unitarian congregation and the anti-hate group Standing On The Side Of Love sang a song of the same title. They had lyric sheets, and where Margie could only fumble toward a rude likeness of a key, some on the other side threw in actual harmony parts.

In person, the Westboro people didn’t project the pinched-faced sourness often expected from a group of angry fundamentalists. They project willing, giddy self-parody. Take this passage from GodHatesFags.com: “OBEY GOD! Otherwise, you will join your parents in the Stem Cell Feast—of Bitch Burgers, Obama Fries and Slut Shakes! YOU WILL EAT YOUR BABIES!” Say what you will, but at least these people have fun with the modern English language. It almost seems hard to believe that they are real.

There was nothing to keep either side from crossing the street for further engagement, just a cop car that would squawk at you if you stood on the median for too long. A few local TV-news crews moved in for the turkey shoot. A cameraman from the local ABC affiliate buttered up Margie: “That is talented, holding four signs at once!” We tried to press Margie on whether her group had been enjoying Madison, but all she would say is that they got here “through means of transportation.”

A counterprotester noticed that one Westboro protester had a rainbow flag hanging out of his pocket. This caused a good laugh, invoking Nathan Lane’s line from The Birdcage: “Well, one does want a hint of color.”

Speaking of clashing fashions, you couldn’t help but ask Lydia Phelps, WBC founder Fred Phelps’ teenage granddaughter, why she was wearing a Glee T-shirt.

“My sister picked it out for me,” she said, insisting that she knew nothing about the show. Either way, Lydia couldn’t really say how she reconciled this with Westboro’s hatred of gay people, though she tried, in an explanation heavy on Westboro members’ emphatic, ritualized, yet almost casual use of the word “fag.” At a certain point, you had to live in the world and could not escape the “fag” influence. So did that mean the hate was balanced with a certain degree of acceptance? “No, we don’t accept the fags, but,” and so on.

Lydia also said the church members print their signs in-house. The woman holding the “FAG O LANTERN” one boasted that they often do season-specific signs, including “Satan Claus,” because “there’s no scriptural support for Christmas.” Most of the signs are the same dimensions. This is so that they can be quickly zipped up into carry-bags with shoulder straps.

At about 10:19 a.m., the signs went into the bags, the Westboro folks began zipping up, and the phrase “feces-eating sodomites” drifted over as Margie did her song and dance for another station. A few minutes later, the Westboro group walked off down Mineral Point Road, and the counterprotesters gloated a little over their absence, sticking around to bask in a few more supportive horn-honks from passing cars.

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Westboro Baptist Church uses iPhone to announce protest at Steve Jobs’s funeral

 

Westboro Baptist Church announced plans Wednesday night to protest Steve Jobs’s funeral, sending the message out. . .wait for it. . . via Twitter for iPhone.

Margie Phelps, daughter of the small church’s founder and the lawyer who represented the church during their First Amendment case at the Supreme Court, (which Westboro won,) was among the Phelps family members to use Apple products to Tweet about the death of the Apple co-founder.

“Westboro will picket his funeral. He had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin,” Margie tweeted Wednesday night on her iPhone.

The Topeka, Kan. based church is mostly made up of Phelps family members but has risen to international infamy because of their funeral protests of celebrities and American soldiers. The church’s members believe that God punishes America for its tolerance of sin, including acceptance of homosexuality.

The iPhone-wielding Westboro members seemed unable to find any irony in their embrace of the technology of a man they condemn. One church member even suggested that God was using Jobs to help advance the message of Westboro Baptist Church: “God used Steve Jobs to create amazing STUFF for WBC to preach,” wrote Shirley Phelps-Roper.

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Westboro Church serenaded by Foo Fighters before concert

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - The Foo Fighters serenaded picketers from Westboro Baptist Church before the band's concert at the Sprint Center Friday night, and NBC Action News was there to catch it.

The band wore costumes, and mocked the protesters who are known for their anti-homosexual views. Some lyrics in the song alluded to "man-loving."

The small church based out of Topeka, Kan. is also known for picketing at US soldiers funerals as well as the funerals of others that have had high-profile deaths, like the death of the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards.

Many states, including Missouri, have passed or attempted to pass laws that would restrict the type of protests that the church is known for, but the Supreme Court has repeatedly sided with the church.

The church says that they protest various events because of the United States' acceptance of homosexuality, and claim that God will punish America.

Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl ended the song with a message of American pride.

"Ladies and gentlemen,God bless America! Land of the free, home of the brave," said Grohl.

The Foo Fighters were not alone in their protest. Others could be seen holding signs in counter-protest to the church's views.

"Whether you're black or white, or gay or straight, or the Foo Fighters, God loves everybody," said Abby Livella.

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Westboro Baptist Church, known for picketing soldiers' funerals, targets Betty Ford funeral

 

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 in Palm Desert, Calif. on Tuesday and at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids on Thursday at 1 p.m., when her casket will travel by motorcade to the Ford Museum.

Whether they actually show up in Grand Rapids this week is anyone's guess, said Tim Boudreau, a Central Michigan University journalism professor who hosted members of the group in his media law class in November.

Often, their announcements are a bluff to grab media attention, he said. Then, "conveniently, they don't make it."

"They're interested in generating publicity for their cause, and they'll use any tactic," he said.

The extremist church -- mostly a collection of Fred Phelps' extended family and friends -- formally won the right to picket funerals in March after an 8-1 Supreme Court decision ruled they are protected by the First Amendment.

The church said they're targeting her funeral because, "She couldn’t wait to have an audience with a reporter to titter about premarital sex, and how much she loved to teach it to her daughters. The trashy reporters encouraged her to say more! So she urged all the women of this doomed foul nation to engage in extra-marital sex. Then she pushed for abortion, because when you teach a nation’s women to be whores, it's inevitable pregnancies will inconvenience the selfish strumpets! That is the legacy of Betty Ford."

Boudreau got to know the church's stance better last fall in Mount Pleasant, when he invited three of its members, Shirley Phelps-Roper and her two daughters, to his class, which has a tradition of hosting people with extreme positions to illustrate the breadth of First Amendment protections.

During three separate sessions, Phelps-Roper explained her family's reasoning for traveling the country protesting at funerals of celebrities, public figures and soldiers.

"You have to obey God," she said. "If this country had policies of obedience, they wouldn't need a standing army and they wouldn't have dead soldiers."

Grieving friends and parents led fallen soldiers into believing and trusting in a lie and "out into the killing fields and crosshairs of an angry god," she said.

The church, which is not affiliated with any known Baptist association, is considered by many to be a hate group and monitored by anti-defamation groups.

They often spark counter-protests, and a group of motorcycle riders often follow to block people's view of them. They have sparked lawsuits and legislation aimed at making protesting near a funeral illegal.

Boudreau's reaction to finding out about the Ford picket: "That's disgusting. ... Nothing they do surprises me anymore."

He said that while the group is certainly bothersome and offensive, they appear willing to abide by the regulations on when, where and how they can picket.

"They're often kept at quite a distance," he said. "If you want to be offended, you kind of have to seek them out."

 

 

 

 

 

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Protesting the Topeka Protesters 

Riders come from as far as Mississippi to protest

 

About a dozen American flag-waving motorcycle riders and several others who shared their sentiments, led by the Journey 4 Justice group, stood Saturday morning across from Westboro Baptist Church in the latest counterprotest against the Topeka congregation.

The counterprotests began in early June and have continued each weekend. The Journey 4 Justice group, which focuses only on the Westboro church, was started by Charley Barnes, a personality on K99 radio in Greeley, Colo.

As they stood in front yards on the north side of the 3700 block of S.W. 12th, the counterprotesters looked directly at the Westboro church, which has gained national and international attention for its picketing of service members’ funerals.

About 20 American flags that were flying upside down were displayed atop a wooden privacy fence that surrounds the Westboro church.

Some of those at Saturday's counterprotest claimed affiliation with other groups, including the Minutemen — a group that opposes illegal immigration — and the Patriot Guard, a group of bikers that shields families from Westboro protesters at funerals.

"We have a problem with flying flags upside down, and we have a problem with these folks picketing military funerals," said Ed Hayes, of Overland Park, who is with the Minutemen of Kansas and Missouri. "I don't care if they call me names or if they call you  names. But leave our military alone. They're off-limits."

Members of the Journey 4 Justice group said they were asked to move along by Topeka police officers who were enforcing the city's picketing ordinance.

By Saturday afternoon, the Journey 4 Justice group had moved a few blocks north and west to S.W. 10th and Gage  Boulevard in Gage Park — one of the Westboro church's most well-known places to picket.

Chris Johnson, 47, rode his motorcycle nearly 325 miles Friday from Oberlin in northwest Kansas to  be at Saturday's counterprotest.

"We just want to show them we're here, and we ain't going nowhere," Johnson said. "It's wrong what they're doing, and we're here to point it out to them."

Four motorcycle riders from Mississippi arrived late Saturday afternoon in Topeka and plan to take part in other Journey 4 Justice counterprotests Sunday morning near the Westboro church and later at S.W. 10th and Gage.

Westboro spokesman Steve Drain on Saturday afternoon said church members weren't impressed with the turnout for the Journey 4 Justice counterprotest.

"If you're going to picket, come on," Drain said. "Seven or eight guys? Get a couple  thousand. If you're going to come, come strong or stay home."

Drain said the church made no apologies for its protests or for displaying the American flag upside-down.

He said if people make an idol out of the flag, "we're going to let them know about it."

He also said the Westboro church would continue its call for America to repent and stop sinning.

 

 

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FBI Invited Controversial Church To Talk To Agents

 

The Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for picketing soldiers' funerals with signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates the USA."

Jacob Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church demonstrates outside the U.S. Supreme Court during Snyder v. Phelps this past October in Washington, D.C.

Yet the FBI recently invited leaders of the fundamentalist church to the Quantico Marine base in Virginia to talk to FBI agents as part of the bureau's counterterrorism training program. But after four sessions this spring, the FBI canceled the arrangement amid criticism from inside the bureau, while church leaders claimed that they had been misled.

The church group, led by Pastor Fred Phelps and based in Topeka, Kan., says its protests are intended to tell the world that God is punishing the U.S. military for America's tolerance of homosexuality. The pastor claims to be the prophet of God's wrath.

The FBI first invited the church group to address the FBI's law enforcement training classes back in 2008. And initially, there were no apparent problems. But the most recent sessions, including three at Quantico and one in Manassass, Va., stirred up controversy.

Classroom Sessions

Timothy Phelps, a church leader and the youngest son of Fred Phelps, said he spoke to local law enforcement professionals at the FBI Academy at Quantico and then again to agents who had been in the bureau three years or less at an FBI facility in Manassass.

He said the program was designed to teach agents "how to stay measured when they are speaking with a witness or a suspect with whom they have a strong, visceral disagreement."

Phelps conceded that strong, visceral disagreement is one of the emotions Westboro inspires. And that's what he found in the classrooms he visited. Officials say there were about 50 local law enforcement officials and agents in each session, and they say Westboro wasn't paid for its participation. Phelps confirmed that no money exchanged hands.

"We did an opening dialogue about the history of the church and what led us to this point in our ministry and specifically led us to the point where we were holding protests or pickets in proximity to the soldiers' funerals," Phelps said. "Then the class opened up and they were entitled to ask any questions they wanted."

Phelps said the sessions were contentious. "Some of the students in the class take the gloves off and basically push the envelope about, 'what will happen when the day comes that your so-called leader tells you to use violence,' " Phelps said. "Our leader won't tell us to do anything except what is written in scripture. We don't have a leader like what they want to believe we have. ... We have a preacher."

Law enforcement officials who attended the session said it was focused on domestic terrorism. They were told that the FBI invited Westboro members to the class so police officers and agents could see extremists up close and understand what makes them tick.

The FBI claims the church group knew this. But Phelps said he had no idea he was part of a domestic terrorism curriculum.

Phelps said if the FBI lied to them about why they were there, he would not be surprised. "Law enforcement across this nation uses false information frequently with us," he said. But there were people at the FBI who were surprised — and angry — when they found out about the Westboro sessions.

Invitation To A Military Base

At a minimum, the timing was terrible.

Westboro was engaged in a legal battle with the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. The father filed suit against the church after it protested at his son's military funeral. A Maryland district court ordered the church to pay nearly $11 million in damages, saying the demonstrations caused "emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion and civil conspiracy."

An appeals court overturned the decision. Then around the time that Westboro leaders were at Quantico, the Supreme Court ruled that the church was allowed to continue its mocking protests outside military funerals because it's protected by the First Amendment.

The top brass at the FBI only found out about the Westboro invitations after more than 200 officers and agents had attended the sessions. Almost immediately afterward, the officers and agents sent memos asking why the group had been invited.

The FBI official responsible for bringing in the church group did not want to be identified by name. He said he found the group personally distasteful, but thought police and FBI agents needed to learn how to engage people they disagreed with and find ways to build relationships with them.

He conceded that inviting a group that pickets military funerals to a military base was, at best, problematic. Officials said it was one of the reasons the fourth session took place at the FBI facility in Manassass.

The FBI has invited other controversial figures to speak to trainees in the past, including former members of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan.

For his part, Westboro's Timothy Phelps said even though he thinks the FBI lied to him, he would come back to speak again if asked.

But that's unlikely to happen. A memo from the assistant director of the FBI's Training Division, Thomas Brown, put an end to Westboro's partnership with the FBI. It was one line long: the FBI, it said, is not to invite Westboro to any of its training sessions again.

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Vet pleads guilty to lesser charges in Westboro stalking case

 

When authorities arrested and charged Ryan Newell in Wichita last year, it made national news.

People from coast to coast reacted with sympathy for him. Strangers offered to pay for his legal defense.

Newell was a 26-year-old Army veteran from Marion who had lost both legs while serving in Afghanistan. He was charged with stalking and conspiring to harm members of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, a group widely condemned because it protests at soldiers' funerals across the country.

On Thursday, all three parties — the prosecution, the defense and the alleged victims in the Newell case — seemed at peace with the day's news: that Newell had pleaded guilty to lesser, misdemeanor charges and will receive probation.

As word filtered out about the development, Newell's defense attorney, Boyd McPherson, was being contacted by CNN.

And McPherson was getting e-mails — one, for example, from a Kansas father whose son has been deployed overseas, saying, "Thanks for taking care of Sgt. Newell." And another message from a soldier at Fort Bragg, N.C., saying, "Awesome news! I'm glad it was able to turn out the way it did."

In Sedgwick County District Court, Newell pleaded guilty to two counts of false impersonation of an officer — each "non-person" misdemeanors. He is receiving a six-month sentence on each count but is being released on a two-year probation.

"We had been working on a resolution for... six months," McPherson said. "I think both the District Attorney's Office and I wanted to feel comfortable that the case was at a point where it could be disposed of."

Before the plea agreement, Newell had been charged with felony conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and these misdemeanors: stalking, unlawful use of a weapon and false impersonation.

On Nov. 30, Sedgwick County sheriff's detectives arrested Newell after his vehicle was found backed into a parking place outside Wichita City Hall while five Westboro Baptist Church members met inside with police officials about security concerns at the church's protests. He had a high-powered rifle, two handguns and more than 90 rounds of ammunition, sources have said.

McPherson said in a telephone interview Thursday that Newell did have firearms in his vehicle but that there wasn't proof he intended to use them unlawfully.

Westboro spokeswoman Margie Phelps said Thursday afternoon: "We appreciate the work the District Attorney's Office did, and we're pleased with the outcome, and we hope Mr. Newell gets the help he needs. ... We're supposed to be merciful."

Phelps was one of the church members who had been meeting with police officials when Newell was arrested. The church members had been protesting in Mulvane earlier that day and believe that Newell followed them from the protest, she said.

The Topeka church has been widely condemned because of its protests at soldiers' funerals across the nation. Westboro contends that soldiers are dying because God is punishing the nation for its immorality.

Kim Parker, chief deputy district attorney, said of the outcome in Newell's case: "Our goals are, as usual, to protect the community, to ensure that we have some sort of rehabilitative effort ... to make sure we don't have this type of activity going on again.

"And in working with the defendant and his attorney on this matter, Mr. Newell has been able to access a number of programs that otherwise were not available to him."

Newell had been released from jail with the stipulation that he report to the VA Hospital for treatment, authorities have said.

Newell came to court Thursday morning in a wheelchair and wearing a T-shirt with an Army insignia, McPherson said.

His client was in "very good spirits," McPherson said.

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