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Fringe church plans to picket Tech funerals
The group has previously appeared at funerals for those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BY KIMBALL PAYNE
April 19, 2007, 12:10 PM EDT
A fringe church that has received attention and scorn for protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq is planning to picket memorial services for those who died in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have disrupted funerals with explicit signs blaming the war in Iraq on homosexuals. A church a news release says:
"The 33 massacred at Virginia Tech died for America's sins against WBC ( Westboro Baptist Church). Just as U.S. soldiers are dying in Iraq each day for America's sins against WBC."
Attorney General Bob McDonnell is warning protesters that they could be arrested for interrupting funerals. McDonnell's spokesman sent out an e-mail detailing the section of the Virginia Code that can be used to quell disturbances at funerals saying further that McDonnell "wants to ensure that those who perished on Monday receive the dignified and tranquil services that they, and their families, deserve."
The code section states that a person can be arrested for disorderly conduct for willfully disrupting any funeral or memorial service.
The group has threatened to protest at other events, but has not shown up.
Pastor Fred Phelps and his congregation at the church in Topeka, Kan., travel the country preaching damnation to a "nation of sinners,'" routinely glorying in the death of U.S soldiers.
His church of 75 people, many of them his relatives, believes that God causes the death of soldiers as punishment for a society that condones homosexuality.
They routinely carry signs that read "Thank God for IEDs," referring to the improvised explosive devices that have killed many service members in Iraq. The church's Web site is named "godhatesfags.'"
They have utterly offended state and federal lawmakers, who have passed laws aimed at curbing the protests. Congress passed a law that restricts demonstrations at national cemeteries and last year Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed a bill making such protests in Virginia a misdemeanor.
Fringe church plans to picket Tech funerals
The group has previously appeared at funerals for those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BY KIMBALL PAYNE
April 19, 2007, 12:10 PM EDT
A fringe church that has received attention and scorn for protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq is planning to picket memorial services for those who died in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have disrupted funerals with explicit signs blaming the war in Iraq on homosexuals. A church a news release says:
"The 33 massacred at Virginia Tech died for America's sins against WBC ( Westboro Baptist Church). Just as U.S. soldiers are dying in Iraq each day for America's sins against WBC."
Attorney General Bob McDonnell is warning protesters that they could be arrested for interrupting funerals. McDonnell's spokesman sent out an e-mail detailing the section of the Virginia Code that can be used to quell disturbances at funerals saying further that McDonnell "wants to ensure that those who perished on Monday receive the dignified and tranquil services that they, and their families, deserve."
The code section states that a person can be arrested for disorderly conduct for willfully disrupting any funeral or memorial service.
The group has threatened to protest at other events, but has not shown up.
Pastor Fred Phelps and his congregation at the church in Topeka, Kan., travel the country preaching damnation to a "nation of sinners,'" routinely glorying in the death of U.S soldiers.
His church of 75 people, many of them his relatives, believes that God causes the death of soldiers as punishment for a society that condones homosexuality.
They routinely carry signs that read "Thank God for IEDs," referring to the improvised explosive devices that have killed many service members in Iraq. The church's Web site is named "godhatesfags.'"
They have utterly offended state and federal lawmakers, who have passed laws aimed at curbing the protests. Congress passed a law that restricts demonstrations at national cemeteries and last year Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed a bill making such protests in Virginia a misdemeanor.
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