Westboro Baptist Church wants to picket children's funerals!

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Westboro Baptist Church, the controversial group that just won a free speech Supreme Court case related to picketing soldiers' funerals, says it is planning to protest at the funeral for seven Perry County children who died in a fire Tuesday night.


Enlarge SEAN SIMMERS, The PATRIOT-NEWS Ted Clouse, the father of the 7 children killed in a house fire Tuesday evening in Blain, Pa., works in the barn early Thursday morning. " I want to stay here on the farm, he said. "he farm was not the reason they died. My wife says she wants to leave." 03/10/2011 SEAN SIMMERS,THE PATRIOT-NEWS Perry County fire kills 7 children gallery (20 photos)


"I'm baffled that they would choose this," said Perry County District Attorney Charles F. Chenot, III."This is a family that’s obviously apparently Christian in their beliefs and certainly shouldn't conflict with the beliefs of the Westboro Baptist Church."

Chenot said he will be alerting state police to the announcement, and it will mean there will be a law enforcement presence at the services, too.

Westboro's press release says the children's death is linked to the Supreme Court case, in which a York County father sued the church after it protested and made homophobic statements about his son, a Marine killed in Iraq.

Westboro blames society and the Perry County children's parents for their deaths in this release: Westboro.PDF

A recent ruling in their favor says they can be in any public space. That means cemeteries that are open to the public, Chenot said.


"The bottom line is that they can’t interfere with the funeral itself," he said. "They can’t block people. If they made enough noise that they overpowered the minister ... they could be cited for disorderly conduct."
The church has threatened to picket military funerals in Perry County before, Chenot said. They did not show up to those funerals, and Chenot says he hopes that this, too, is an empty threat.
"I suspect this is just to get attention," he said. "That’s the only reason I can think they would want to attend this funeral. This group doesn’t include soldiers or homosexuals -- the groups they are usually barking about."
Still, a police presence will be assembled, just in case. "Will there be some vigilante justice? I hope not," Chenot said. "But I think the potential is there."

I hope they don't show up to the funerals. It would be hard enough to deal with childrens deaths without those people there.

I'm sure if I said exactly what I'm thinking right now I would get myself banned.

I think the days of this nutty church/clan protesting funerals is about to come to an end, with some recent legislation being considered. It will extend the required distance from the funeral for the protesters and place limits on when a protest can occur at a funeral.

Oh for the love of bleep, when will they get the message that they are the most hated people in america? When will they learn to shut up?

These people are just plain evil.

They make me sick.

Somehow I think they like being hated or at least pitied for the low tactics to which they stoop.. that way they can garner support for themselves by playing victim when they are in fact the exact opposite. Villainous!

Picketing children funerals, though? There doesn't even seem to be any logic behind that decision, other than to stir up infamy.

I live in the area, and the Westboro folks have taken a real liking to us. They were also here for a funeral, and for the opening of a movie about a gay teen who killed himself. Pretty clear they just like the attention.

I'm hostile to religion even in normal circumstances, but these folks make my point better than I ever could.

The WBC's main objective is to piss people off enough to provoke violence so they can then sue. That's how they make their money.

The WBC is such a god damned evil bunch.

ruveyn

Yes, on so many levels.

Why even be 'baffled'? It's not like they give a dam about peace and love. Also, churches conflict each other even under the same tree branch if they feel the need to "correct things' to their own standards. That's nothing new to my Grandpa even. Where have you been, Charles?

WWJD?

Would he picket children's funerals and spit hateful words at grieving families?
Would he condemn homosexuals and encourage violence against them?
Did Jesus condemn every Roman legionnaire he met and threaten them with eternal damnation?

If the West Boro Baptist Church met Mary Magdelaine today... would they have forgiven her sins and welcome her into their family?

Practice what you supposedly preach. I'm sure Jesus is scratching his head wondering how these folks got his message so wrong. He was pretty clear with the 'love one another as I have loved you.'

When is someone going to take this into their own hands. I and the rest of the world will look the other way

That is out of line.

Best thing people can do is ignore them until they pull a stunt that they can be arrested for, since it looks like they are doing this for attention.