View Full Version : Anti-Gay Church Protests at GI Funerals
Bronco_Beerslug
08-28-2005, 07:14 AM
Man, these religious right radicals are whacked! God fearing Americans just expressing their views, I guess.
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By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press Writer
SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in
Iraq.
The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars' down a highway, waving flags and screaming "God bless America."
"My husband is over there, so I'm here to show my support," 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. "To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are."
The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws.
The church members carried signs and shouted things such as "God hates fags" and "God hates you."
About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.
The funerals were for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn II, 35, in Smyrna and Spc. Gary Reese Jr., 22, in Ashland City. Both were members of the Tennessee National Guard.
Hundreds of Smyrna and Ashland City residents and families of other soldiers turned out at both sites to counter the message the Westboro Baptist members brought.
So many counterdemonstrators were gathered in Ashland City that police, sheriff's deputies and state troopers were brought in to control traffic and protect the protesters.
The church members held protesting permits, and counterprotesters in Smyrna turned their backs to Westboro Baptist members until time expired on the protest permits.
"If they were protesting the government, I might even join them," Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of "get out of our town" and "get out of our country."
"But for them to come during the worst time for this family — it's just wrong."
http://tinyurl.com/c8oug
TheDave
08-28-2005, 07:32 AM
Free Speach can be a major bitch sometimes...
Play2win
08-28-2005, 10:16 AM
Man, Some people's CHILDREN...
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
08-28-2005, 03:44 PM
http://www.bartcop.com/phelps-purple-y.jpg
enjolras
08-28-2005, 07:16 PM
Free Speach can be a major b**** sometimes...
Well said.
Crushaholic
08-28-2005, 11:26 PM
You'll never see me defending Fred Phelps and his gang. We have to deal with it all the time here. It's a wonder nobody has tried to take a potshot at the Phelps gang. They are all lawyers and know just how far to push the free speech before it becomes unlawful. Plus, they have a camcorder at every protest to catch on tape any criminal activity directed towards them.
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
08-28-2005, 11:47 PM
You'll never see me defending Fred Phelps and his gang. We have to deal with it all the time here. It's a wonder nobody has tried to take a potshot at the Phelps gang. They are all lawyers and know just how far to push the free speech before it becomes unlawful. Plus, they have a camcorder at every protest to catch on tape any criminal activity directed towards them.
It's people like Phelps, Robertson, Dobson, et al, who deliver the votes for the republicans, enabling the latter to enact their corporatist agenda.
Crushaholic
08-29-2005, 10:50 AM
It's people like Phelps, Robertson, Dobson, et al, who deliver the votes for the republicans, enabling the latter to enact their corporatist agenda.
Phelps has ZERO credibility with anybody in power. If somebody doesn't COMPLETELY agree with his hate agenda, he immediately accuses them of being gay. He has sent harassing faxes to local politicians regarding this mattter. I'll agree with you on Robertson and Dobson. Both of those guys are powerful lobbyists within the Republican Party, but Phelps is out there on a limb all by himself. He has his OWN agenda and doesn't care who is elected.
TheDave
08-29-2005, 11:09 AM
Phelps has ZERO credibility with anybody in power. If somebody doesn't COMPLETELY agree with his hate agenda, he immediately accuses them of being gay. He has sent harassing faxes to local politicians regarding this mattter. I'll agree with you on Robertson and Dobson. Both of those guys are powerful lobbyists within the Republican Party, but Phelps is out there on a limb all by himself. He has his OWN agenda and doesn't care who is elected.
Some religious groups now have lobbyists??? Not sure if you meant that literally or not, but if that's the case i just figured out how to solve our budget woes... Tax'm
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
08-29-2005, 03:28 PM
It's George Bush's America.
From Willie Horton to Clinton's mom is a KGB agent to Clinton raped teen virgins to McCain being "insane" and fathering black kids all over the world to Ann Richards is gay to the "damage" the last administration did to the White House to swift boating never-been-to-Nam John Kerry.
The rethugs have proven that's how you win.
Personal slurs, vicious rumors and unnamed sources with salacious gossip.
They feed the paranoia of handjobs like Fred Phelps and they both profit from it.
Atlas
09-01-2005, 11:31 AM
I can picture them standing there chanting "God hates fags, God hates fags, God hates fags" It would be funny if people didn't actually think this way.
Crushaholic
09-01-2005, 11:40 AM
Some religious groups now have lobbyists??? Not sure if you meant that literally or not, but if that's the case i just figured out how to solve our budget woes... Tax'm
I'm acknowledging that the Dobson and Robertson DO have influence with some people in the Republican Party. Maybe "lobbyist" isn't the right word, but they do exert influence. Fred Phelps and his particular views, on the other hand, is a cretin who has the ear of NOBODY in power. Putting Phelps in the same category as Dobson and Robertson as power brokers in the Republican Party is not accurate. In fact, Phelps is a registered Democrat.
footstepsfrom#27
09-01-2005, 12:16 PM
The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws.
So this "church" is actually a collection of some kook's own inbred family maxquerading as such...obviously he represents the millions of people who go to church and believe homosexuality is wrong...LOL..and the Klan is "Christian" too...Puleeeeeezzzzzeeee.
Who buys this stuff?
Bronco_Beerslug
09-01-2005, 12:28 PM
So this "church" is actually a collection of some kook's own inbred family maxquerading as such...obviously he represents the millions of people who go to church and believe homosexuality is wrong...LOL..and the Klan is "Christian" too...Puleeeeeezzzzzeeee.
Who buys this stuff?
Over 5 million visitors to his site................
http://tinyurl.com/bikk
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Thank God for Katrina
New Orleans, symbol of America, seen for what it is: a putrid, toxic, stinking cesspool of fag fecal matter.
"Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupt; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." Isaiah 1:4-6.
America is irreversibly doomed. It is a sin to pray for the good of this evil fag nation.
"Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee." Jeremiah 7:16.
It is a sin NOT to rejoice when God executes His wrath and vengeance upon America.
"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth." Psalm 58:10,11.
Pray for more dead bodies floating on the fag-semen-rancid waters of New Orleans.
Pray for more American bodies blown to smithereens by cheap home made Iraqi IEDs - like the IED America bombed WBC with August 20, 1995, hoping thereby to terrorize us into silence about America's fag sins.
"And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence." Jeremiah 21:5,6.
America became WBC's terrorist. So, God, in retaliation, became America's Terrorist.
Go to the home page.
footstepsfrom#27
09-01-2005, 02:34 PM
Yea...he has a web site. What's your point? His "church" is his own family. The story states that. This is a non-story. Maybe human interest freak show material...two headed goat boy/Elephant Man/Jerry springer material...YOU visited his site and got counted...along with me and anyone else wanting to see the freeway car wreck. Big deal.
bronco_diesel
09-01-2005, 02:45 PM
Over 5 million visitors to his site................
http://tinyurl.com/bikk
are you saying that everyone who visited his website is a loyal supporter? and that all his negative press had no direct impact on his site being visited by the curious mind?
are you really implying that?
Bronco_Beerslug
09-01-2005, 02:52 PM
are you saying that everyone who visited his website is a loyal supporter? and that all his negative press had no direct impact on his site being visited by the curious mind?
are you really implying that?
Did I say they were all his followers? I said over 5 million have been to his site. Don't underestimate the warped mentality of many Americans!
bronco_diesel
09-01-2005, 02:55 PM
Did I say they were all his followers? I said over 5 million have been to his site. Don't underestimate the warped mentality of many Americans!
you sure didn't say either...you left it wide open wich certainly looked like an implication.
many people have visited his site - i am sure many homosexuals too - i bet they wanted to see if it were real. i am disgusted by him.
Bronco_Beerslug
09-01-2005, 02:57 PM
you sure didn't say either...you left it wide open wich certainly looked like an implication.
many people have visited his site - i am sure many homosexuals too - i bet they wanted to see if it were real. i am disgusted by him.
I'm sure most people are too but it may surprise how many agree with that groups views.
Spider
09-01-2005, 02:59 PM
I can picture them standing there chanting "God hates fags, God hates fags, God hates fags" It would be funny if people didn't actually think this way.
Phelps did it over the Shepard case ....... Though a bunch of Lesbians marched right in front of Phelps and his merry hillbillies ..... Phelps and his gang had some pretty harsh signs .......
bronco_diesel
09-01-2005, 02:59 PM
I'm sure most people are too but it may surprise how many agree with that groups views.
unfortunatly, it does not surprise me. it saddens me to say that.
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
09-01-2005, 03:18 PM
I'm sure most people are too but it may surprise how many agree with that groups views.
And they all vote republican.
bronco_diesel
09-01-2005, 03:22 PM
And they all vote republican.
i guess you missed the post that stated Phelps is a registered democrat?
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
09-01-2005, 04:09 PM
i guess you missed the post that stated Phelps is a registered democrat?
I wasn't talking about Phelps - I was talking about the people who follow these religious leaders - most of whom vote republican.
BTW, if Phelps is a registered Dem, then that just increases my contempt for him.
Hogan11
09-01-2005, 04:36 PM
BTW, if Phelps is a registered Dem, then that just increases my contempt for him.
It puts him in the same class as that looney Zell Miller and Lyndon LaRouche...meaning an automatic dismissal.
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
09-01-2005, 04:51 PM
It puts him in the same class as that looney Zell Miller and Lyndon LaRouche...meaning an automatic dismissal.
No kidding.
Orange4ever
09-01-2005, 06:21 PM
I wasn't talking about Phelps - I was talking about the people who follow these religious leaders - most of whom vote republican.
BTW, if Phelps is a registered Dem, then that just increases my contempt for him.
Actually, most of those nut jobs vote independant or libertarian and are very leery of both Republicans and Demoncats whom they feel are one and the same.
Bronco_Beerslug
09-01-2005, 06:29 PM
Actually, most of those nut jobs vote independant or libertarian and are very leery of both Republicans and Demoncats whom they feel are one and the same.
Have any links showing this?
L.A. BRONCOS FAN
09-01-2005, 07:14 PM
Have any links showing this?
Chirp chirp...
Wait a minute - according to geniuses like Orange4ever, providing links to support your claims is "spamming."
:laugh:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1999/03/lauerman.html
"Phelps remained prominent in state and local politics, working for years as a major organizer for the state's Democratic Party. (He still calls himself a Democrat, refusing to change just because his party has.) In 1988, Phelps housed campaign workers for Al Gore's first presidential run; in 1989, his eldest son, Fred Jr., hosted a fundraiser for Gore's Senate campaign at his home.
Phelps has frequently run for public office -- for governor in 1990, '94, and '98, for the Senate in '92 -- always losing the primaries by a landslide. Because of their years as loyal Democrats, the Phelpses have even been invited to -- and attended -- both of Clinton's inaugurations. They protested at the second one."
Bronco_Beerslug
09-04-2005, 11:27 AM
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1999/03/lauerman.html
"Phelps remained prominent in state and local politics, working for years as a major organizer for the state's Democratic Party. (He still calls himself a Democrat, refusing to change just because his party has.) In 1988, Phelps housed campaign workers for Al Gore's first presidential run; in 1989, his eldest son, Fred Jr., hosted a fundraiser for Gore's Senate campaign at his home.
Phelps has frequently run for public office -- for governor in 1990, '94, and '98, for the Senate in '92 -- always losing the primaries by a landslide. Because of their years as loyal Democrats, the Phelpses have even been invited to -- and attended -- both of Clinton's inaugurations. They protested at the second one."
We all know Phelp's story, we're looking for a link or proof that most of his followers vote for your party.
We all know Phelp's story, we're looking for a link or proof that most of his followers vote for your party.
Other than scrutinizing voter records, which are private, I don't know how one could prove Orange4ever's assertion one way or the other. In any case, it's interesting to me that Phelps got invited to both Clinton's inaugurations. Both are instances of party loyalty overriding party principles.