Westboro Baptist Church Unable to Protest Weston, MO Soldier's Funeral
Who is Westboro Baptist Church?
Westboro Baptist Church is pastured by Fred Phelps and is located in Topeka, KS. The church has approximately 100 members who are mostly the family of Fred Phelps. According to the church, the United States of America is against God's will because of its tolerance of homosexuality.
As a result, the church believes that protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers is an "available public platform" to communicate the message that the country is sinning against God. To date, the church has protested approximately 44,000 funerals of fallen American soldiers.
Weston, MO lines the Streets to Honor Sgt. C.J. Sadell
Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, was injured last month in a surprise attack by the Taliban in Afghanistan. While his comrades were killed instantly, Sgt. Sadell was transported to a hospital, where he died approximately 2 weeks later. His home town, Weston, MO, came together to support him and his family when they found out that the Westboro Baptist Church, from Topeka, KS, had acquired permits to protest at the soldier's funeral.
The small town of only 2,000 showed its spunk and moxy when over half of them, by one on-looker's account, showed up and lined the streets where the funeral procession was scheduled to take place.
The good folks of Weston also made a point to occupy the particular corner where Westboro Baptist Church had planned to stage their protest, making it impossible for them to be seen or heard. Right on.
In additions, supporters from as far away as California and Australia also came to honor the soldier and to also stand against the twisted cruelty of Westboro Baptist Church.
Westboro Baptist Church Sued by Family of Soldier
Four years ago, the family of another fallen soldier, Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, also had to endure the protesting from Westboro Baptist Church. The pain and anguish that was inflicted on the family was so profound that Cpl. Snyder's father, Albert Snyder, filed a lawsuit against the church.
Unfortunately, Mr. Snyder lost on the constitutional grounds the church had a right to protest, and was ordered to pay them $16,500 in damages and court costs. But, not without drawing further outrage and more negative attention to the unconscionable actions of the church.
While the actions of the good folks of Weston, MO may not have lessened the pain for the family of Sgt. C.J. Sadell, major kudos to them for taking a stand against the hate mongering and bigotry of Westboro Baptist Church, in the name of God.
At the very least, it went a long way preserve the dignity and honor of the young man's life, who died, ironically enough, protecting the right of Westboro Baptist Church to protest. Go figure.
Sources:
Fox News.com
MSNBC.com
Published by Magnolia Miller
Magnolia Miller is a freelance health & medical writer and featured contributor for Yahoo! Voices in Women's Health. She holds a professional certification as a Health Care Consumer Advocate, and is also co... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a Comment@Britney - That's great news! These people are seriously demented and deserve to be ignored, drowned out and shut out. I'm glad to hear that people are standing up to them. Thanks for commenting.
Westboro protestors were shut down this weekend in McAlester, OK as well!! Approximately 1000 anti-protestors showed up to support the family of fallen Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey. They lined the air strip, where McCluskey's body was flown in, and downtown streets to prevent the hate-mongers from getting near the funeral. They drowned out the protestors by yelling "USA, USA..." and several motorcylce clubs showed up and drowned them out with the roar of their engines! They slashed the tires of the Westboro van and retailers denied them service throughout town!! I am so proud of my fellow Oklahomans who stood up to this nonsense! As people of the USA we need to stand up against these people and shut them down! They are not welcome in our towns!! If they think the US is going to hell in a hand bag then they can find another Nationality!!
Sandy, I couldn't agree with you more. The only thing I can say is that they do not represent the Christianity that I believe in. It's tragic, to say the very least. Thanks for commenting.
These people call themselves "Christian"? How easy it must be to speak for God when you can just make up explanations to things. This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard: it would be like protesting the cancer ward at a childrens hospital because Massachusetts allows gay marriage. The two have nothing to do with each other!!