# Westboro Baptist Love
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704
**Category:** PolitiSUCK
**Created:** [August 28, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704 "2010-08-28T22:37:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bing](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bing)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/1 "2010-08-28T22:37:15Z")
Man love these guys…
> Westboro members, led by pastor Fred Phelps, believe God is punishing the United States for “the sin of homosexuality” through events including soldiers’ deaths. Members have traveled the country, shouting at grieving family members at funerals and displaying such signs as “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “God Blew Up the Troops” and “AIDS Cures Fags.”
as a result
> A man in a Ford-150 pickup truck drove by, extended his arm and sprayed with a large can, police said. His vehicle was stopped a few minutes later.
>
> George Vogel, 62, who lives just north of Omaha, was booked for 16 counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of felony assault on a police officer for the pepper-spray exposure, police said. Vogel also faces one count of child neglect because his child was in the truck, Pecha told CNN.
dude is gonna get butt raped because he tried to hurt some westboro cats… i bet the westboro folks are laughing their ass off and will follow it up with a nice tidy civil suit
> **[Man fires pepper spray on protesters outside Marine's funeral - CNN.com](https://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/28/nebraska.funeral.protest/index.html?hpt=T1)**
>
> A motorist fired pepper spray Saturday at a group of demonstrators and counter-protesters outside a funeral for a U.S. Marine in Omaha, Nebraska, police said.
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### Author:  [@Carnut](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Carnut)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/2 "2010-08-29T07:10:22Z")
The Westboro people are lucky it wasn’t buck shot.
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### Author:  [@ultradriver10000](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ultradriver10000)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/3 "2010-08-29T07:38:45Z")
> [@Carnut](#):
>
> The Westboro people are lucky it wasn’t buck shot.
+1
Too bad he wasn’t driving a recently purchased white lotus.
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### Author:  [@Motocrossx23](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Motocrossx23)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2010, 7:56am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/4 "2010-08-29T07:56:35Z")
Fucking religious wackjobs…I hope that before they die they realize that God doesn’t exist and they just look like a bunch of crazy white trash.
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### Author:  [@Fry](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Fry)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/5 "2010-10-06T13:36:04Z")
And these fuck bags made it all the way to the supreme court. They protested at another Marine’s funeral. Father of Marine sued and was awarded $5 million in damages, higher court overturned, now it’s in front of the supreme court.
> [@Washington Post](#):
>
> Court considers Westboro Baptist Church’s anti-gay protests at military funerals
>
> The Supreme Court struggled Wednesday with the question of whether the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech can be restricted when a protest is aimed at a private family at its moment of most intense grief.
>
> The court was considering the case of the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas, whose anti-gay protests have targeted the funerals of fallen soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Composed almost entirely of the family members of its founder, the Rev. Fred W. Phelps, the church contends the deaths are God’s revenge for the country’s tolerance of homosexuality.
>
> “We’re talking about a funeral,” said lawyer Sean E. Summers, who is representing Albert Snyder, whose 20-year-old son Matthew’s funeral was picketed by the group in 2006. “If context is ever going to matter” in deciding when First Amendment rights may be curtailed, Snyder said, this had to be it.
>
> But Margie J. Phelps, a daughter of the church founder who argued the case for her family, said her “little church” is protected in preaching its profound belief: “If you want them to stop dying, stop sinning.”
>
> Albert Snyder sued Phelps and argued at trial that the demonstration at his son’s funeral invaded his privacy, caused emotional distress and violated his rights to free exercise of religion and peaceful assembly. He said a treatise posted on the church’s Web site specifically mentioned Matthew and his family.
>
> A jury awarded Snyder more than $10 million, which was cut in half by the judge and then overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond. A three-judge panel said that although Phelps’s rhetoric was offensive, it was protected as speech concerning issues in the national debate.
> Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pressed Summers. The protestors obeyed all laws and complied with instructions from police about where they could stand, she said. Has a group ever been forced to pay damages for lawful conduct? she asked.
>
> Nearly all of the justices referred to the group’s noxious practices; a sampling of the signs carried at Snyder’s funeral at St. John’s Catholic Church in Westminster, Md., included “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” “Semper Fi Fags,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “Priests Rape Boys.”
> Even Ginsburg, who seemed most skeptical that Snyder could sue over the protests, noted that the case was about “exploiting a private family’s grief.”
>
> Other justices, too, seemed torn. Several were skeptical of Summers’s argument that Snyder should be able to sue under Maryland’s tort laws. Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that Snyder was arguing that he was a private figure, but she wondered what precedent of the court allowed a group to be sued over speech about a public issue even if directed at a private person.
>
> Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was the most outspoken in sympathy to the notion that some conduct could go too far. He drew the hypothetical case of a grandmother being confronted at the graveside of her soldier grandson.
>
> Phelps said she could not answer all hypotheticals, but that stalking or using “fighting words” would not be protected.
>
> The justices also debated the missive that another church member, Shirley Phelps-Roper, wrote for the organization’s Web site several weeks later. It said that Snyder’s membership in the Catholic Church and his divorce from Matthew’s mother had made his son a prime target for God’s punishment.
>
> Snyder said the stress from the events made him physically sick, worsened his diabetes and deepened his depression. He is supported by the attorneys general of 48 states and the District of Columbia. He has also drawn backing from the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, along with a bipartisan mix of 40 senators.
>
> The church has been supported by First Amendment advocates and media groups, who have denounced the Phelpses’ message but defended their right to free speech.
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### Author:  [@theblue](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/theblue)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/6 "2010-10-06T14:08:56Z")
the whole church sucks, but the first amendment is more important.
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### Author:  [@Motocrossx23](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Motocrossx23)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/7 "2010-10-06T14:27:07Z")
If we kill all of them, we won’t have to break our first amendment right…right? They’ll just stop doing stupid ass shit.
So, who’s in for church season??
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### Author:  [@Onyx\_Z32](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Onyx_Z32)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/8 "2010-10-06T15:26:44Z")
> [@theblue](#):
>
> the whole church sucks, but the first amendment is more important.
> … “certain harassing conduct” was not always protected as free speech. “Torts and crimes are committed with words all the time,” he said, referring to legal wrongs that result in lawsuits. “The First Amendment doesn’t stop state tort law in appropriate circumstances,”…
>
> … Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg took the free-speech side throughout the argument…
If I had to judge an outcome from just today, I’d say the church’s case is in bad shape. But we’ll see. Even Kagan was on to them;
> New Justice Elena Kagan drew the attention of her colleagues with her opening question to Margie J. Phelps. The Kansas lawyer who was defending her family began by saying their protests were intended to provoke “public discussion” about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
>
> Kagan quickly pressed her. Would it be permissible, she asked, for the protesters to pick out “a wounded soldier and follow him around,” holding “offensive and outrageous signs” near his home and calling him a “war criminal?” In such a case, “does he have a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress?” Kagan said.
>
> Phelps hesitated, but then said no. “My answer, Justice Kagan, is: No, I don’t believe that person should have a cause of action.”
>
> That answer appeared to turn the argument against Phelps and the funeral protesters.
[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-1006-court-funerals-web-20101006,0,3870903.story](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-1006-court-funerals-web-20101006,0,3870903.story)
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### Author:  [@upstateclipse](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/upstateclipse)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/9 "2010-10-06T15:35:21Z")
From everything I had previously read and listened to, this was going to be an open and shut win for free speech. Guess that Westboro should have gotten a better lawyer rather than keeping it in the family lol.
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### Author:  [@Onyx\_Z32](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Onyx_Z32)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/10 "2010-10-06T16:01:38Z")
> [@upstateclipse](#):
>
> From everything I had previously read and listened to, this was going to be an open and shut win for free speech. Guess that Westboro should have gotten a better lawyer rather than keeping it in the family lol.
They would have been fine if they just focused on making a statment, but they went after the dad personally;
> The Phelps family crossed the line when they made clear they were targeting the dead Marine’s father with their protest, argued Sean E. Summers, a lawyer for Snyder. “We have personal, targeted epithets directed at the Snyder family,” he said.
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### Author:  [@nappy1380](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/nappy1380)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/11 "2010-10-06T16:20:20Z")
I don’t understand how they can be religious extremists, yet one of the daughter’s has a child out of wedlock and did not marry then man she had the child with. :gotme:
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### Author:  [@khoveraki](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/khoveraki)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/12 "2010-10-06T17:16:03Z")
How could the family not win a civil case against the church for emotional distress? Also confused if cemeteries are private property if they’re military cemeteries.
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### Author:  [@bing](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bing)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/13 "2010-10-06T18:14:39Z")
> [@nappy1380](#):
>
> I don’t understand how they can be religious extremists, yet one of the daughter’s has a child out of wedlock and did not marry then man she had the child with. :gotme:
isn’t that the beauty of religion?
You can use it as is convenient for oneself and because there is no god one only need answer to oneself.
with westboro though, i find it hilarious because it’s not me they’re targeting… but i definitely sympathize with the soldier’s family. How you put a dollar figure on it though is beyond me… certainly not $5M… unless the guy is hecka rich to begin with and can put a factor to his health that equals $5M or more… but i doubt that was the case because rich men don’t send their sons to die in silly wars.
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### Author:  [@n20junkie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/n20junkie)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/14 "2010-10-06T18:18:22Z")
The make a living purely off of lawsuits from angered people. As much as i would love to put a bullet in them, it’s what they want.
I feel that some day they will cross someone that doesn’t want to deal with pepper spray or words, and will give them what many think the deserve. They will be right, but they will be hurt or dead. Life is a mother fucker like that.
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### Author:  [@upstateclipse](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/upstateclipse)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/15 "2010-10-06T18:26:30Z")
> [@khoveraki](#):
>
> How could the family not win a civil case against the church for emotional distress? Also confused if cemeteries are private property if they’re military cemeteries.
They can do this because they coordinate everything with local police/government before their protests. They always follow the rules that are given to them by the local police/government. It is the same process that “activists” have to go through in order to legally protest a gathering.
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### Author:  [@JayS](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/JayS)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/16 "2010-10-06T20:27:08Z")
[http://iphone.wgrz.com/#\_article.aspx?storyid=89854](http://iphone.wgrz.com/#_article.aspx?storyid=89854)
Fred Phelps is alive and that guy gets run over by a bus. Proof there is no god.
As for the case it’s going to come down to linking the protest directly to the family, not the war. If it was targeted at the family it’s harassment and that’s not protected speech. Definitely in for reading the full opinion when this one comes down.
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### Author:  [@Geehee](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Geehee)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/17 "2010-10-06T20:36:18Z")
i have no doubt in my mind that if i was burying my son/brother/sister/mother/father and they showed up, that i would be in jail for awhile. with zero regret.
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### Author:  [@Motocrossx23](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Motocrossx23)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/18 "2010-10-06T20:46:53Z")
^I agree. Sorry, but there’s a point where I could give a shit about your freedoms and break jaws.
---------- Post added at 11:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 PM ----------
But as far as free speech, Aaron Sorkin said it best:
America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say "You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the “land of the free”.
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### Author:  [@fiend540](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/fiend540)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/19 "2010-10-06T21:04:35Z")
Do you think god would forgive you if you killed them lol
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### Author:  [@DougFresh](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/DougFresh)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/westboro-baptist-love/159704/20 "2010-10-06T21:05:38Z")
Aren’t they imposing their beliefs on these soliders? Sinning is a belief of their religion not nessecarily the soliders or their families.
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