Westboro Baptist Church Lawsuit

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notself said:
An article I read said they could not locate any assets. It would be reasonable to assume that have substantial assets. Travel, even by car is expensive.

Several of them are lawyers. I wonder who would go to them for legal advise?
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Nobody does. They only work for the ‘church’.
 
You have no idea what it is like standing next to the coffin of a 23 year old with family in tears all around.

I thank God I was wearing my sunglasses. Tears rolled down from my eyes and I didn’t even know the man. I didn’t even cry at my Dads funeral and here I am balling like a child.

To think that these people want to disrupt such a solemn event.
It really hurts me inside that people actually have this kind of hate.

Well, I am not talking anymore about these low life’s, they don’t even deserve a discussion on this site.

Sorry, I get mad thinking about them. I apologize.
 
outfctrl said:
I am a memeber of the Patriot Guard Riders. We are invited by the Families to stand in respect to fallen soldiers and returning soldiers. The majority of us ride motorcycles. We surround the Family with flags. Many times, this church has threaten to picket the funerals.

We were there.

We stand with our backs facing any protesters. We do not engage in any confrontations. We are there purely out of respect.

I have been to a few. It is very moving. I have cried many times.

This Westboro Baptist Church shames America.
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You were there when my friend’s cousin was killed and it was because of you that her family was able to mourn in peace. She told me the protester gauntlet started 10 miles out from the Church.
 
heisenburg said:
two… Though mentioned, Freedom of Speech is not all encompassing. Examples of Legal, Constitutional exceptions to this right. You do NOT have the right to stand up in a crowded theater and yell Fire. You do NOT have the right to instill Civil disobedience. and you do NOT have the right to invade on private citizens and their functions…
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I couldn’t agree with you more. What Phelps and his gang are doing is sick, pure and simple, and they are already breaking a federal law signed in by President Bush restricting demonstrations at and around the funerals of U.S. service members. If the families of our brave soldiers simply pressed charges against them for violating that law, everything would work out fine.

But that’s not what is happening. They are suing in civil court for harassment and emotional damages. They are unintentionally laying the foundation for a torrent of lawsuits against Christians. And once the legal precedent is set, all it will take is a liberal judge or two to push it that extra step, and suddenly the precedent goes from civil to criminal.

If you think this isn’t possible, just look up Canada’s hate speech laws. Since these laws were passed, several Canadians have been arrested and fined for daring to tell their congregations that homosexual behavior is a sin. In Sweden, which has similar laws, people have gone to jail. And there is already legislation in the works to do the same thing in the U.S. All this happened with no precedents at all. So just imagine what will happen if there IS a precedent.

I should write a post on my blog about this…
 
It would just be awesome if the media would stop showing them and the country as a whole would completely shun them and give them no publicity. If we would just pretend they didn’t exist, they would eventually have to quit because no one is paying attention. My favorite part about all of it is the fact they say it is too late and God is going to destroy all of us “fag enablers”. That is what they called me when I emailed them and I said nothing about homosexuality, I just simply asked them where that loving God the NT talks about is. Then on the next hand, they tell us we must repent or be destroyed. How can it be too late, but we are supposed to do it? That paradox will make a head explode.
 
PatienceAndLove said:
You were there when my friend’s cousin was killed and it was because of you that her family was able to mourn in peace. She told me the protester gauntlet started 10 miles out from the Church.
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I went to one mission here in Jax, Fl, downtown and there were 700 bikers there. It was amazing!!

The flag line was so long you couldnt see half the people. Not all were Patriot guard riders. People came from all over topay their respect.
Even some of the Outlaws showed up. That was a little creepy. The police kept a real close eye on them…LOL

I felt so proud being a part of it all.
 
The “Westboro Baptist Church” is a CULT in the worst sense of that word.

Christians have a right to preach the gospel,
and if the government outlaws that, we frankly
WILL DISOBEY THE GOVERNMENT for we must obey
God rather than men, as scripture infallibly teaches.

The members of Westboro are not preaching the gospel,
they are inciting people to hatred and violence, not trying to save souls. They relish and salivate at the idea of sinners going to Hell.
God doesn’t. God grieves over sinners choosing to behave in ways that merit hell. That is why He grants ample grace for repentance. My word, if Catholic Priests in the confessional took the approach toward sinners as do the members of Westboro, no Catholic would go to confession and for good reason.

These people are out inflict torturous pain on people, not try to save their souls. Shame on Westboro Baptist “Church.”

Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
 
Personally, I think that the family was correct in suing over emotional distress and I don’t think that it lays the groundwork for the continuing assault on free speech that the “hate speech” prohibitonists are pushing all over the Western world.

The protest was an assault on the family’s right to hold a funeral. You only get to do it one time, and if some lowlifes wreck it, it’s a pretty serious offense. Regardless of what Westboro said during the protest, the very act was invasive and disruptive and downright criminal. Yet I believe that the $11 judgment was disproportionate compare to the punishment meted out to other crimes.

To me, the problem isn’t the disgusting things that they say, it’s the fact that they messed up a funeral.
 
ralphinal said:
What has amazed me through all of this is the fact that the families and friends of the soldiers (sailors or marines) have not violently reacted to these people. It would be hard for many people just to ignore them.

With regards to the right to protest, I do not see how a funeral for a private citizen is the time or place for protest. These people were not in the public eye, did not promote a political cause, or in any way shape or form have an agenda. In my opinion, the right to protest should not apply in this case.
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I don’t think you have a right to protest a funeral. It’s like yelling fire in a crowded theater. Funerals are for the living, not for the deceased.
 
jesusluv said:
It would just be awesome if the media would stop showing them and the country as a whole would completely shun them and give them no publicity. If we would just pretend they didn’t exist, they would eventually have to quit because no one is paying attention.
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That is pretty much what we have done here in Topeka; ignored them. Unfortunately lacking attention here they began plaguing the rest of the country.
 
cyberjacques said:
Mr. Phelps and his ilk have done incalculable amounts of damage to the good name of Christianity, and it’s not over. Regardless of the outcome of this lawsuit, he and people like him will continue to damage the efforts of the faithful. If the verdict is overturned, it will simply embolden him and his followers, and give them a sick sort of legitimacy amongst those who agree with them. However, it might actually be worse if it is upheld. Regardless of any spin Mr. Phelps tries to put on it, there is an even bigger threat that is constantly waiting to rear its ugly head. Anti-Christian groups of every type will seize a guilty verdict as precedence for legislation against “Christian hate speech”. Canadian liberals didn’t even need that much, so think about how potent of a weapon this will be in their arsenal.

It will start with lawsuits against churches and parishes that dare to say that homosexual behavior is a sin. After a small flood of these, the actual legislation will start, making it illegal to preach against just about anything.

As much as I would love to see the Westboro Baptist Church reduced to a bankrupt nonentity, effectively eliminating their ability to spread their message of hate as widely as they have, I can’t help but believe that this sad little man has merely been a pawn in a much larger demonic scheme. An eventual lawsuit was inevitable, and the legal precedent that will be set will endanger Christianity in ways that a misguided homophobe never could.

This will be used as an excuse to suppress religious free speech, mark my words. And if the verdict is somehow overturned, the damage may be mitigated, but not eliminated. It will be used by liberal politicians as an example of how religious conservatives have hijacked the justice system in order to protect Christian hate speech. Come to think of it, even that might lead to anti-Christian speech legislation, driven by the anger it will so easily stir up in liberal and “moderate” circles.

Christians will suffer, no matter what the outcome. Such a perfectly horrible setup must be demonically orchestrated. Either verdict will lead to laws being passed against preaching Christian values, and then it’s all downhill from there.

Lord, please let me be wrong.
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I expect they will go after prolifers who display dead baby pictures first. Frankly, I am christian and prolife and I find those pictures to be psychologically damaging to myself and others. Likely, a class action suit?
 
Daniel_Marsh said:
I expect they will go after prolifers who display dead baby pictures first. Frankly, I am christian and prolife and I find those pictures to be psychologically damaging to myself and others. Likely, a class action suit?
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I agree, that’s entirely possible, and it’s undoubtedly on their list. But I would bet that their first target will be the anti-homosexual movement. It’s their one agenda that has already gained the most momentum.
 
Daniel_Marsh said:
I expect they will go after prolifers who display dead baby pictures first. Frankly, I am christian and prolife and I find those pictures to be psychologically damaging to myself and others. Likely, a class action suit?
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You are offended by people trying to stop the slaughter of children holding up pictures of what the reality of abortion is? Personally I save my outrage for what is going on inside the abortion mills -not the people trying to stop it. If you prefer a different method of sidewalk counseling I’m sure there is an abortion mill near you where you can practice it
 
estesbob said:
You are offended by people trying to stop the slaughter of children holding up pictures of what the reality of abortion is? Personally I save my outrage for what is going on inside the abortion mills -not the people trying to stop it. If you prefer a different method of sidewalk counseling I’m sure there is an abortion mill near you where you can practice it
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**I don’t believe the end justifies the means. ** My objection is to the nature of the pictures, I find them repundget and gross.

They remind me of my days during the clean up of Jonestown. I was one of the military personal that went down there to process the bodies and ship them home.

I have no problem with people trying to stop abortion, it is their means of using those pictures on trucks in public places that are not the abortion clinics. Frankly, what does the Woodward Dream Cruse have to do with abortion? Since, they started displaying those pictures there it has had a serious negative effect on street evangelism down there during the dream cruse because people associate christians with those “sick people on the corner”.

Abortion existed in Jesus’s day and I think this applies,

“whatever you do to the least of these children you have done it to me” ( my paraphrase ).

I also dispies the dishonestly and deception used by my fellow prolifers to get people to see such pictures in church. I now associate mainline prolife churches with those pictures.

I attended a church that advertised a sunday school course on apologetics, learn to defend the faith. The first section was on abortion which has NOTHING to do with defending the faith in the classical defintion of apologetics. They started by reading some scriptures which was fine, but then they ambushed us with a movie showing dead baby pictures.

Currently, I attend a house church.

Think of it this way, if you were at a party and someone pulled out pictures of something gross like dead bodies, would mentally healthy persons tend to get away from that sick person or would they be drawn to them?

Be honest, you use those pictures because of their emotional impact. Well they impact me as gross, and I tend to run away form those who are displaying them. And, I suspect some women will actually run away from you into the abortion clinic which makes me wonder if you had a different milder approach would draw more women away form the abortion clinic to you.

I find the pictures repulsive and as such emotionally I have been damaged by them, maybe I should bring a suit. But, I rather the issue be delt with in the church.

Frankly, I am strongly tempted to vote for a prochoice Republican in hopes that it would get rid of abortion in politics. I have not really seen a prolife pro war candidate I like yet. Frankly, I wishing there was a prolife candidate that could be electiable.

:rolleyes:
 
Daniel_Marsh said:
Frankly, I am strongly tempted to vote for a prochoice Republican in hopes that it would get rid of abortion in politics. I have not really seen a prolife pro war candidate I like yet. Frankly, I wishing there was a prolife candidate that could be electiable.

:rolleyes:
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So you think getting abortion out of politics would be a great accomplishent? Well so do those who aid and abette the slaughter of 1.2 million children a year.

You are welcome to picket an abortion clinic in any way you find effective. Those who display pictures claim there are very effective. To each to his own. As i said before i dont spend of time savaging those who are trying to stop abortion in a legal manner-my priority is to stop what is going on inside the clinics-not outside.
 
The difference though b/w Westboro and abortion clinics is that the Westboro protests at a private event, a funeral… Protests at abortion clinics are done out side public businesses. The two are distinctly different…

As mentioned though, if the obit said funeral was open to public, then Westboro would have some rights, however, the case in particular, it was for family and friends… I think neither applies to Westboro…

In Christ
 
notself said:
How can one be truly pro life and yet still be pro war?
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Beucause the Church does not teach that war is intrinsicly evil as abortion and Euthanasia are. Here how then Cardina Ratzinger put it:
  1. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment.** There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
    **
 
estesbob said:
So you think getting abortion out of politics would be a great accomplishent? Well so do those who aid and abette the slaughter of 1.2 million children a year.

You are welcome to picket an abortion clinic in any way you find effective. Those who display pictures claim there are very effective. To each to his own. As i said before i dont spend of time savaging those who are trying to stop abortion in a legal manner-my priority is to stop what is going on inside the clinics-not outside.
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Yes, I think it would be a good thing to get abortion out of politics because we elected a prolife guy here in Michigan and he clearly was not qualified to be govenor. When he left office, he screwed up Teacher Certification, left us more than a Billion dollars in debt, and everything he put his hands on turned to lead. He was a single issue candidate and he messed up the state. We are still feeling the effects of his management, high unemploment. Unfortunely the new govenor is not fairing much better.

I am wondering if it is in the crimial courts to win the day.

Planned Parenthood facing 107 criminal charges
worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58206
 
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