| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
26 Aug 2005 07:12:28 PM |
| Object: |
Fringe Church Protesting Military Funerals |
Pictures and links are online at www.theinfozone.net
August 26, 2005 (IZ) In Depth Report by James Murray (c) 2005
Fringe Church Plans Protests at Funerals of Slain US Soldier --
Families decry church protests at Midstate soldiers' funerals
Individuals from a virulently anti-gay Kansas church plan
demonstrations outside two Kansas National Guard funerals on Saturday,
August 27, 2005. These protests have the military community and people
across America very upset.
Members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas plan to picket
outside the services.
Westboro Baptist Church is not affiliated with any other church, nor is
it a part of the Southern Baptist Congress.
The two guardsmen killed last week in Iraq from the 278th Regimental
Combat Team were Sgt. Gary L. Reese Jr. of Ashland City and Staff Sgt.
Asbury F. Hawn Jr. of Lebanon.
Fred Phelps
Westboro Baptist church was established 50 years ago by Fred Phelps.
Phelps, a disbarred lawyer, and his family started their protests in
Topeka, Kansas roughly 12 years ago. Their pickets started as a city
venture, then became regional and now a national effort. Phelps says he
and his church spend some $250,000 a year on airline tickets alone. The
church followers believe that America has been co-opted by homosexuals.
They believe that God's wrath is therefore rightfully killing soldiers.
"Honestly, I think it's disrespectful," says the father of slain
soldier Gary L. Reese Jr. Gary Reese says "The irony is my son lost his
life trying to spread the freedom that grants these people the right to
do this. I don't appreciate it, and I certainly don't support it."
Gary Reese, his grief is
added to by fringe Church protest
A poll released on August 26, 2005 reported that "An overwhelming
number of people say critics of the Iraq war should be free to voice
their objections _ a rare example of widespread agreement about a
conflict that has divided the nation along partisan lines.
"Nearly three weeks after a grieving California mother named Cindy
Sheehan started her anti-war protest near President Bush's Texas ranch,
nine of 10 people surveyed in an AP-Ipsos poll say it's OK for war
opponents to publicly share their concerns about the conflict."
These are not the first time that the Westboro Baptist Church has
protested at soldier's funerals this summer. The unaffiliated church
group has also picketed at other funerals of troops killed in the war.
They protested at a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.
The church, unaffilated with any other Baptist organisations consists
mostly of Phelps' children, grandchildren and in-laws. In addition to
picketing at military funerals, they have opposed Bob Jones University
in South Carolina, a conservative school. In the past, they picketed
AIDS patient funerals, and the funerals of United States Senator Albert
Gore Sr., and former congressman Sonny Bono.
The Church also issued a statement on the deaths caused by the December
26, 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia. That statement thanked God for the
tsunami and the deaths of 2000 Swedes who died.
The reason the church pickets at funerals are, according to Shirley
Phelps-Roper, the church's lawyer and Phelps' daughter, is to "draw
attention to how America has transgressed. This nation is being
punished," says Phelps-Roper. "Our job is to make America know her
abomination. So we have to be timely and we have to be topical. We have
to help America connect the dots. In the last two months, we have been
running all over this nation. About 60 people do these pickets and we
have six pickets in Topeka every day."
Gary Reese said the purpose of the protest remains unclear to him, but
he has peace of mind knowing that his only child believed in the
mission in Iraq. "He was home over the Fourth of July and we talked
about it and he was very comfortable about what we're trying to do over
there," Reese said. "He felt it was the right thing to do."
Virginia Stephens of Rockvale is enraged that the funeral of Staff Sgt.
Asbury F. Hawn Jr. of Lebanon is being protested. Hawn was in the same
troop as her husband, Wayman Stephens. Stephens remains in Iraq. Hawn
and Reese died when a rocket-propelled grenade hit their Humvee. "These
are real people who are calling themselves Christian who are going to
do this?" she wondered. "That is amazing to me."
"I go to all the funerals that are public to attend, funerals for
people I have never met," said the former police officer. "It's honor
and it's respect. These people have done something that can't be
replaced. These men don't want to die. These families don't want to
bury their husbands and sons. What this country has lost sight of is
that this is one nation under God. God says love thy brother, not wish
them dead."
Police Chief Curtis Bennett of Ashland City is confused by the church
groups actions as well. "I am a veteran, 21 years from the service and
retired, and my deputy chief, he's a veteran," stated Bennett, an Air
Force veteran. "These people, activists, try to use so much stuff
against people for no reason whatsoever." Bennett stated that he told
the protesters, " 'This is a small town and the parents have lost a
loved one and all they want is peace and quiet and to bury their son
and to get on with their life.' " Bennett does not anticipate any
problems nor staged counterprotests.
.
|
|
| User: "johac" |
|
| Title: Re: Fringe Church Protesting Military Funerals |
27 Aug 2005 01:55:58 AM |
|
|
In article <1125101548.581438.188970@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
wrote:
Pictures and links are online at www.theinfozone.net
August 26, 2005 (IZ) In Depth Report by James Murray (c) 2005
Fringe Church Plans Protests at Funerals of Slain US Soldier --
Families decry church protests at Midstate soldiers' funerals
<snip>
Westboro Baptist church was established 50 years ago by Fred Phelps.
Phelps, a disbarred lawyer, and his family started their protests in
Topeka, Kansas roughly 12 years ago. Their pickets started as a city
venture, then became regional and now a national effort. Phelps says he
and his church spend some $250,000 a year on airline tickets alone. The
church followers believe that America has been co-opted by homosexuals.
They believe that God's wrath is therefore rightfully killing soldiers.
That's the stupidest damn thing that I ever heard. I knew that Phelps is
an idiot, but he's outdone himself this time. Cart him off to the Rubber
Room Hotel.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
