In my opinion, this is not a Christian church or Christian leaders. They profess nothing that is taught in the Bible. In fact, they demonstrate just the opposite of what the Bible teaches... Hate the sin, Love the sinner! However, I don't believe any man has the right to pass judgement on another person (which is probably what I am doing), that is God's job and God's alone.
I, for one, am happy that the jury has found in favor of this family. I hope they pursue collecting the award from Westboro, Fred Phelps and the rest of the leadership of this church (which is primarily his family). This group is a disgrace to Christendom. They are a black eye to Topeka and the state of Kansas.
From eCanadaNow:
"Boston - A jury ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 after members of the church cheered his death at his funeral. The money is for damages caused to relatives of the U.S. Marine who died in Iraq.
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in Iraq. The church members though stated that the death was God's punishment of America for allowing homosexuality to go on.
The church members staged an anti-gay protest at his funeral back in 2006 in Maryland. They stood there with signs which stated "You're going to hell" and "God hates you."
The Westboro Baptist Church as well as three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead Marine's family, which they indeed did. They also were found to have caused emotional distress.
The Snyder family was awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages as well as $8 million in punitive damages. This is the very first civil suit against the church. Over the past two years they have made such protests at 300 military funerals and it is expected that this could be the beginning of many more lawsuits against them.
Snyder stated on behalf of the family that "I hope it's enough to deter them from doing this to other families. It was not about the money. It was about getting them to stop."" (emphasis added)
The Church Behind the Protests- From Tribune news services; November 1, 2007
Westboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist Christian group based in Topeka, Kan., has protested military funerals across the country with placards bearing shock-value messages such as "Thank God for dead soldiers."
They contend that the deaths are punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality and of gays in the military.
At the March 2006 funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq, church members waved fire-and-brimstone placards near the funeral motorcade. Snyder's father sued Westboro and three church leaders for emotional distress and won a nearly $11 million jury verdict Wednesday in Baltimore.
For years Westboro members have crisscrossed the country toting signs using "unvarnished words" such as "God hates fags" because they say the Bible teaches them to speak directly and simply. The church's 75-person congregation is comprised mainly of relatives of Rev. Fred Phelps, the founding pastor.
The group also blames disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and AIDS, on what it views as permissive morals in violation of biblical dictates. Members insist that their protests, no matter how insulting to some, are constitutionally protected.
Alarmed by Westboro protests, at least 22 states have enacted or proposed laws to limit the rights of protesters at funerals. Only months after Matthew Snyder's death, Maryland passed a law prohibiting targeted picketing within 300 feet of a funeral, burial, memorial service, or funeral procession.
Past protests by Westboro have produced so much negative reaction that they routinely alert local police department of their plans so they can provide additional security.
No comments:
Post a Comment