Members of a small Missouri town banded together Saturday to block a controversial pastor and members of his Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funeral of a fallen U.S. soldier, Fox4kc.com reports.
Hundreds of residents in Weston, Mo. -- as well as people as far away as California and Australia -- rallied in support of Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell, who died from injuries suffered during a surprise attack in Afghanistan.
The residents sought to block Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and his followers from picketing Sadell’s funeral, according to the station.
Phelps' church has been the subject of intense criticism for holding more than 44,000 pickets at funerals and other events – including the services of fallen service members.
Citing their First Amendment right to protest, Phelps' followers say they use funerals as an “available public platform” to “deliver the message that there is a consequence for sin.” Phelps is openly opposed to homosexuality and all government policies they he says supports homosexuals.
"We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots," Rebecca Rooney of Weston, Mo., told Fox4kc.com. "We did that so Mr. Phelps wouldn't have a contingency that was really close."
"I'm glad they left, but I'm sad they came," she said.
Sadell, who leaves behind a wife and two sons, was stationed in the Arif Kala region of Afghanistan when his unit was ambushed on Oct. 5. Five soldiers were killed in the attack and Sadell was badly injured.
The 34-year-old died from his injuries on Oct. 24.
You know, if someone would just slap the taste out of Freddy's mouth they could claim that they were expressing their first amendment right to free speech using sign language.
ReplyDeleteSooner or later, these whackjobs are going to screw up. There are already several cases against them in multiple states to take their church status away and be labeled as a hate group. Personally, I feel like if they want to protest, they should go march through a VFW here in Texas... See how These old guys around here think about them saying they are glad soldiers die.
ReplyDeleteBEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM? No. Anyone who goes to a fallen soldier's funeral and disrupts it and makes the family's grieving even worse should be shot in the fucking head and thrown into a mass grave.
ReplyDeleteOR... banish them for life to anywhere in the middle east.
Did my comment that I left here get removed for some reason? Just wondering.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Mel. I don't know what happened.
ReplyDeleteI don't delete comments from regular readers unless they forget to take their medication and get fucking weird on me.