Westboro Baptist Church to protest at Steve Jobs' funeral

[Borna12345]

Could well be their last funeral picket considering how rabid Apple fans can be.

+1

 

[DromeGT]

Burn the Heretics!!!! (Westboro).

 

[lbsf1]

Because they're stupid. There's no other way to slice it. These people are nigh insane and ineducable. There's a small group of people out there who are not of this world, and these people are in that group. We should all just ignore them and stop wasting our energy.

Or very simply becuase its the most high profile event that they can shoehorn their religious message into.

 

[E28]

Being an atheist, I can completely understand why people are religious. What I don't understand, is why people do utterly disgusting and inhumane things, but justify it by saying 'It was God's will'. In reality, it probably wasn't God's will, but their will.

 

[A2K78]

It's disgusting when the protest at any funeral, not just Steve Jobs'.

Whats disgusting in exercising ones right to free speech? Imagine if a group of athiest decided to protest a religious funeral or better yet near the property of a religious group, what that make them any different different from the Westboro Church.

Anyhow the point I'm trying to drive is the fact the Westboro Church have every right to protest at any funeral and say whatever they want because in the end free speech is not a once-sided thing. Its the same thing I see with the Neo-Nazi's....despite being black I don't agree with their message, but at the same time they have every right to say and protest whomever they want.

Someone in the judicial system should help stop this, before these type of situations incurs violence.

Are you saying that government should essentially put limits on free speech or better yet regulate what a individual or group may/may not do? If this is what you want then i'll be scared to live in this type of world because you would essentially want an open-liscene for any government crack down on individuals or groups out of public dissent. Essentially you be calling for the re-establishment of the regime's belong to Pinochet, Hitler, Mussolini,Stalin, even Mao because a control on speech by the state was a facet of their rule.

 

[alexleighton]

Being an atheist, I can completely understand why people are religious. What I don't understand, is why people do utterly disgusting and inhumane things, but justify it by saying 'It was God's will'. In reality, it probably wasn't God's will, but their will.

It's sort of like farting and then blaming the dog, God can't say otherwise so they can make whatever claims they want.

They'll get what's coming to them though.

 

[Joey D]

Whats disgusting in exercising ones right to free speech? Imagine if a group of athiest decided to protest a religious funeral or better yet near the property of a religious group, what that make them any different different from the Westboro Church.

Anyhow the point I'm trying to drive is the fact the Westboro Church have every right to protest at any funeral and say whatever they want because in the end free speech is not a once-sided thing. Its the same thing I see with the Neo-Nazi's....despite being black I don't agree with their message, but at the same time they have every right to say and protest whomever they want.

I didn't say anything about free speech, I said what they are doing is disgusting. Many things that are protected by the Bill of Rights I find disgusting. Protesting at any funeral is showing monumental disrespect for the deceased and their family, I don't care what group is doing the protesting.

However, I do not always agree with freedom of speech if it is hateful, slanderous, libelous or incites violence. But that is a personal opinion.

 

[Pupik]

Not sure if this was true or not (it appeared the next morning on another forum), but what a bunch of Nuts and Dolts, these doofuses are.

I hate to say it, but unaware and oblivious of their own irony, they just might wind up early for their own funeral due to their disrespectful actions.

 

[Rykon Zero]

This is the reason I'm afraid to tell people I'm an American. I'm all for having a religion, but please keep it to yourself, and for the love of your own holy god, don't act like idiotic dicks and embarrass the youth of the nation who actually want the world to lead to better things.

 

[Carbonox]

Why can't someone break this group apart already? To me these protests seem illegal and totally unacceptable, especially because they're a crazy religious group which should have no right to spread their disgusting word all over the country. Especially at funerals.

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Indeed. Acts like these should be compared to terrorism and treated as such.

 

[arora]

Yes, lets assassinate Margie Phelps with a drone attack shall we?

It is most unfortunate these people cannot find a better means of conveying their concerns. Shock value is always in bad taste.

 

[Famine]

Why can't someone break this group apart already? To me these protests seem illegal and totally unacceptable

Freedom of speech isn't freedom of speech until someone says something you don't like...

 

[Carbonox]

Sorry if I've sounded childish in my previous post. However, I'm still legally a child at 17 years, but...

Whenever the WBC appears as the subject, it causes me to shake in the worst imaginable hatred. I actually do at the moment as well. I had heard nothing about them until my friend showed me a Wikipedia article about them (at least tells that they are pretty useless if they don't even get enough media attention to be known completely worldwide, LOL) but the facts about them were simply ridiculous. So ridiculous that I find myself unable to even laugh at them, unlike at pretty much any other stupid being. I can never understand their logic after hearing how they thanked their 'God' for the deaths of Finnish students in school shootings at 2007 and 2008. That was what made them entirely worthless in my mind. When Fred Phelps finally decides to perish (preferably by getting murdered) I'll make that date a personal celebration day.

 

[Public'sTwin]

It's OK—their time is short.

So long as we keep according discussion and media-time to them, though, the wretched creatures may never wholly die out.

 

[Pupik]

Their flock is actually a tiny one, at best.

The problem is that there's likely tiny groups of these like-minded people all over this country...still quite a minority, and public opinion seems to be generally in the negative. The press doesn't give them a lot of play anymore, but they do manage to stir up their own PR.

Ignoring them is really the best thing to do. Or, ask for some backup.

 

[PeterJB]

Of all the extremist groups in the world, these are the worst, or at least the most annoying. I don't know of any other group or society in the world that hates everyone. Even groups like Al-Qaeda and the BNP are in support of at least someone else, even if they too are controversial. Its almost scary watching their interviews as they come off so incredibly robotic and just happily laugh away whilst telling everyone they're condemned to hell, including their own children if they decide to leave the church, which hopefully all of them will do.

But I do also feel sorry for them, as they are all imprisoned in this emotionless, psychotic mental state, but of course, because they're brainwashed, they think its fine.

 

[Touring Mars]

Of all the extremist groups in the world, these are the worst, or at least the most annoying.

Most annoying, possibly - the worst, not even close.

While their views and behaviour are abhorrent to most people, they do atleast limit themselves to verbal and 'peaceful' (i.e. non violent) protest. While it may be extremely disrespectful and inconsiderate, they are essentially just a bunch of loudmouth crackpots exercising the same rights to free speech and peaceful protest that the rest of us take for granted. They are the flipside of the coin... we cannot expect to enjoy these rights ourselves and at the same time deny them to others simply because we don't like what they want to say. Listening to their vile verbal diarrhoea is one price we pay so that we may enjoy the right to think and say whatever we like as well.

But almost every country on Earth has considerably more extreme groups that the Westboro Baptist Church - groups who think nothing of killing as many innocent people as they can, just to get their message (whatever that might be) across... I would never compare these bozos to Al-Qaeda, Hamas or the IRA. That said, there are doubtless many people who hear what people like Fred Phelps have to say and take it as some kind of justification for their own acts of violence, but that isn't to say that the WBC are violent themselves...

 

[RTSolvalou]

I think you should blame the state of the US economy on these people, it probably IS their fault at least partially.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

How so?

 

[PeterJB]

Law suits?

 

[F1 fan]

What I meant was that it's people like these that make me want to actively try to persuade people away from their belief in religion.

Don't do that. Then you'll be as bad as them.

I see that in the protestant world any bunch of nitwits can call themselves a church, there should be some sort of rule to distinguish a "church" from a mere group of so-called believers in whatever God.

Well said.

Mother of god I hope that woman is kept away from scissors.

Well, in the end, it will go like this..

This is a problem that exists in America. Other countries too, but to a lesser extent. You have a bunch of nut jobs who call themselves a church, when the church is pretty much a front for bigoted actions against people that are doing no harm to them at all.

They target gay people, they target people of different ethnicities. Pretty much anything that doesn't fit in with their "White, American, Hetero, praise god" agendas. They're nothing more than a cult manifesting themselves as divination.

I spent six months in Toronto recently, and while in a Tim Hortons for a morning pick me up, there was a woman holding a crucifix, shouting all kinds of filth about gay people, lesbians and anyone that wasn't caucasian. Being that I was there with my girlfriend, who is Japanese, I got fed up and confronted her.

She told me I had no right to question her as she "was the voice of god". I quoted two very famous lines from the bible "Judge not lest ye be judged" and "thou shalt not cast the first stone".

By walking into that Tim Hortons on a nice summers morning, confronting people without provocation, she had broken these two rules. She paused for a second then told me that she was "provoked" by the amount of "sinners" in the place.

Nut jobs. I speak as an agnostic, but don't let people like this confuse you from the real churches and parishes out there.

 

[Rich S]

Many of Fred Phelp's children have law degrees. Some are quite smart. But I do not agree with their wild views.

So many military leaders of the past were quite clever, but its tough to agree with alot of their viewpoints. Hitler was certainly very smart. Socially he was ingenious. He was a guy who could get things done. But he was WRONG on some counts. LOL

There's a stark difference between what somebody pushes and what their true motives are too. People can be quite sneaky.

emotional ties are primarily with those closest too them, people dont care much about strangers. If somebody can force an emotional tie on you they control your views. Its like this with alot of people.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Hitler was certainly very smart. Socially he was ingenious. He was a guy who could get things done. But he was WRONG on some counts. LOL

And they say understatement is a lost art ...

 

[High-Test]

Duh.

I hope WBC protest at my funeral. That'll mean I'd made it.

I'm sure some GTP'ers will be there to pay homage to you you in counter protest, holding Indigo lettered signs


I live in Kansas, not too far from these misfits. They protested KU's Gay pride week on its last day, and several hundred of us counter protested them in front of our student union. We raised $1,100.00 for planned parenthood, and made the donation in their name. We thanked them via loudspeaker every time we got another $50.

I recently converted to Judaism - they've protested at my synagogue on several occasions.

The best way to make them go away would be to have a gentleman's agreement with the media, enforcing a blackout on covering them. All they want is attention. By talking about them, we give them what they want.

There should be a huge gay pride festival near their compound - headlined by Elton John and Judas priest and emceed by George Takei.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

So ... did they actually picket the funeral?

 

[PeterJB]

Not sure, thought apparently they did picket Dan Wheldon's.

 

[TheCracker]

Not sure, thought apparently they did picket Dan Wheldon's.

What does God hate about Indycar drivers?

 

[PeterJB]

One of them tweeted saying "He should have served God, not man." They also believe that God caused the pile-up.

 

[F1 fan]

What a disgrace. I hope they all drive carefully off a cliff.