# Fred Phelps/Westboro Baptist to picket funerals of Arizona shooting victims **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051 "2011-01-10T01:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/121 "2011-01-13T15:07:09Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > > [@mhendo](#): > > > > Actually, the last time i checked the WBC’s website (admittedly, quite a few years back), they claimed to be strict believers in Predestination, the Calvinist notion that God predetermines who is and is not saved, and that none of a person’s “works” or actions in this life can influence whether they end up in heaven or in hell. > > Then what’s the point in picketing? What choice do they have? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/122 "2011-01-13T15:12:12Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Then what’s the point in picketing? They’re trying to troll for lawsuit grounds, a lot of the time. Most of them are lawyers for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/123 "2011-01-13T15:43:50Z")
> [@malkavia](#): > > It appears that they have agreed not to picket in exchange for airtime from two radio stations. [Link](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/westboro-baptist-church-arizona-funerals_n_808088.html) > > Since when do we negotiate with terrorists? Disgusting. In Phelps’ case, for quite some time now. I remember one of his people being interviewed on the radio as long ago as 2004 – that was their deal for not ruining the funeral of a local, a sergeant killed in Iraq. (I had to listen for some time to figure out just what the woman was talking about, since it seemed to have something to do with homosexuality, yet nobody seemed even to be suggesting that the dead sergeant was homosexual.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/124 "2011-01-13T15:47:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > What choice do they have? > > Regards, > Shodan I recall one of Ambrose Bierce’ fables: A thief was brought before the qadi and said, “I had no choice. Allah made me that I must steal.” The qadi replied, “That may be so, but He also made me that I must cut off your head. Unless,” he added, “you give me half the money you stole; for He made me that I am weak under temptation.” The sum being handed over, the qadi continued: “Thank you. You need now lose only one-half your head. To show my trust in your discretion, you may keep intact the half you talk with.” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/125 "2011-01-13T16:12:58Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I had to listen for some time to figure out just what the woman was talking about, since it seemed to have something to do with homosexuality, yet nobody seemed even to be suggesting that the dead sergeant was homosexual. Their reasoning is, soldiers die in war as retribution from God for the sin of homosexuality. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/126 "2011-01-13T16:32:58Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I’m thinking a speaker system with a “gay phone sex” spiel describing the speaker’s washboard abs and eight-inch cock and muscular ass, heavily interspersed with “You **know** you want it, **Fred** …” personalization. I was thinking a rock band with a huge wall of Marshall amp stacks, but your idea works too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/127 "2011-01-13T18:53:16Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I was thinking a rock band with a huge wall of Marshall amp stacks, but your idea works too. 😃 I’m not a big fan of Michael Moore, but his visit to Phelps was classic. ([3:00 into this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhekTRrvGrI)) ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/128 "2011-01-13T18:59:34Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Sounds like one of those murder stories where they most hated guy in town is killed, yet mysteriously no one around saw anything happen. > > “So Mr. Phelps was beaten, stabbed, punched, and kicked to death twelve feet from all 218 of you. Did anyone see who did it?” > “Nope.” > “Not me.” > “I was looking over there.” > “Didn’t hear a thing.” > “A wizard did it.” My wife related a story she heard in one of her Criminal Justice stories about a case the professor had worked on. A mob boss got whacked in a restaurant, and the police interviewed over thirty people who were in the restaurant. Every single one of them claimed to be in the restroom when the hit occurred. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/129 "2011-01-13T22:08:53Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > My wife related a story she heard in one of her Criminal Justice stories about a case the professor had worked on. A mob boss got whacked in a restaurant, and the police interviewed over thirty people who were in the restaurant. > > Every single one of them claimed to be in the restroom when the hit occurred. It’s obvious then. A wizard did it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/130 "2011-01-13T22:19:17Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > It’s obvious then. A wizard did it 😃 A whizzard. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/131 "2011-01-14T00:44:18Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Their reasoning is, soldiers die in war as retribution from God for the sin of homosexuality. I don’t think they even bother much with reasoning at this point. I feel a limited amount of pity for some of his kids, but not enough that I would block the road if they were going to be taken to the public square, placed in stocks, and given “39 lashes well laid on”. OT1H they grew up with a control freak raving psycho for a dad, but OTOH some of their brothers and sisters got out of it so they could too. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/132 "2011-01-16T13:57:54Z")
Perhaps people shoud remind Mr. Phelps, and his followers, that the man he claims to worship is quoted as saying" What ever you do to the least of my Brothers you do unto me" so in essence they are picketing Jesus’s funeral!! ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/133 "2011-01-18T08:13:25Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [Church agrees to not protest slain child’s funeral](http://www.kansas.com/2011/01/11/1669500/lawmakers-to-head-off-picketing.html) What a pussy. If the WBC is too chickenshit to protest at a murdered child’s funeral, I’m gonna start my own church and do it myself. :rolleyes: Seriously, now…did Mr. Phelps ever state a reason WHY his church was planning to protest Christina’s funeral? Or was he being a dick just for the sake of being a dick? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051/134 "2011-01-18T23:36:03Z")
[QUOTE=fuzzypickles] Seriously, now…did Mr. Phelps ever state a reason WHY his church was planning to protest Christina’s funeral? Or was he being a dick just for the sake of being a dick? [/QUOTE] Looking for logic or reason is basically seeking the living in the place of the dead. They just kind of phone it in these days with all the narrative coherency of a Chick pamphlet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fred-phelps-westboro-baptist-to-picket-funerals-of-arizona-shooting-victims/567051.md?page=6)