# Yup assholes, I'm sure God loves when you protest a soldier's funeral in his name **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 4, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590 "2005-08-04T17:23:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/41 "2005-08-04T18:40:04Z")
I have never in my life heard of someone protesting a soldier’s funeral and I am generally pretty up on things. I think the protesting isn’t pissing off people as much as the fact that they called and harassed an emotional wreck of a pregnant woman (she’s hardly a woman, mind you- she’s only 19). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/42 "2005-08-04T18:47:58Z")
> [@Duke of Rat](#): > > **Slacker** , this is the first I’ve heard of him protesting soldiers’ funerals. And if he thinks doing this is going to help his cause, it ain’t working (at least on me). If anything, it only makes him out to appear even more batshit crazy than before. It’s the first time I’ve heard of him protesting a soldier’s funeral, but it’s hardly the first funeral he’s protested. His band of abused goons protested at Matthew Shepherd and Randy Shilts’ funerals. As for “winning support,” I honestly don’t think he wants it. He doesn’t want people to agree with him, he just wants to hurt people. Honestly, I think the only thing that’s keeping him from comitting outright torture/murder is fear of getting caught. He’s truly an inhuman monster, and trying to understand his motives in human terms is a futile endeavour. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/43 "2005-08-04T18:53:35Z")
Buses. You get a half dozen school buses. After the nutjobs are assembled in their designated area, you park buses (no, not on top of them, that would be wrong) in front of them. If they cause trouble, arrest them and put them in the buses for the ride to jail. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/44 "2005-08-04T19:00:43Z")
How do all these people have the cash to just drop everything and fly to California and make asses of themselves? ---
**Author:** ![viva\_la\_bruce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a5b964/32.png) [@viva\_la\_bruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/viva_la_bruce)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/45 "2005-08-04T19:04:00Z")
> [@Duke of Rat](#): > > **Slacker** , this is the first I’ve heard of him protesting soldiers’ funerals. And if he thinks doing this is going to help his cause, it ain’t working (at least on me). > > I can’t imagine him gathering much support from these tactics… “We don’t picket to win people over, idiot. It’s to harden people’s hearts. Make them hate. Make them hate God even more than they already do.” – Fred Phelps ---
**Author:** ![lexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@lexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexan)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/46 "2005-08-04T19:06:46Z")
When he came to Pittsburgh to picket Mr. Rogers’s memorial service (Mr. Rogers was a minister who failed to use his TV pulpit to warn the children that God hates fags), a bunch of us went, made a huge circle around Phelps, and sang Mr. Rogers songs loudly. We drowned them out and blocked them from public view, and barely anyone even knew they were there. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/47 "2005-08-04T19:09:59Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > How do all these people have the cash to just drop everything and fly to California and make asses of themselves? According to the wikipedia article, they made money from suing the city of Topeka. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/48 "2005-08-04T19:11:00Z")
> [@viva la bruce!](#): > > “We don’t picket to win people over, idiot. It’s to harden people’s hearts. Make them hate. Make them hate God even more than they already do.” > – Fred Phelps Is that an actual quote? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/49 "2005-08-04T19:12:18Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > Wikipedia has a good [article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church_(Topeka)) that explains what these losers are up to. I just read the Wikipedia article. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I have never heard of a more deluded group of people, that picture of his son gives me the willies, and to think there are grandchildren ready and willing to step in after Fred dies… How does one live with so much hate? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/50 "2005-08-04T19:12:18Z")
Phelps is the reason that I think we need to build a prison in the Asgard Mountain Range, somewheres. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/51 "2005-08-04T19:12:40Z")
I guess that I’m happy that more people haven’t heard of other Phelps funeral protests, because it means he’s not getting his attention-whore fantasies fulfilled. Phelps also protested\* Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Piper’s funeral in Marblehead, Massachusetts\*\*. The Boston Police Department brought their 14-member bagpipe band and played every time Phelps’s crew shouted. Best anti-Phelps idea I’ve heard yet. - I hate to use the word “protesting” when really what he’s doing IMHO is whatever it takes to get the name Phelps on the lips of everyone. My gut says that he’s a very successful troll, though I have no proof. \*\* Because Massachusetts is infected with Teh Ghey, of course. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/52 "2005-08-04T19:17:10Z")
What’s their beef with the Topeka Vintage restaurant? According to Wikipedia, they’ve been picketing it daily since 1993. Something about a riot where some members got hurt, but why where they there in the first place? **Baker** has had first hand experience with WBC too. They’ve picketed her church. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/53 "2005-08-04T19:21:44Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > What’s their beef with the Topeka Vintage restaurant? According to Wikipedia, they’ve been picketing it daily since 1993. Something about a riot where some members got hurt, but why where they there in the first place? > > **Baker** has had first hand experience with WBC too. They’ve picketed her church. I believe its because at one point they were employing a lesbian as a waitress. No, I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/54 "2005-08-04T19:22:49Z")
And how did they know she was a lesbian? Never mind. You can’t understand the mind of the criminally deranged. It’s completely alien territory. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/55 "2005-08-04T19:35:22Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=313282) is a link to a thread from this past March discussing that rat and his “flock”. (Fred Phelps/Westboro Baptist Church) There is a link there to an online expose site showing Fred for the ugly creature he is. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/56 "2005-08-04T19:42:47Z")
I am truly dumbfounded a group like this exists. I keep thinking very bad thoughts. Couldn’t Arnie live up to the Governator jokes? Could we get then all into one compound and reenact Waco? It sounds like the group is Hate for Hate’s sake. I once was part of a successful Anti-KKK rally action that was definitely illegal. We have a township nearby that was almost all White. The KKK decided this was the Ideal location for a NJ Rally. The township police where not happy. Somehow without any organization, High school kids form all over the County showed up and proceeded to drive through the parade, blast music, and harass in any way possible the idiots. One Van whose driver I met years later race right down the middle and forced them to leap aside. They gave up and went away. Amazingly not one of us kids were pulled over by the cops or harassed in anyway. Probably doesn’t help but just an idea. Hopefully Local police would be as understanding. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/57 "2005-08-04T19:48:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > How about the Bikini atoll? > I honestly don’t think Phelps cares about homosexuals one way or the other. He’s just identified them as a minority that is still socially vulnerable, and attacks them viciously and constantly, just because he gets a thrill out of it. A greiving widow is like candy to this sick fuck. I just hope he finally crosses a line someday and gives the authorities the excuse they need to crush him like the cockroach he is. You just summed up Phelps, **Miller**. The only things he loves are hate and publicity. Religion is just his excuse to indulge his endless hunger for both. Comparing him to a cockroach rather insults cockroaches. It would be so sweet if Arnie actually slaps him down. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/58 "2005-08-04T19:52:34Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Phelps is the reason that I think we need to build a prison in the Asgard Mountain Range, somewheres. If there’s a prison I _don’t_ want him to go it, it’s one called Asgard. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/59 "2005-08-04T20:06:13Z")
Surely there are plenty of people with the Photoshop skills to render the good Reverend in a compromising position with some of his male deacons. And then distribute them w/o comment everywhere he appears? Could we not make it a contest somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590/60 "2005-08-04T20:09:09Z")
How much does it cost to hire the Hell’s Angels for guard duty? Are they still a mercenary group you can hire to beat the shit out of people? Unless, of course, they decided to join the opposition…or get offered more money…whatever. Let’s hire the fucking Hell’s Angels and tell them to bring lots of knives and chains. They can just knock down and cuss at the kids. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yup-assholes-im-sure-god-loves-when-you-protest-a-soldiers-funeral-in-his-name/315590.md?page=4)