Friday, October 26, 2007

Man Sues Church For Protesting Sons Funeral

A father of a fallen soldier has taken a church to court due to their protest at his sons funeral. Albert Snyder just wanted a quiet funeral for his son Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, attended by friends and family. When members of Westboro Baptist church showed up with signs that depicted sex acts and comments concerning his son’s death being the result of homosexuality in America, it made Albert sick to his stomach; so sick in fact that he took them to court. Here is an excerpt below from the court hearing.

"My God is loving God," Snyder said, adding later "I don't look for hatred in the Bible."

The church's founder and pastor, Fred Phelps, took the stand after Snyder and prompted a strong admonition from Bennett when the pastor said he had not considered whether children would see a sign carried by protesters with the words "Semper Fi Fags" and two stick figures that appear to be engaged in sodomy.

"No, it's an irrelevancy," Phelps said.

Bennett then interjected sharply.

"Just answer the question, sir. Don't determine what's relevant or not relevant. You just answer the question," Bennett said.

Phelps said he chose to use the term "fag" in the group's signs because it comes from scripture but could also have used Sodomite or dog. When asked by Katz why the group made a "Semper Fi Fags" sign, Phelps said it was in response to the need for a warning to the country "that your wicked ways are going to be your doom shortly."


You can read more here.

Some questions:
-How is the gospel displayed through such acts?
-Out of curiosity, I wonder if any of those protests have ever resulted in anyone coming to Christ?
-Do you agree with what Snyder said when he said, “My God is a loving God… I don’t look for hatred in the Bible”?
-Does the term “fag” come from scripture as Phelps stated?
-If you looked at the link to their site, what are your thoughts/concerns?
-If you took your child with you to attend the funeral and there were people protesting with graphic depictions of sex acts and hate speech, how would you respond as a parent?
-If you are a Christian, should you ever sue a church? (Is this even a church?)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I read this story last night and it made me so angry. It makes me sick to my stomach that a 'church' would act in such a way. I did look at their web page. It is almost so over the top that I wondered if someone else created it to make Christians look bad. I don't think their actions portray the gospel in any way. i am getting ticked just thinking about it.