Church group to protest funeral

The Winnipeg Sun

A fundamentalist church group from the U.S. has announced it plans to picket the funeral of Tim McLean Jr. in Winnipeg, declaring, "God is punishing Canada."

"People are absolutely outraged about it," said Doug Mitchell, a friend of McLean's for about seven years.

Led by pastor Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church from Kansas issued a release saying they would picket McLean's funeral this weekend.

Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said about seven church members are expected to come to Winnipeg. "What we're doing is trying to connect dots," Phelps-Roper told the Winnipeg Sun last night. "We're trying to get you to see that your rebellion against the standards of God, your disobedience to the commandments -- your idols, your false gods, your filthy ways have brought wrath upon your head."

The group has held pickets and protested on issues throughout Canada and the U.S., commonly with only a small handful of people in attendance.

In 1999, the group burned a Canadian flag and protested in Ottawa following the Supreme Court ruling which ordered Ontario to include same-sex couples in the definition of spouse.

The church has also developed a reputation for not always following through on protests. "If it's not a hoax, then they're morally deranged," said Arthur Schafer, director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics.

Mitchell said he and other friends are disturbed by the church's plans. He said he hopes members of the church don't attend the funeral for his friend who was murdered and decapitated aboard a Greyhound bus last week.

"When it comes to the (Westboro) Baptist Church, they don't even deserve to be on the same page as Tim McLean. He was too great a guy," said Mitchell.

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO ! And why don't people like Idiot Phelps suffer these sort of crimes instead of a seemingly good person like Mr Mclean ?

This acts were declared illegal in several USA states, Canada should make the  same thing, this bigots deserve no respect.

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - August 07 2008 at 12:21

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: This acts were declared illegal in several USA states, Canada should make the  same thing, this bigots deserve no respect.   Something has to be done to stop this fanatics, according to WBC God hates everybody except them, it's time to stop abuse of Freedom of Speech by this animals (with the pardon of animals).   Iván

I completely disagree.  Not only does it make them martyrs to their supporters, it suggests that the government's job is to protect the feelings of its citizens.  While that arguably works on places like progarchives, in real life, where there are far greater consequences, it gives the government too much power to censor what it doesn't like, however well-meaning its intentions.

A far better response would be to simply stop paying them any attentions.  It works with kids pulling attention stunts, and it will work with these overgrown babies as well.

Pnoom! wrote: Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: This acts were declared illegal in several USA states, Canada should make the  same thing, this bigots deserve no respect.   Something has to be done to stop this fanatics, according to WBC God hates everybody except them, it's time to stop abuse of Freedom of Speech by this animals (with the pardon of animals).   Iván I completely disagree.  Not only does it make them martyrs to their supporters, it suggests that the government's job is to protect the feelings of its citizens.  While that arguably works on places like progarchives, in real life, where there are far greater consequences, it gives the government too much power to censor what it doesn't like, however well-meaning its intentions. A far better response would be to simply stop paying them any attentions.  It works with kids pulling attention stunts, and it will work with these overgrown babies as well.

Yeah, we've all heard about WBC, and we're all already outraged, blah blah blah

stonebeard wrote: John Lennon..................deadMLK..................................deadFred Phelps....................alivewhen will somebody kill this motherf**ker?

You're not helping. Celebrating anyone's death makes you an asshole, even if the person who died was an asshole.

Henry Plainview wrote: Yeah, we've all heard about WBC, and we're all already outraged, blah blah blah stonebeard wrote: John Lennon..................deadMLK..................................deadFred Phelps....................alivewhen will somebody kill this motherf**ker? You're not helping. Celebrating anyone's death makes you an asshole, even if the person who died was an asshole.

Henry Plainview wrote: stonebeard wrote: John Lennon..................deadMLK..................................deadFred Phelps....................alivewhen will somebody kill this motherf**ker? You're not helping. Celebrating anyone's death makes you an asshole, even if the person who died was an asshole.

While I agree in the case of Fred Phelps, who is little more than a nuisance, does your statement, which implies a complete absence of exceptions, include, say, Hitler?  Or, to use a more relevant, still living, example, Osama bin Laden?

lol aggressive moralism itt and elsewhere

these people just abuse free speech as a shield in that if anyone tries to stop their protest they can attempt to sue for suppression or somesuch.

edit: I mean that this is their primary intent - to make money from suing people who stand in their way.

Edited by laplace - August 07 2008 at 14:12

Henry Plainview wrote: The T wrote: Fanatism is on its way out. And so, thank God, is religion. It will take years, decades, centuries. I'll not be here. But one day religion will be but a bad memory for the human race. For religion carries the seed of fanatism. Fanatism carries the seed of hate. Hate, on the other hand, has never had such a good ally in history as religion.   Surely, there are great people who are religious.  I respect them. But there's still a label there. One day there will be NO labels. And at least ONE reason for humankind's division will dissappear. Haha, no, I'm sorry Mr. Secular Humanist, but religion is never going to die and your utopia will never be realized. For one, because it's a utopia and is therefore impossible. One world one love is hippie nonsense, even though it would be very nice if it were true. There is much debate whether or not religion is making a "comeback", but it's obvious that your mind-viruses are hear to stay. Science will never be able to explain everything.

WARNING:  STRAW MAN ALERT!

A world without religion is no more a utopia than a world with.  Read his post again before you tell him he's speaking nonsense.

And the science vs. religion is just completely irrelevant (not to mention wrong).  By definition science can explain everything (if God exists, he/she/it is a part of science).  What you meant to say, I'm sure, is that scientists can't explain everything, since obviously they can't.  However, they can explain quite a lot, and the more they can explain, the smaller a "leap of faith" (to use the term so often bandied about by creationists regarding the more specific topic of evolution) it is to trust that conventional scientific theories are correct and that religion is not (or, presumably, that Religion is if science someday starts supporting that).