Thursday, November 01, 2007

Church Vows to Continue Protests at Funerals


BALTIMORE — Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church have been ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages for protesting at the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq, but they have vowed to continue their protests.

Church members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."

"Absolutely, don't you understand this was an act in futility?" said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church.

The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. They say they are entitled to protest at funerals under the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion........

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