[Westboro Baptist Church] Pa. governor will offer police protection for Amish funerals

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday he will ask Amish elders if they want state police protection from a Kansas church group that plans to demonstrate at funerals of five girls fatally shot in an attack on their one-room schoolhouse.

Speaking at an unrelated event in the Capitol, Rendell also asked the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., as well as members of the public and news media, to allow the Amish to conduct their funerals in privacy.

“I won’t do anything that the Amish community doesn’t want us to do,” Rendell said. “If they want us to do something, we will make sure that (church members) can demonstrate, but they demonstrate far enough away that they don’t interfere with the privacy of the funerals.”

The Westboro Baptist Church routinely pickets military funerals, saying that American servicemen and women are dying overseas because God is displeased that the United States tolerates homosexuals.

In a statement on its Web site, the church blamed Rendell for the deaths of the Amish children because of comments he made about the Westboro group on national television several months ago.

“They’re insane,” Rendell responded when asked about the group’s statement.

In June, Rendell signed legislation into Pennsylvania law designed to restrict Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing by making it a crime to demonstrate near a funeral or memorial service in Pennsylvania.

On Monday morning, Charles Carl Roberts IV entered the West Nickel Mines Amish School in Lancaster County and shot 10 girls, killing five. Roberts killed himself as police stormed the building.

Read Another Article

Prophet Mohammed not perfect: Islamic scholar
[Westboro Baptist Church] Anti-Gay Kansas Church Cancels Protests at Funerals for Slain Amish Girls

Related News Articles Topic(s): Hate Groups Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Hate Groups Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog