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Jury orders Westboro Baptist Church to pay millions to father of fallen Marine

AP, via 49abcnews.com, USA
Oct. 31, 2007
www.49abcnews.com
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ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 19796 • Posted: Thursday November 1, 2007  

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Baltimore — A federal jury has ruled that a fundamentalist Kansas church was wrong to picket the funeral of a fallen Marine in Maryland.

The jury awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages and $8 million in punitive damages to the family of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. It found that the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka invaded the family’s privacy and intentionally inflicted emotional distress when it demonstrated at Snyder’s funeral last year. The protesters carried signs with messages like “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

The jury will now consider punitive damages. But the judge has already pointed out that the compensatory damage award is far more money than the defendants have.

Westboro Baptist Church: Members not Christians
The Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group masquerading as a Christian church. Led by Fred Phelps, members of this church target homosexuals with messages of hate.

The group’s extremist views and despicable behavior mark it as a cult of Christianity

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church cannot and should not be considered ‘Christians.’ They do not display any of the signs the Bible indicates should follow true conversion. While they claim to be Christians — followers of Jesus Christ — their behavior and actions show that they are not.

Members of the small church routinely picket military funerals. They argue that U.S. troops are dying as punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.

In an opening statement Tuesday, Shirley Phelps-Roper compared church members to biblical prophets who sought to save doomed nations that had strayed from God.

Phelps-Roper is a member of the Westboro Baptist Church. The church was sued by Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., over a protest at the funeral of his son in Maryland.

After the Westboro Baptist Church protested at his son’s funeral, Snyder filed an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the church. He was also seeking damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Snyder’s doctor says he has health problems and trouble sleeping.

A number of states have passed laws limiting funeral protests, and Congress has banned such protests at federal cemeteries.



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Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.