You Knew This Was Going to Happen

August 7, 2007 By Guest Contributor 23 Comments

Fred Phelps’ church is on its way to Minneapolis (PDF)

[Westboro Baptist Church] will… picket the funerals of those whom a sovereign God abruptly snatched from the Bridge in Minneapolis and cast into Hell.

They’re even more pissed off than usual because people stole their signs the last time…:

We know Minneapolis and Minnesota very well having picketed there many times. Twice they stole our picket signs — violently, and right out of our hands — on the public sidewalk in front of The Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Minneapolis, MN — as the police looked on and laughed. Typical Minnesotans. We want our property back. That area of Minneapolis is like the fag-dominated Castro District of San Francisco. There are no First Amendment rights in Minneapolis, because all fags are filthy and lawless (2 Pet. 2:7,8). They died at the Bridge for the fag sins of Minneapolis in persecuting WBC’s missionaries. Worse and more is coming from the Lord our God. Better give our signs back.

(Thanks to Bjorn for the link)


[tags]atheist, atheism, Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps, Minneapolis, Bridge, God, Christian[/tags]

Filed Under: General 23 Comments
  • Richard Wade

    If anything is proof that God doesn’t exist it’s the sad fact that Fred Phelps and his family of human hemorrhoids are still alive. One of these days an enraged mob will tear them to pieces and I’ll say “Aw gee, too bad I missed it.”

  • Carrie

    Oh, man… if it weren’t for respect for the families of those who’ve died, I’d be trying to start up a movement to get somebody to give them their signs back… with minor alterations. These guys should have some good ideas…

  • http://www.blueshifted.org Andy

    Oh boy…CASH has got to f*** with them.

    What do you think, Friendly Atheist readers? Is there any way my local atheist organization can humiliate these jerks any more then they already do to themselves?

  • http://mollishka.blogspot.com mollishka

    I didn’t realize 2 Peter had anything to say about First Amendment rights in Minnesota. Now I know better.

  • http://bjornisageek.blogspot.com Bjorn Watland

    I’m not sure what counter protest would work best. If choosing between the lesser of two evils, all of the rest of Christianity is better then Phelp’s crowd, but how many quiet members are secretly cheering for them? How can a larger group, including atheists, humanists, skeptics, and those Christians who acknowledge those hateful things are in the Bible, but can pick out quotes about universality, and compassion, rather then stoning, be motivated to counter-protest?

    And even if you did protest, what good would it do? Is it better to ignore them? Does that give the impression that they are tolerated? Would signs which say, “We Respect Individual Privacy,” or “Atheists against hate speech,” be well received?

  • Calvin Moore

    Wow. I believe God is sovereign. I believe He was in control of that day’s events and allowed the bridge to collapse. I just do. But, picketing the funerals? Did it just so work out that EVERY person on that bridge was not a Christian? Was there some sort of wild orgy going on on that bridge at the height of rush hour that God smote everyone? Was everyone listening to Howard Stern (and laughing!) or something? Did one person swear at the driver in front of him and condemn everyone else on the bridge to a watery and then firey grave? Doesn’t the Bible teach that good and bad things happen to the just AND the unjust?

    Westboro Baptist Church is dead wrong to do what they’re doing. Wrong. But, while they’re at it, they should split into teams. One to tell people that fags are going to hell, another to preach that those who died in the Iraq War are already burning in hell, and one to picket the funeral for the bridge collapse victims. That way, they’ll never have to return to Minneapolis again once they board their space vessel and return to whatever planet they’re from.

  • Richard Wade

    Worse and more is coming from the Lord our God. Better give our signs back.

    “Listen you, I’m gonna tell my big brother, God on you an’ he’s gonna come an’ beat you up!”

    The evil Minnesotans should return the signs to their rightful owners in the manner perfected by Vlad the Impaler.

  • http://olvlzl.blogspot.com olvlzl, no ism, no ist

    Having called for laws that would prevent the Phelps hate cult from holding demonstartions during the hours of a funeral and burial I think that’s the best way to deal with it. Let the hate group hold their event when it wouldn’t deprive the grieving friends and family their one and only opportunity to bury their dead. The haters don’t seem to restrict the hours when they spread hate.

    Free speech is a right, it isn’t the only right.

  • Tony Carr

    sup yall, long time listener, first time caller…this is straight lunacy. what did these people ever do to Phelps or his church? heh, all this is gonna do is piss off the families who’re already grieving (cus I figure most folks already think dude’s a classless prick)

  • http://www.rekounas.org rekounas

    Where are the sniper serial killers when you need them?

  • david still

    In the name of decency, compassion, and empathy, why not a bunch of solid citizens take their signs and stick them up the asses of those homophobes and tell them they can now identify with gays and be one of the crowd they badmouth. Then take some photos and flood the papers and tv sets so the world can see what those fools got and deserved.

  • Maria

    just when I think Fred Phelps can’t sink any lower, he goes and does it……

  • anti-nonsense

    Fred Phelps is living proof that either there is no God or that God hates humanity. If there was any justice in the world he and his little hate cult would have been smashed to bits by a hurricane, killed in a one-vehicle crash or similar mishaps long ago.

  • http://starseyer.blogspot.com Mikel

    I think that whole family has some sort of genetic mental disorder that just hasn’t been diagnosed yet…

    I wonder if maybe in 5 or 10 years one of the young ones will escape and write a book denouncing the whole thing?

  • http://globalizati.wordpress.com globalizati

    Fred Phelps is living proof that either there is no God or that God hates humanity.

    That basically describes his theology, I believe.

    Where are the sniper serial killers when you need them?

    Amen.

  • http://www.myspace.com/timandjeffrey Tim D.

    People who want to know why people like Hemant blog about things like this….my answer to the question Bjorn posed is, yes, keeping silent about these things does give the impression that people accept them. When people do bad things, other people call them on it and try to stop them; this should be no different. They need to be called out and dealt with accordingly.

  • Nate Phelps

    So Calvin, if god was in charge that day and let the bridge fall…hmmm…that means that every day he chooses which situations in the world he will or won’t allow the physical laws of the universe to operate. Wouldn’t you think that someone somewhere would have picked up proof of suspended physical laws in the past 100 years if that’s how god works? How about this: the freakin’ bridge support system eroded to the point that it could no longer support the weight of the traffic that used it? Doesn’t that make sense? Isn’t that explanation easier then torturing logic and inventing myths? I mean come on!

    Every time someone out there shoves some tragedy through their faith filter they tacitly support the hateful ignorance of my family. Let’s be honest here…the only possible connection you could logically make between that bridge and the nonsense spewed by “christians” like my father is that both systems have failed and collapsed.

    To dear Shirley and her merry band of Kool-Aid drinkers I say…

    Here’s Yer Sign!

  • Alex Leckie

    Phelps is truly one of the most enraging people who have ever been brought to my attention.

    seriously id love to volunteer to be that serial sniper people were mentioning..if only i was skilled enough to actually be effective.

  • Maria

    I wonder if maybe in 5 or 10 years one of the young ones will escape and write a book denouncing the whole thing?

    Four of his kids did, and changed their names. they want nothing to do with him. check out http://www.addictedtohate.com for the whole story

  • http://contrapunctus.net/ Chris League

    Regarding a counter-protest, gay folks have developed very clever fund-raising schemes whereby people pledge money to causes antithetical to WBC’s aims. Pledges are based on the number of WBC protesters and the length of time they stay. The longer they protest, the more money is raised for AIDS or whatever. I encourage Minnesotans to try something like this.

    Also, regarding free speech, protests at funerals, etc. — as distasteful as I find these guys, my uncompromising attitude about civil liberties trumps that. If they’re raising a ruckus that’s one thing (disturbing the peace), but I can’t justify restrictions on ‘free speech zones’ just for holding some hateful signs near a funeral. At Matthew Shepard’s funeral, counter-protesters simply stood in between the family/friends and the WBC pricks to block the view.

    In fact, WBC is so extreme that I suspect more exposure for them only helps our cause.

  • GuyIncognito

    I read about this Monday night. I drove out to the Grace Evangelical Church on Tuesday with the intent of stealing their signs if they showed up. I figured you couldn’t hold a protest without signs. Because it was a funeral and I didn’t want to cause a disruption, I decided against paint (to cover the signs), mirrors to shine the sun into their eyes, and sprinklers to douse them with water. Thankfully, they didn’t even bother to show up. It was a very quiet and uneventful funeral. There were two very nice police officers directing traffic (there wasn’t much) who had no idea of the planned Phelps Clan protest. As the funeral wound down and guests left, I talked with one of the church volunteers. He too, wasn’t aware of the planned protest, but had heard of the Phelps clan and shook his head in disgust upon learning of their plans.

    They’re supposed to be at another nearby funeral today. I’m thinking of driving by in a bit. The police and the church are aware of the planned protest this time. Hopefully, the Phelps don’t even show. They are known for advertising a protest and never showing up.

  • GuyIncognito

    If you want insight into the Phelps clan, check out the BBC documentary: The Most Hated Family in America

  • Maria

    okay the addicted to hate website is down (I had heard phelps was behind that). but the story is up here: http://blank.org/addict/