Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

[Eohmer]

This is really saddening, and pathetic.

Kansas Baptist Church Intends to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral Because He Played Gay Character

A radical Baptist church in Kansas known for picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in Iraq said it intends to protest Heath Ledger's memorial service with signs claiming the actor died and is in Hell because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.”

Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka said that she and other members will picket Ledger’s United States memorial services, not those held in his native Australia.
“You cannot live in defiance of God,” she said. “He got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it’s OK to be gay.”
A press release circulated by the church references Leviticus 18:22 in the Bible, which states that “thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”
“Heath Ledger is now in Hell, and has begun serving his eternal sentence there,” the Westboro Baptist announcement says.
Started 1955, the Topeka, Kan.-based church has conducted over 34,000 peaceful demonstrations opposing the homosexual lifestyle, according to their Web site, GodHatesFags.com.
The organization runs various Web sites, including GodHatesAmerica.com and others that condemn lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Muslims, Roman Catholics and Jews as well as certain nationalities, according to Wikipedia.


The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the church as a hate group and the organization is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League, according to its Wikipedia entry.
Phelps-Roper said the church group will also be picketing the Academy Awards this year.
Both the printed release and Phelps-Roper’s verbal diatribe about Ledger were rife with homophobic slurs. She said that those who call her and other members of Westboro Baptist Church bigots must also think God is a bigot.
“God hates fags,” she said. “The wrath of God has been revealed before the eyes of this nation with the death of Heath Ledger. … This nation worships the dead almost as much as they worship their filthy sex acts. America is doomed.”

FOXNews.com - Kansas Baptist Church Intends to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral Because He Played Gay Character - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

[Aksannyi]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Wow, that's just ... awful. What kind of people believe so strongly in Christ's love ... and can't just let someone rest in peace. I pity these people and their closed minds.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

A radical Baptist church in Kansas known for picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in Iraq said...

When I read that, I stopped. They immediately lost any respect they could have gotten. I may be against homosexual practices (which I openly admit), but... damn. Let the guy have a funeral -.-

[The Mauva Syndicate]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

How do these people survive? They just lost a court case and were penalized millions of dollars WHY are they allowed to roam free when they are convicted debtors? Throw these freaks in prison, where they can get a real taste of that which they despise.

I'll sell popcorn and you hold the video camera.

The Devil himself has set a place for the Phelps' at his table, and they are going to be seated there. Heaven holds no place for haters.

[Murphie]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Well, best of luck to them getting the entire congregation to Australia. It's kind of an empty threat in this case (not that they aren't completely deplorable human beings).

[eticket109]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

I didn't even have to read that to know it was the Westboro Baptist Church.

On a related note... apparently the Ultimate Warrior didn't like him very much either.

DEAD LONG BEFORE 28. at Warrior’s Machete

By today’s standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

These Westboro Baptist kooks again. Christ didn't hang out with the cleanest of people, but he didn't walk around condemning people all the time. If he's the example for your life and you believe that, why not follow it? Seems he had the right idea. "Love one another as I have loved you and in this they will know you are my disciples," is what he said.

I think they could focus on that verse a bit more than what's in Leviticus.

[Telera]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Heaven holds no place for haters.

QFT.

Everyday I begin to understand more and more why atheists and others cannot abide the vast majority of Christians.

Because said vast majority is incapable of following the most *central* precept and commandment laid upon them.

Love. Everyone.

Period, the end. They are not to judge or condemn. They are to love everyone, even people they may not agree with. Why? Because hatred never helped anyone, that's why. If you're *hateful* with someone they don't give a flying fuck what you have to say.

People like this...yeah, in for a rude awakening come their Judgment. I don't even wanna be in the room.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Because said vast majority is incapable of following the most *central* precept and commandment laid upon them.

You're not any better than Westboro if you're going to paint the "vast majority" with the same brush, so kindly get off your perch. I've seen my share of fakes, but I've seen those that do lots of good. There vast majority, if anything, don't express thier faith publicly, but instead are ashamed of it because society condemns them for experessing it. The Christian faith is actively discouraged from expressing itself in America, possibly more than any other faith I know of.

Westboro Baptist, if anything, is a fringe minority and a disgusting one at that.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Great publicity stunt. Worked nicely, too; I bet millions of people now know about that "church".

[Aksannyi]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

They've been doing bullshit like this for months. Hate is such a strong word, but I really do hate them.

[eticket109]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

They've been doing bullshit like this for years. Hate is such a strong word, but I really do hate them.

fixed

[Telera]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Fine, Kitten. Over exaggeration, I'll own to that.

But there is a very vocal (and large, like it or not) group of people who claim to share my faith who are rather ruining our image to the rest of the world. Whether or not they are a good representation is certainly questionable. But the same could be said of any religion. Quite a bit of hatred exists towards the Islamic faith as well, people judging by the actions of the radical, instead of the sensical. Why? Because the radical are more *vocal*. The sensical should make more effort in stepping forward in both cases. Being ashamed of your faith or afraid of what others say is no real excuse. I'm pretty sure the whole denying Christ out of fear thing has been covered well enough in the Scripture itself.

I stopped attending churches of any denomination because no matter *where* I have gone, I've encountered quite a bit of blatant ignorance and/or willful misinterpretation of Scripture.

Particularly as pertains to not only homosexuals, but anyone not of <insert current denomination I'm attending here> and how they are all doomed to hell, torment, or oblivion, depending on afterlife views. That snide ass string of comments after Katrina and how New Orleans 'deserved' it? That was echoed by more than one 'evangelist.'

And they think they're carrying out God's will by carrying on in such a manner?

While your common layman Christian probably has nothing but love for most of their fellow humans (or at least makes a valiant effort at it), the people that basically serve as our 'spokesmen' to the world are not all that great at the job. Some are, some aren't. You can't exactly blame everyone else for being rather turned off by the hatred and insensitivity that the worst spew. And when the audience he's addressing is applauding his insensitivity, it paints a rather grim picture of all of us, warranted or no.

[Saren]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Well, best of luck to them getting the entire congregation to Australia. It's kind of an empty threat in this case (not that they aren't completely deplorable human beings).

Perhaps not the entire congregation but I wouldn't rule out a small to medium sized group of them actually showing up.

There was a documentary in Britain nearly a year ago about an American family very similar to the nutters here. Same MO, hated 'fags and fag enablers' went to protest at the funerals of soldiers who died in Iraq etc.

They spent thousands of dollars a year on internal flights around the country, the vast majority of that money was donated to them by their church and that was for relatively low profile funerals with little in the way of media attention.

[Theyaden]

Re: Church to protest Heath Ledger funeral.

Holding on to hatred does not harm the one it is aimed at, but rather poisons the soul of the one who holds it. May this group reap what they sow.

I consider it disgraceful to attack funerals as you are not harming the one you claim to be against but rather those left behind who cared about them.