Hatrack River Forum: Phelpsians are comng to my town

This is topic Phelpsians are comng to my town in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :

Just read that people from the Rev. Fred Phelps church are coming to my little town to protest at a veteran's funeral tomorrow.

You know how I said, in PapJ's thread, that anyone who couldn't find a non-profane way of expressing themselves needed to work on their vocabulary? There are times when my own vocabulary doesn't work very well, so I'm going to refrain from saying what I think about this.

Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :

quote:
“I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!”
-Tom Lehrer

People like the members of the Westboro Baptist Church bring out that response in me. They've been to at least one military funeral in our area (which our paper reported on). We might want to ignore them - it would be nice to put in a news story, "Members of a radical group of hatemongers which must not be named protested at the funeral, but were ignored by everybody." Unfortunately, we can't do that in news. If we report on something, we have to be clear on who was there. [No No]

Posted by TheHumanTarget (Member # 7129) on :

Well Chris, this is your opportunity to stand between them and the funeral. As Edmund Burke said, "All that is required for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."

Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :

Hopefully the patriot riders will show up, and then you can join them.

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

How about making a sign:

And God said:
"Reverend Phelps?
...Never heard of him."

Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :

The Patriot Riders will be there, the story is more about them than about Phelps' group. And I'm seriously considering stopping by, to provide more blockage or something. I wouldn't bring a sign though, don't want to make it any more of a spectacle than it already is.

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :

Better be careful, Chris.

God might kill a bunch of...I dunno, alligators, for your refusal to recognize WBC's authoritay.

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

Chris, could you use your position at your paper to set up some kind of lemons to lemonade type thing, where people pledge to donate X amount/minute of protest to some related cause that the Phelpsites would find objectionable?

Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :

Chris, I would greatly appreciate it if you could find a way to detain them in Florida indefinately and never allow them to come back to Kansas! [Wink]

Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :

To hell with that idea, and with Phelps!

Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :

Can you pass out cards:
"Please forgive them, they know not what they do."

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :

My favorite response to these guys was from the Lutheran church in a town where I used to live. They completely ignored the Phelps contingent while they were there, and then the community gathered after they left and scrubbed the street where they'd been.

Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :

We have enough ignorant people here, I really don't want any ignorant and malicious ones.

dkw - I like that!

Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :

*shudder*

This really hits close to home. My dad's recent burial in a brand-new military cemetery here was accompanied by a peaceful, dignified, and beautiful ceremony. I can't imagine why anyone would want to disturb the peace of grieving loved ones, and to do so while claiming to represent the will of God is especially heinous.

Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :

Chris: I'm with Noemon. The HRC could use donations in Mr Phelps's name... I'm sure that would particularly gaul him.