The gay-bashing, fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church must pay $5 million to the father of a fallen Marine for picketing the soldier’s Westminster funeral, a federal judge ruled Monday.

But U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett cut by half the amount of damages a jury had awarded in October to Albert Snyder, the father of fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder.

Bennett upheld the jury’s decision that the church, based in Topeka, Kan., violated Snyder’s privacy and inflicted emotional distress when members protested at the March 2006 funeral, waving signs reading, “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates you.”

“It is quite clear that the punitive damages award in this case has had no deterrent effect on defendants,” Bennett wrote in his 52-page ruling. “The key factor to be addressed by this court is defendants’ ability to pay the punitive damages award.”

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Westboro, its founder, Fred Phelps, and two of his daughters, Rebekah Phelps-Davis and Shirley Phelps-Roper, reported a combined net worth of less than $1 million, according to financial records submitted to the court.

Snyder, of York, Pa., became the first person to win a lawsuit against Westboro, which calls soldiers’ deaths God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com