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Anti-gay church plans protest at funeral of Maryland sailor
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(AP)
Members of the Rev. Fred Phelps’ congregation, foreground, plan to picket a memorial service Saturday at Abingdon for a local sailor killed recently in Iraq. An anti-gay church already fighting a defamation lawsuit from a slain Marine’s father plans to protest at another military funeral this week. The Westboro Baptist Church, of Topeka, Kan., is scheduled to demonstrate at the funeral Saturday at St. Francis de Sales church in Abingdon for Petty Officer 2nd Class David Roddy, 32, a sailor and Harford County native who was killed Sept. 16 in the Al Anbar province of Iraq while attempting to disable a homemade bomb. “I think it’s rude [of the church to protest at military funerals] because it’s a time of mourning and not a time to get a voice out,” said Cristale Roddy, David Roddy’s widow. “He died defending these people’s right to speak.” The Westboro Baptist Church said it believes God is punishing Americans for their tolerance of homosexuals by killing U.S. troops in Iraq. The church plans to send fewer than 10 protesters to this weekend’s funeral, where they will hold signs that read, “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “Thank God for IEDS [improvised explosive devices],” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of the church’s founder, the Rev. Fred Phelps. The church has protested at 220 military funerals and memorials since it started doing so in June 2005, Phelps-Roper said, and has made appearances at the funerals of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, of Westminster, in March, and Lt. Robert Seidel, of Emmitsburg, in May. Snyder’s father, Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., filed a defamation lawsuit against the church in June for protesting at his son’s funeral and posting pictures and comments about the demonstration on the church’s Web site. The church’s lawyer, Jonathan Katz, wrote in a motion defending the church last week that members were merely expressing their opinions. The Patriot Guard Riders, a group of bikers that formed in response to Westboro’s pickets to act as buffers between funeralgoers and protesters, also plans to attend the funerals of Roddy and Sgt. David Davis, a Mount Airy soldier who was killed Sept. 17 in an explosion, according to the group’s Web site. kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com |
