Funeral Picketers Sued By Family; Threaten Counter-Suit

Yesterday's Baltimore Sun reports that the members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church who have been picketing military funerals claiming that military deaths are God's retribution for sinful behavior are finally being sued by a family that has been the subject of the picketing. In Greenbelt, Maryland, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, who died in a vehicle accident in Iraq, is suing Westboro Baptist Church in federal court, hoping that the suit will deter the group from further similar conduct. Three adults and four children marched on city property outside Cpl. Snyder's funeral in March with signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers." The group also posted comments about Snyder and his family on its Web site, such as, "Albert and Julie ... taught Matthew to defy his creator, to divorce, and to commit adultery. They taught him how to support the largest pedophile machine in the history of the entire world, the Roman Catholic monstrosity." Attorney Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father Fred Phelps helped establish Westboro Baptist, said that the church would countersue for conspiracy to violate and violation of the church's freedoms of speech and religion. (See prior related postings 1, 2, 3.)