Through the Looking Glass: Karma Police

The Westboro Baptist Church family finally gets theirs with an $11 million lawsuit from a mourning family

We live in a country where it is becoming essential to include in our state constitutions that protesting during the funerals of fallen American soldiers, died from AIDS or who are gay is an illegal act. One would think that having some common decency or respect for a person’s right to mourn a loved one would prohibit such insufferable and tasteless acts of hate.

However, people like Fred Phelps, leader of the evangelist and far right Westboro Church, find it not only their duty to disrupt and ruin the memory of deceased individuals whose funerals they protest, but they actually believe that they are doing “God’s bidding”—although whose God they’re referring to I’m not sure. My God never once tapped me on the shoulder and told me it was appropriate to write hateful messages on posters and scream obscenities at the top of my lungs at someone’s family as they try to say good-bye to their loved one.

In March 2006, Phelps and members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested what was supposed to be a private funeral for Matthew Snyder, an American solider that was killed while serving in Iraq. Phelps and his church members believe that God is punishing America because of the war in Iraq; therefore, dead soldiers should not be honored.

Matthew’s father, Albert Snyder, who took action against the church and had much reason to celebrate on Oct. 31.. Snyder successfully sued the Westboro Church and was awarded nearly $11 million by a Maryland Federal Court for invasion of privacy, punitive damages, and emotional distress on the Snyder family. According to CNN online, Phelps and his two daughters who help lead the church were “found liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress.”

While the court was in session, Phelps, along with his followers, protested outside of the federal courthouse holding their infamous signs that read “God is your enemy” and “God hates fags.” CNN also reports that members of the church sang “God Hates America,” using the familiar tune of “God Bless America” but by substituting ‘bless’ for ‘hate.’

Visiting the Westboro Baptist Church’s Web site always sends chills down my spine and almost makes me physically ill. Yet to do the proper research for this article and the two previous I have written about Phelps concerning the funerals of Virginia Tech students and the death of Matthew Shepherd, I find it necessary to revisit the horrific images of children holding “Fag Troop” signs to reaffirm that I am not in fact seeing things.

I am sure that likelihood of a five-year-old child comprehending what the word “fag” means is equivalent to God’s burning desire for the Westboro church to hold their “demonstrations” outside of funerals. I can’t decide which I find more disgusting: the young child who does not know any better than to hold a sign with such a hateful message, or the picture of an elderly woman who should know better propping up a poster that states “God is America’s Terror.”

Browsing through Phelps’ Web site, not much has changed. Funeral protests are still posted with detailed directions for members to follow. Biblical passages are quoted around the site, and the count of Matthew Shepherd’s days spent in hell continues to increase.

Still, I see no hint of embarrassment or even an announcement of the $11 million the church owes the Snyder family—I thought they would surely have a message from God asking people to pay up by now.

Sarah Delia is a junior English and art history major.