Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral

Religious people are funny.

I wish I could say I am surprised but these are the same idiots who picket military funerals.
As a Christian, I would like to appologize for this bunch of idiots and fools.

Garbage, except that last bit. I'm surprised anyone still cares.

The pdf of the flyer comes straight from the godhatesfags web site, so yes, unfortunately it's real.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20080122_heath-ledger-brokeback-mountain.pdf

Does this mean the WBC losers are flying to Australia?

these people deserve to be shot

Unfortunately, it's real. Phelps posted about it on all his websites.

Please, when you hear of these people realize that they are not Christian. They have perverted Christianity into a hate spewing mess. They quote one little passage in the Bible and in the process they disregard 90% of the Bibles teachings to make their obscene statements.

there's nothing that drives me more nuts than when "christians" quote the Bible as fact. nothing against christians, but definitely something against "christians" who are hurting more than helping.

there's nothing more that drives me nuts than when "christians" quote the Bible as fact. nothing against real christians, but definitely something against "christians" who are hurting more than helping.

I would like to ditto Patrick's thoughts. I sincerely apologize for those marring the good name and nature of "Christians" like these. If only they would stop practicing the religion and start following Christ, I'm sure messes like these would be done away with.

The embarrassment they inflict on themselves is their punishment. Asses.

Sideline observer, They're not funny.

I completely echo Patrick's sentiment. This is not Christianity. Christians don't hate people, and they certainly don't have the authority to condemn people to hell. Reading things like this makes me sad because these "Christians" just keep pushing non-believers and others who are curious about the faith further and further away from God. I'm so sorry for anyone who has been offended or assaulted by these horrible and hateful comments, particularly Heath Ledger's family and loved ones.

Ignorant !@#!@@#$$

Here are some things to bear in mind about the WBS and Fred Phelps:

1) Of the 71 confirmed members, 60 are related to Phelps by blood or marriage.
2) Phelps himself was AWARDED by the NAACP back in the 1980's for civil rights work in Kansas, bearing in mind that:
a) He was permanently disbarred by the Kansas State Board of Law Examiners in 1979, and...
b) He was forced to stop practicing in Federal Court as part of a lawsuit settlement in 1985.
3) Four of his estranged children have publicly denounced him as a CULT leader.

If you look at Phelps and the congregation that supports him, a pattern emerges. This is a cult of the personality focusing on a certifiable hate-addict (not my idea, btw). There has to something seriously psychological wrong with this man. He was once a champion for African-American rights, and an outspoken opponent of the Jim Crow Laws in Kansas.

Now he is a hate-mongering tyrant...

I abhor his words, but I truly, truly pity the man...

Echoing the previous entries on the true nature of Christianity, I can't help but feel a deep sadness for everyone involved in this church that has been drawn into the web of deceit and lies, not to mention hate, that Phelps has weaved. I honestly wonder if Phelps truly hates these people, or if he simply gets off on all the attention that this intense hatred brings. In reality, hate and offensive material often sell, and this man gets much more attention than he deserves. I pray for him and his family, anyone that shares his views, but I also pray that we would all have the sense to stop looking in his general direction. Ignore this man and he will go away

They're ramming home the concept that god hates gays, and also *enablers* of which they suggest Heath is.

They're planning on coming to Los Angeles to protest the memorial service. I get the feeling that, if they make it here, it won't work out well for them. What they're planning has been all over the news - people know what their leaders look like, and I doubt it will be tolerated. There's a fine line between freedom of speech and defamation. The WBC is a good 50 meters on the wrong side of that line.

Ledger is an actor! An actor. Get it?! He plays various roles. Where is the religious right's outrage over actors who play RAPISTS?@???

if I had cash to spare, i would so donate it to these lunatics. nobody is a better ambassador to show the world how insane religions make you. and to the people insisting these aren't "real" xtians, I say there is no such thing. the bible, obviously a work of men and hardly the word of "God", is so full of contradictions and hypocrisy, and if you want to live a decent life you can certainly do it without consulting it once. Admittedly, most people wouldn't bother without the incentive of being promised their generic little egos will end up in heaven for eternity, which is very sad.

Agree with Dana...

Also, they consider themselves a Baptist church. I grew up a Baptist, and it pains me to think that this might be the way the general public views that particular faith...

In reality though, they are not associated in any way with any of the Baptist church organizations in the country.

Awww, the guy's a kook and leads a couple dozen simps. He craves publicity and that's it. Let it pass and he'll eventually go away. Nobody takes him seriously as representing anybody but his very small sect.

Unfortunately, this wacko is real and he pickets everything at KU, from concerts and plays to graduation. They're constantly "demonstrating" on campus and since it's a public campus they can't be removed unless they are causing a disturbance, which since most of them are lawyers they stop short of.

Since most of them are lawyers, they are sue happy. They have said that even though they know they're getting bad press, they're happy because they can say whatever they want once they're on tv to further their agenda.

Phelps actually has stopped attending most of these activities, my theory is that he's afraid someone will kill him. However, he doesn't see anything wrong with sending small children to scream hateful slurs at people he deems "going to hell."

Please believe me when I say, people in Kansas wish the ground would open up and swallow this ass.

can someone please picket WBC at their house or otherwise? maybe that will give them a taste of their own medicine.

Good God, that's sick. If these people call themselves respectable Christians, what respect have they to picket his funeral?

As a Southern Baptist Minister, I want to point out that Westboro baptist is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention or any other Baptist Convetntion. He has been taken to court to strip that name and continues to appeal it.
He is a hateful, detestable man, hell-bent on hurting others while advancing his name.
What he does is disgusting and deplorable. Please be angry with him, and him alone.

It would seem to me that if it says in the bible that you should kill gay people, and you believe in the Bible and call yourself a Christian, then surely you should agree with WBC?

I'm an atheist and deplore the revisionist clap trap of the supposed "real Christians".

If it's the word of your God, then who the hell are you to second guess it?

See either go with the full crazy desert death cult or don't but you don't get to cherry pick the nice bits and deny the less appealling sections.

Ah the grand thing it is to be a rational atheist.

I don't need an imaginary friend on a cloud to tell me how to behave, and I don't need to use double think to get me out of the moral bind this subject presents.

Pol x, you should try being a rational atheist without being a raving narcissist, and see how that works out.

I find it makes more sense if I consider the primary function of the WBC not to spreading hate messages, but to generate lots of easy money by suing people who try to prevent them from expressing their vitriol.

Not that this makes them any less despicable.

Pol x - because you have to either totally believe or completely ignore everything you read.

Sure you see loads of Christian anti-gay groups based around this one passage from the Bible. But you don't see many anti-haircut groups (Leviticus 19:27), pro-slavery (Leviticus 25:44) or anti-shellfish groups (Leviticus 11:10) (by the way these are from the same chapter which features the "men who lie with men are abominations" verse) I say, lets FOLLOW WHAT THE BIBLE TELLS US and take every single thing it says as truth! Wait though... doesn't it contradict itself sometimes? Could it *possibly* be that some of the Bible just doesn't make sense?
Also, Pol x, I think you'll find that the Bible never mentions killing all homosexuals. That's just something fun the fundamentalists have thought up. It does, however, say that all people who work on the Sabbath should be put to death (Exodus 35:2). So all those life-saving doctors, firefighters, policemen who work on Sundays? You're allowed to kill them.
On a sidenote, quoting from the Bible is fun!

c-dub.

That wasn't very Christian of you now was it?

sparge.

Your point seems poorly formed.

Are you saying I have to believe everything, or was it an attempt at sarcasm?

If you are a Christian, then are you saying you don't have to believe the LIVING WORD OF THE LORD?

If so that seems a bit Un Christian of you no?

Your god says in his No1 best seller that all Gays must die.

So if you are a X'ian, how do you cork screw your brain around to get any other message?

Ah but hey that'll be me and my crazy ol' narcissism again.

Rosi,

nor it does.

But best be on the safe side.

Death to seafood eating gay sunday workers.

Man it's a bad week to be a gay Sushi chef this sunday.

I don't know much about this guy, but I feel like they should have picketed the movie itself...
It's so disrespectful to the dead. Are they going to picket Jake Gyllenhaal's funeral too? Or Tom Hanks (in Philadelphia)? Every actor or actress who has portrayed a character that is not heterosexual, or what about even moral? Picket the funerals of every actor who has portrayed anything but a god-fearing straight man or woman.

O.o

No, not all Baptists are this way. Most Baptists engage in passive-aggressive taunting and condemnations. Picketing really isn't their style.

@Pol x:

Why would you assume I'm Christian? I'm just someone with a strong distaste for arrogant proselytizing, yours included.

I watched a BBC documentary in which the commentator actually stayed with the Phelps clan. It was quite interesting, but the one thing I remember very clearly was that their goal is to evoke the kind of hate towards them that they do. The underlying concept is that by bringing forth hatred, they bring forth Satan's presence in people; and, of course, that they (the Phelpses and fellow congregants) are the only chosen saved.

In other words, they're getting exactly what they want: people hating them. That's why they target the high-profile stuff. Were everyone to simply ignore them, they'd get very, very frustrated.

Pol x:
read more

UGH I hate these people.
I believe people have the right to believe what they want, but this is insanity!

What if we were to go to their house or pickets with signs saying "God hates the Westboro Baptist Church Members"... I think that would be hilarious.

It's obvious at this point that Phelps is a malignant narcissist.

Holy Valhalla! There really are alot of Christian apologists on this site. To each their own, I always say.

To each their own.

As a Christian, I too would like to apologize for these mis-guided people. I think they forgot to read the part of the Bible that teaches us to FORGIVE.

Well, that's one way to respect the dead.

I don't read the bible much but a friend quoted these from the bible that fit perfectly with the Westboro Baptists!

"But the tongue can NO man tame..it is a unruly evil full of deadly poison"
and
"It is not what goes into a man that defiles him....but what comes out" and also
any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue....that mans religion is in vain"

"Nothing else about Heath Ledger is relevant or consequential".

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Maybe it was mentioned... I didn't see it though - that Phelps' church lost a lawsuit recently. They were sued by the family of a dead soldier at whose funeral they picketed. The church, based on the decision, should be liquidated soon, or will be if the court follows through. The judgment was about 8x the value of the assets of the entire organization.

i dont think those aussies are going to take too kindly to that family if they end up in australis. it wont work out well for them..

*australia

Regardless, it is a sin to be gay. Why would you want to be associated with homosexuality even if it was "acting." I have no problem with Heath Ledger, but he should have turned that role down. Homosexuality is wrong. Thats not an opinion, thats a fact.

keep in mind that i don't believe this church should be doing this out of respect for heath's family and friends. out of respect for him as well.

@unknown- Morals and opinions are not facts.
*Fact-the truth or actual existence of something, as opposed to the supposition of something or a belief about something
*Opinion-the view somebody takes about an issue, especially when it is based solely on personal judgment

Being gay- none of your concern. Honestly I still cant figure out why people care. Who do gay people hurt? What is so horrible that they do that other human beings dont? Have sex, have lives? If it's a religious thing, the rest of society is not under the umbrella of your religious beleifs (which are opinions- not facts). If it's a science thing- there are plenty of cases where same sex animals do the humpty hump in nature. And we are certainely not on the verge of being an underpopulated planet- so just because Jill and Jill cant make a baby without Jack, doesn't equal the end of the human race. Get over it.

Oof. I think Suzie having to give unknown the definition of the word "fact" pretty much says it all. Yee-ikes.

"Fall from Grace" is a great documentary produced by a KU film student. In the movie, Phelps' estranged son says that his father has the mentality of a second grader who grew up with homosexual urges. This would explain his actions. Anyway, my dream scheme involves people from around the nation showing up at Fred Phelps' funeral to picket. People can hold signs proclaiming, "Fred Phelps was gay" and things of that nature. Anyone in?

D: that makes me so unhappy.

to unknown: why is it a sin to be gay? no words can really capture how offensive you are. i don't understand how you can describe something that is completely natural as wrong.

I also like the way unknown puts "acting" in quotes -- as if he or she isn't quiiite sure about Mr. Ledger's orientation.

I think every drag queen in the greater L.A. area should protest the WBC's demonstration. I'm game to put on a pair of trousers and a fake mustache if it'll make a crazy, disrespectful zealot go berserk. Kinda like a sequel to the KKK/clown incident in Tennessee, but with more sequins...

c-dub

I'm sorry if you read exasperation as arrogant prosletising.

I was raised catholic and grew to loathe Christianity in all it's forms as a death cult determined to leach the joy out of life.

If my ire at people who decide,with divine accord, that others should die because of what they do in the sack is too annoying for you I suggest you adjust your criteia.

@Pol x:

It wasn't your ire I was objecting to. It was your self-righteous arrogance -- which puts you in the same camp as everyone else out their touting their belief systems over others (and don't kid yourself: atheism IS a belief system).

South Park did a whole two shows about that - the Atheists fighting over pretty much the same trivial things that organized religions fight over.

An ism is an ism is an ism... say that out loud a few times; it sounds really cool.

Pol x... too damn right mate. Think about all the beliefs you base your life on, really THINK about them. Do they make sense?

Life's too short to waste time on things that don't exist.

God doesn't exist.

We exist.

They are just using these events to anger people enough to do something rash in which case they sue. In this case, no matter how much I hate what they are saying, I believe in free speech - to the end. If someone wants to call me a , that is their right as long as I have the same right to say something back. There are other ways of dealing with this sort of thing than getting angry.

I wish that a local high school marching band would go and play "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" really loudly right in front of the protesting idiots.

Whether one defines themselves as a Christian, Buddhist, Athiest, Agnostic, etc, HATE is wrong. HATE is the crime here - no matter what side of this issue one stands on. What the WBC and Mr. Phelps does is not only wrong, but is low, despicable, and in the worst possible taste. Weren't they the group picketing outside Matthew Sheppard's funeral?

As for the issue of homosexuality: Am I for it? No. Do I judge those that are? No. It is not my place. Being gay does not change the fact that they are STILL HUMAN. They have every right to choose what they want to do with their life. I wonder if the WBC would think that I deserve to die because I have gay friends, or, even worse, that I lie down with a man who has once laid down with other men. God and The Bible do not teach us to hate. God and The Bible do not teach us to judge or go out and kill others who stray from what we think is righteous and holy. The Bible teaches us to love. The Bible teaches tolerance.

I youtubed the westboro baptist church on my p.c, and man these people are not goddly people at all,thier a bunch of lunitics,they even raved and said god caused the tragedy at Virginia tech 33 people were killed and the rev.Phelps said it should have been 30000,How evil of such a comment,These people should be thrown in the bottomless pit for a while.

SHAME ON YOU REVEREND FRED PHELPS AND YOUR STUPID CHURCH

these people are not christians. This is a cult that this man has created to take as many people to hell with him as possible. These people are evil and will get what is coming to them.

I'm a drag queen from L.A., and I've made a video about the Westboro Baptist Church picketers, but with sexier visuals. It is driving Phelps so crazy they are sending members to comment on my videos!!

A great English teacher of mine once taught me: "the Bible is man's growing understanding of God."

This understanding culminates with the arrival of His son in spirit and flesh. He teaches us what is needed to be taught. Although many will disagree, the Old Testament is simply man's words. As man is flawed, so may be the stories incorporated with it. It took the words of Jesus Christ to fully grasp the true meaning of the "CHRISTian" doctrine.

I believe we can read stories from the Old Testament as a reference to those who truly believed in God. Whether or not I believe that God let Satan get the best of him and attack his follower Job (which I don't believe the true benevolent God would do), I believe that Job was a good man. Whether or not ancient scribes got the story right should not matter now. The fact that this man was willing to do whatever is needed to stay in faith is all that SHOULD matter.

If I truly believe in Jesus Christ and his words, then I must read his Sermon on the Mount in which (in referral to the days of the Old Testament) he repeats "you heard it used to be said." The Old Testament should not be compared to the words of Jesus Christ himself. Why would you believe someone over the Son of God?

Trust Jesus and his Sermon on the Mount. Your relationship with Christ is unique. You don't have to trust another's relationship with Christ, as long as you trust yours. (I know this is way too long for a message board, but the next time someone wants to attack the Christian faith: understand that a true Christian does not have to believe in fire, brimstone, and the hatred of all mankind to be happy and live with faith.

Im not attacking the Christian faith. I myself am born again. I have grown up knowing and learning the bible. Im saying that these people have problems. They arent suppose to go around to funerals telling people that God hates them. They need to be going around telling people what they need to hear. It is wrong what they do. If they think they are going to get people to repent, they are wrong. If you didnt know anything about God and I ran into one of these people or saw them on tv and they are telling you that God hates America, would you want anything to do with God or Jesus. You probably wouldnt. But I know that God and Jesus loves me. And they love the rest of the world. No matter what you do they still love you. But God is giving you the choice to choose between him or satan. And I think these people are pushing people to choose satan.
Its mankinds choice on whether they want to go to hell or not. But when you hear what these people have to say and you believe it, you choose satan whether you know it or not.

These people who picket funerals, those anti-gay pieces of shit need to be beaten up. The relatives of Heath Ledger ought to beat the living shit out of these stupid intolerant Fucks.