This Beats All!

This article from our local newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian, tells about a "Church Group" which plans an "anti-gay" protest at the upcoming military funeral of one of our young soldiers who was recently killed in Iraq.  Ironic that this man died serving our country which allows us the freedom so idiots like this can protest.

 

Group draws local backlash for plan to protest funeral

Widow of soldier killed in Iraq asks mourners to ignore church's message

By STEVEN MAYER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: smayer@bakersfield.com

Posted: Thursday August 4th, 2005, 10:30 PM
Last Updated: Friday August 5th, 2005, 5:00 PM

Members of Bakersfield's gay community said they will not mount a counter-protest on Saturday when members of a controversial Kansas church are expected to picket the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq.

Army Pfc. Ramon Villatoro Jr., 19, of Bakersfield, died July 24 when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. Three other U.S. soldiers also died in the blast.

"We think the soldier should have a dignified funeral," local gay activist Whitney Douglas-Weddell said Thursday. "It's bad enough that he was killed. Now the family has to put up with this hate group showing up."

Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, which operates two anti-gay Web sites, claims America is being punished by God for its tolerance of homosexuality, resulting in the deaths of soldiers from roadside bombs.

Members of the church have been demonstrating at soldiers' funerals across the country. They have carried signs that read, "God Hates America," and "Fags are worthy of death."

Bakersfield police said they will have a visible presence at the funeral.

Amanda Villatoro, Villatoro's pregnant widow, has invited the public to attend the 9 a.m. Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on East California Avenue. She asked mourners to pay no attention to the protesters, no matter how hateful their message.

In an interview broadcast Thursday afternoon on the "Ralph Bailey Show" on News/Talk 1560 KNZR, Westboro pastor Fred Phelps openly celebrated the deaths of American soldiers serving in Iraq.

"You're a happy man today. Four more Americans died and you're a happy man. You're pleased about that," Bailey said to Phelps.

"Absolutely, and you ought to be," Phelps said. "Look, the veracity of God's involved here. He hasn't done near the damage to this nation that he ought to do and that he will do. This nation's got to repent."

But ministers and clergy from mainstream denominations condemned Phelps' message Thursday.

The Rev. Craig Harrison, pastor of St. Francis Church in Bakersfield, a Catholic congregation, compared Phelps' selective use of Scripture to Charles Manson's use of the Bible to support murder.

"What they are professing has nothing to do with Christ's faith," Harrison said of the Kansas church.

Thomas Calderon, a Vietnam combat veteran and a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 97, said he's disgusted by Westboro's plans to demonstrate at the funeral.

"I think this gentleman, this soldier was doing what he was told. That's what soldiers do, right or wrong," Calderon said. "These bigots are totally irresponsible and ignorant of what this country stands for.

"It hurts me that a young mother has to be subjected to this at her own husband's funeral," he said.

"If these people were in the military, they would be committing treason. These are statements against humanity."

Westboro Baptist Church teachings

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., makes its position clear on its Web site. The church preaches that God is intentionally killing American soldiers in Iraq because America is too tolerant of gays.

Here are some of the church's teachings in its own words:

• "God has become America's terrorist."

• "Thank God for the bombing of London's subway."

• "Thank God for IEDs (improvised explosive devices, also known as roadside bombs)."

• The Web site twists the name of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, calling it "Our Lady of Sodom Church."

Gays are not the only Americans vilified by the Kansas church. Jews, Catholics, Episcopalians, blacks and other groups also are targeted.

SOURCES: godhatesfags.com (the Web site for Westboro Baptist Church) and the Anti-Defamation League

From the commentary section asking for reader's opinions:

Protest at a military funeral?

Military funerals such as the one Saturday for Army Pfc. Ramon Villartoro Jr., 19, of Bakersfield, who was killed July 24 in Iraq, are a time to grieve, honor and remember a man who gave his life in the service of our country.

But the controversial Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, thinks Villartoro's funeral is a time for them to protest the bombing of their own church in 1995 which in its view is a terrorist attempt to stop its anti-gay preaching.

Westboro, which is led by minister Fred Phelps, a disbarred attorney, claims 20,000 such protests in the last decade as a way to preach its main philosophies as espoused on its websites, godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com

Villatoro's 19-year-old pregnant widow, Amanda, advises that people should not pay the least attention to this out-of-towner protest. (Amanda Villatoro is one smart lady!) 

Is it any surprise that Fred Phelps is a disbarred attorney?  What a rotten excuse for a human being.