Fred Phelps to protest Heath Ledger's funeral

This just makes me so sad. I recently saw another documentary about Phelps and his gang of bullies and the hate the spread around this country. I have never been more outraged by a group of people. How dare they protest something like this though I am not surprised as my heart broke when I saw them on the scene in '98 as loved ones and friends of Matthew Shepherd entered the court room to try those who killed him in a vicious hate crime.

The one thing that will always overcome people like this is LOVE; something they will never ever truly understand.

If I were Heath Ledger's mother, and these psychos showed up at my son's funeral...? I'd bring a shotgun.

I mean really, could you blame her if she started picking them off?

The westboro baptist church is wrong. Wrong in every sense of the word. Their whole schtick makes me ill.

Just amazes me how full of hatred people can be...

Not sure how to process this...

I'm sure that's EXACTLY what Jesus would want. Why can't these extreme fundamentalists realize that what they are practicing is the very same brand of intolerance, cruelty and hatred that their lord and savior Jesus Christ was trying to overcome?

The irony literally gives me heartburn.

Christianity is supposed to be about charity, forgiveness and loving your fellow man. This is disgusting. It makes me sick.

This is yet another example of folks abusing the words of God to their own bitter end. What goes around comes around? Count on it.

. . . . .speechless.

Right on mirmysweet. Jesus hung out with hookers and tax collectors and Greeks. I bet he had a few queer friends too.
This is why we have separation of church and state: nutjobfuckbags.

Is the word "fag" even in the bible? Shouldn't they be quoting scripture? And since when is it alright for them to view this kind of sinful man made creation? Who is viewing all of this content for them? Oh that is right. THEY ARE.

Again, whatever they can do to attract attention to their cause. Unfortunately, they will attract people. The Ledger clan should do what any good American does, litigation until they can't afford to put out a tacky press release with horrible font.

Violence will only make them martyrs in their eyes.

heath ledger played a homosexual in a movie he wasnt actually gay so if you want to condemn him for being gay(even though its wrong to judge people just because they are different than you) you might as well worship morgan freeman. i mean he played god in not one but two movies!

More than likely the funeral will be held in Australia. Sure let them go there to try and protest. I'd love to read about them having their asses handed to them then getting arrested for starting a riot.

Just thinking about it now, I'd hold a fake funeral somewhere and publicize that one and then have a real funeral at the same time somewhere else. Bait and switch!

good idea philbert. and im so tired of christians that give the rest of us a bad name. that man needs to read the whole bible...including the part about tolerating people and teaching homosexuals the act is wrong while still loving them. people like him make me sick...because they only quote the bible where it applies to them. its a big book y'all and it has a lot more in it than homosexuality is a sin..i promise you that.

Wow, it really reminds you why education, free of any religious influence, is the only way humans will evolve.

Fred Phelps has dedicated his life to making the lives of those who do not believe in the same things as he does miserable. Anyone who dedicates their life to that and holds so much hate in their soul is not going to make it to Heaven, and sure as hell isn't helping their karma. I hope that one day we can all see that you only get what you give.

alright...thats kind of over the edge a little bit...its his funeral... a time of morning...why the hell would someone go do somthin like that over him being in a movie were he was gay...?

Why do they say God loves 9/11 and IED's. Why do they come to small bible belt communities like the one I lived in two years ago and spit vitriol AT A CHURCH, why do they spread defamation about dead soldiers who have no possible means of defense against horid accusations such as thiers.The only sign of thiers I agree with is that America is doomed. America may be doomed, but only to the extent we have allowed such hate groups to flourish.

So much for Jesus being the prince of peace.

As an atheist-who-used-be-christian, it kinda pains me to see people pervert christianity, any religion really. If these people really took everything the bible says literally, then they'd be unclean after touching a dead body," even any man's dead body, shall be unclean seven days; the same shall purify himself therewith on the third day and on the seventh day, and he shall be clean; but if he purify not himself the third day and the seventh day, he shall not be clean."

While I'm not sure about other religions, in the Judeo-Christian/Islam faiths, if you follow every single rule set out, you'll be a miserable person. But the thing is, who knows what to follow? It's all interpretation. But you can't condone violence when your God is the Prince of Peace can you?

Jennabean: It's crazy. My grandmother is the same in the sense that she's judgmental of everyone who doesn't subscribe to her version of christianity. According to her, My sisters and I are going to hell because my father divorced my mom. Also, her brothers ex-wife killed herself, and my grandmother told her daughter that her mother is in hell for committing suicide? That's some cold blooded shit right there, man.

But wait, isn't every sin equal in the eye of God? This Christmas, playing Chinese Christmas, there was a pot of money. She remarked that greed is a good thing. I so desperately wanted to tell her that she was going to hell, just for a giggle. One just can't have it both ways, is my point.

And anyway, he here who is without sin may cast the first stone... I guess that falls on deaf, possibly retarded ears.

I don't care what you believe in, there's such a thing called "respect for the dead". They should back off.

When will lightning strike him down so that we can picket his funeral? If you are close minded enough to hate people for their sexual orientation then have some decency and protest some where other than at a funeral.

I went to a baptist university where the entire gay community was basically forced to remain underground and out of the way. We even had a gay student with a full scholarship who was outed at our school and as a result, they gave him a choice: either choose to not be gay, or the university will take away the scholarship.

Yes...I'm sure what Jesus taught is exactly what they had in mind when they basically kicked out an exceptional student just for his "choice" to be gay.

Those people protesting are seriously disturbed, closed-minded, hate-filled and wrong. This infuriates me and is just sad. Have they no respect for human beings? People who are in mourning and those who truly can appreciate an amazing actor?

Guess those teachings of love and respect only apply to themselves.

A simple restraining order ought to do the trick. This way, when Phelps shows up, the cops can shackle him up and cart him off. Phelps did not know Heath Ledger, and really should not be at the man's funeral. Phelps is not GOD's appointed judge to scrutinize Heath Ledger's life. No one really cares that he is a homophobic bigot with a megaphone and a following of likeminded dimwits. When this meddlesome pack of twits arrives, they should be arrested, taken away to jail, and summarily prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for willfully voilating a restraining order.

"It's amazing to me how many people will defend the perverse and call that 'normal', but when someone even attempts to take a stand for morality, they are immediately labeled a right wing fanatic.........." Heath Ledger was not a homosexual. Even if he were, the matter would still be none of Fred Phelps' business. The people of God are as free to be saved as gays are to be gay. No one is defending a sexual proclivity as much as we are defending everyone's inalienable right to be who they are within the confines of the LAW. When Phelps shows up with a megaphone and his horde of twits to disrupt a funeral procession just to protest his fleeting suspicions of another's sexual orientation, he is not obeying the Bible, which mandates that Christians follow peace with all. The Bible requires that Believers abstain from the stain of all sexual immorality, not cram their misinterpretations of the Scriptures down everyone's throats. Jesus left it up to us to CHOOSE whether we wanted to come to Him - whosoever will, let him come, not whosoever we can bully to Christ's altar through the relentless duress of harrassment. Phelps is free to speak his mind. He's also free to be as much against the GLTB community as his bigotry and insecurity will sustain him under the law. But, you, Phelps, and no one else from the Jesus Camp can claim that God through the Bible has mandated we offend people from the depraved depths of such onerous hostility. Jesus Himself ordered us to judge not that we be not judged. Because satan was yet God's satan, the angel Michael refused to openly rebuke the devil, saying instead to him, "Satan, the Lord rebuke thee!" Fighting sin everywhere it is encountered in the world is not the Christian's battle. Christians are merely ordered by Jesus to go and sin no more. If Phelps and followers don't want to bear the brunt of public scrutiny for their bad behavior, just perhaps they should not so mercilessly judge others. If Phelps wants respect, he needs to start showing others some respect. Funerals are the last memories the living will have of their dead. How dare Phelps so crassly interject his coarse hostility into any family's private last moments together at the loss of a loved one! Who is Fred Phelps to pass judgement on anyone?

Righthand, what if people are born gay? IAt's been proven to be the case scientifically?

Would "god" have a problem with that?

"My point is that if people have the right to say what they want to about any subject matter they choose, then so can someone like Phelps. You can be rest assured that God will deal with it, because as you correctly stated, God is the judge of us all." That's right. GOD is going to judge us all, not Fred Phelps. No one is denying Phelps his free speech rights. But, for the same reason this ignorant rascal is not permitted to scream "Fire" when there is no fire, he is not allowed, BY LAW, to incite a riot at someone's funeral. Phelps makes a mockery of Christendom with these stupid stunts. Jesus never petulently stalked offending sinners to shame them for their impropriety, nor so outrageously protested the abominations openly that offended Him. Jesus even prayed in private, saying that those who make an open show of their religion are already rewarded with public spectacle. Whose example is Phelps following? Because this is not what Jesus would do to anyone.

I understand what they teach in the bible and I understand what they teach as a basis of science. First of all...science is not a contradiction of God. If you opened your closed mind long enough to see both sides of the spectrum you would see that no one would purposefully subject themselves to a life of ridicule where people like you judge them to be a sin against God and nothing more than scum on the bottom of their shoe. NO ONE wants to be different and those that do are simply craving attention and should be left alone anyways. It's wrong to judge a person just because YOU believe them to be wrong. Why can't you just let people be who they are, as long as they're happy? No. No, you are just the type of person that cannot imagine a world where someone has a different opinion or point of view other than yours. Many of my friends whom I've spent most of my time growing up with did not come out till they were in their twenties. And it's not because they just decided one day "Oh, I think I'm going to be gay from now on!". They came out later in life because the feeling that they had since as far back as they can remember was suppressed and held back because it wasn't "normal" or "accepted" as far as people like you are concerned. It's because of people like Phelps that kept my friends from being the people who they truly are. You have no idea, and I'm sure would never truly understand, how happy and caring my friends are now that they have truly come to terms with their sexuality. Before now, they had no self esteem, they were always defensive and depressed. Yes, this is America where we have freedom of speech, but we also have the right to pursue happiness. I don't care what a person needs to be truly happy. If you believe they're going to hell, then let them. Hey! As long as their happy! As far as I'm concerned, it's not the destination, it's the ride. Why suppress your feelings of happiness if God wants you to enjoy the world He made for you now? If we were all as happy as I see my friends now, the world would be a lot more tolerable and peaceful. All I ask, is that the next time you berate someone else for being different, ask yourself "why are they doing this?" and try to understand rather than judge them.

"Yes. WBC will picket this pervert's funeral, in religious protest and warning: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." Gal. 6:7. "

wait till they go to hell for blaspheming God.

the thing about it is they have the right to speak their nind... it's more a moral issue in which they appear to have none.

I wish people would stop using God/Jesus as an excuse for being a bigoted, narrow minded a**holes. It gets kind of tiring after awhile.