thedrifter
03-12-06, 05:52 AM
Time of solace, signs of hate
Bizarre protest by Kansas church mars Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder's funeral service in Maryland.
By MIKE ARGENTO
Daily Record/Sunday News
Mar 11, 2006 — WESTMINSTER, Md. - Matthew A. Snyder was only 20 when he died. He was a U.S. Marine, a lance corporal, a member of a special brotherhood. He died while serving his country in Iraq. He was protecting a supply convoy on March 3 - dangerous duty that he volunteered for because "I'm a Marine" - when his Humvee overturned, killing him instantly.
His family said he loved life and sports and fishing and going to the beach. And he loved his family and being a Marine.
On Friday, they gathered to bury him. His friends and family - including his father, Albert L. Snyder, of Springettsbury Township - filed into St. John Catholic Church in Westminster, Md., for the service. People he never even met - fellow Marines, fellow veterans, men and women who had preceded him in serving his country - came to pay their respects to the fallen soldier and to his family.
Outside the church, though, a different group showed up, uninvited. They were not paying honor or respect to Snyder and his family.
They were members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a congregation consisting mostly of the family of pastor Fred Phelps. They had arrived at the church Friday morning to protest. They were not protesting the war. The overriding theme of their protest was "God Hates Fags."
The protesters - seven of them, including Phelps, his daughter and five of her 11 children, herded into a corral formed with orange temporary fencing - wore T-shirts proclaiming as such. They held signs that said the same thing and some others, such as "Fags Doom Nation," "Thank God For IEDs," "Thank God For Dead Soldiers," "Priests Rape Boys," "You're Going To Hell," "Thank God For 9/11" and "Semper Fi Fags," which was illustrated with stick figures performing an unnatural act.
The group has been traveling the country protesting at soldiers' funerals; they say they have protested at about 100 of them. Several states, including Maryland, are considering laws to ban protests at funerals, legislation sparked by Phelps' protests.
They say that because the United States is swimming in idolatry, depravity, sin and sodomy, soldiers who are defending the nation are defending idolatry, depravity, sin and sodomy.
"I think these soldiers went into this war, were volunteering, knew this is a nation that flips off God every day," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, the pastor's daughter. "I say they all deserve death. I say thank God for dead soldiers."
Phelps said, "They turned this nation over to fags and now they're returning in body bags."
The protest was tinged with hatred, vitriol and rage. Phelps-Roper said Snyder's parents "hated him in life and they hate him in death." The group's Web site refers to the church that hosted the service as "a pedophile *****house aka St. John Catholic Church."
The group attracted a large contingent of counter-protesters, bikers from the Patriot Guard Riders, a veterans' group made up of riders from across the country that had been invited to the service. About 50 of them formed a phalanx between the protesters and the church, shielding the church from the small group from Kansas.
As one biker rode by the protesters, he yelled, "Protest this!" while raising his middle finger. Several passers-by shouted at the protesters. One man in a black pickup stopped briefly and yelled, "You people are sick! You're disgusting!"
Mike Chapman, a member of the American Legion in Westminster, said, "We don't think they belong here, but they're protected by the Constitution. They're showing great disrespect to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect their right to do what they're doing. They're showing considerable disrespect to the family and to this country. It's terrible."
As he spoke, the small group of protesters conducted interviews and posed for the TV cameras. At one point, the media outnumbered the protesters in their orange-walled pen.
At 10:20 a.m., just five minutes after the service began, the protesters decamped. They had to hit the road so they could protest another service at Fort Meade, Md.
It's not known what Snyder's family thought of the protest. They had asked that their son's service and burial be private.
Reach Mike Argento at 771-2046 or at mike@ydr.com.
Rest In Peace
Ellie
Bizarre protest by Kansas church mars Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder's funeral service in Maryland.
By MIKE ARGENTO
Daily Record/Sunday News
Mar 11, 2006 — WESTMINSTER, Md. - Matthew A. Snyder was only 20 when he died. He was a U.S. Marine, a lance corporal, a member of a special brotherhood. He died while serving his country in Iraq. He was protecting a supply convoy on March 3 - dangerous duty that he volunteered for because "I'm a Marine" - when his Humvee overturned, killing him instantly.
His family said he loved life and sports and fishing and going to the beach. And he loved his family and being a Marine.
On Friday, they gathered to bury him. His friends and family - including his father, Albert L. Snyder, of Springettsbury Township - filed into St. John Catholic Church in Westminster, Md., for the service. People he never even met - fellow Marines, fellow veterans, men and women who had preceded him in serving his country - came to pay their respects to the fallen soldier and to his family.
Outside the church, though, a different group showed up, uninvited. They were not paying honor or respect to Snyder and his family.
They were members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a congregation consisting mostly of the family of pastor Fred Phelps. They had arrived at the church Friday morning to protest. They were not protesting the war. The overriding theme of their protest was "God Hates Fags."
The protesters - seven of them, including Phelps, his daughter and five of her 11 children, herded into a corral formed with orange temporary fencing - wore T-shirts proclaiming as such. They held signs that said the same thing and some others, such as "Fags Doom Nation," "Thank God For IEDs," "Thank God For Dead Soldiers," "Priests Rape Boys," "You're Going To Hell," "Thank God For 9/11" and "Semper Fi Fags," which was illustrated with stick figures performing an unnatural act.
The group has been traveling the country protesting at soldiers' funerals; they say they have protested at about 100 of them. Several states, including Maryland, are considering laws to ban protests at funerals, legislation sparked by Phelps' protests.
They say that because the United States is swimming in idolatry, depravity, sin and sodomy, soldiers who are defending the nation are defending idolatry, depravity, sin and sodomy.
"I think these soldiers went into this war, were volunteering, knew this is a nation that flips off God every day," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, the pastor's daughter. "I say they all deserve death. I say thank God for dead soldiers."
Phelps said, "They turned this nation over to fags and now they're returning in body bags."
The protest was tinged with hatred, vitriol and rage. Phelps-Roper said Snyder's parents "hated him in life and they hate him in death." The group's Web site refers to the church that hosted the service as "a pedophile *****house aka St. John Catholic Church."
The group attracted a large contingent of counter-protesters, bikers from the Patriot Guard Riders, a veterans' group made up of riders from across the country that had been invited to the service. About 50 of them formed a phalanx between the protesters and the church, shielding the church from the small group from Kansas.
As one biker rode by the protesters, he yelled, "Protest this!" while raising his middle finger. Several passers-by shouted at the protesters. One man in a black pickup stopped briefly and yelled, "You people are sick! You're disgusting!"
Mike Chapman, a member of the American Legion in Westminster, said, "We don't think they belong here, but they're protected by the Constitution. They're showing great disrespect to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect their right to do what they're doing. They're showing considerable disrespect to the family and to this country. It's terrible."
As he spoke, the small group of protesters conducted interviews and posed for the TV cameras. At one point, the media outnumbered the protesters in their orange-walled pen.
At 10:20 a.m., just five minutes after the service began, the protesters decamped. They had to hit the road so they could protest another service at Fort Meade, Md.
It's not known what Snyder's family thought of the protest. They had asked that their son's service and burial be private.
Reach Mike Argento at 771-2046 or at mike@ydr.com.
Rest In Peace
Ellie