• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

'Hated' church group to protest Tim McLean funeral

This group loved to protest at the funerals of fallen American soldiers,  apparently they were killed by god's wrath because America is so accepting of gays.  They got so bad (gee going to a young man's funeral and spitting at his mother while screaming god hates fags...) that a counter protest group sprung up, Blackhorse Troopers Motorcycle Group
for example.  Revving the engines so those already grieving don't have to listen to that group.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=707624 
"Controversial U.S. church group stopped at border
Paul Gackle, Winnipeg Free Press 
Published: Thursday, August 07, 2008

WINNIPEG -- Residents rallied Thursday to protect the family of a young man murdered on a Greyhound bus last week from a posse of radical religious protesters planning to portray Tim McLean's death as God's wrath.

Earlier this week, the Westboro Baptist Church - an organization branded as a hate group and infamous for protesting the funerals of slain U.S. soldiers - announced they would picket Mr. McLean's funeral to let Canadians know that his decapitation was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and adultery.

But Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church's founder, Fred Phelps, said a small group of protesters was stopped at the Canada-U.S. border on Thursday afternoon.

"They won't let us in, but we have a group that will cross in another spot," she said. "They'll have to strip search everyone who crosses that border or they won't know who we are. They'll have to see the WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) tattoo on our butts."

The resistance to the planned funeral protest started on Facebook yesterday morning when Jim Cotton, a resident of Winnipeg Beach, launched a page asking city residents to help protect Mr. McLean's funeral.

"We want to protect the family so they don't come out of the church service and see people shouting obscenities," said Mr. Cotton. "I've never met the McLean family. I've just been moved by the whole story."

Mr. Cotton was outraged and asked Winnipeg Facebookers to circle around the seven picketers tomorrow and pray for Mr. McLean's family.

By motivating Thursday, Mr. Cotton's page had over 100 friends. Rodney Taylor, an Ottawa resident, found the page and pitched in.

Mr. Taylor phoned the Prime Minister's Office, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office and border services, asking them to keep the Westboro group out of the country. He also created his own Facebook page urging other offended Canadians to follow his lead.

"These people are callous, vicious and shouldn't be let into our country," he said. "We have freedom of speech, but they are inciting hate."

Mr. Taylor's plan worked. Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin said his office was flooded with phone calls yesterday from angry Winnipeggers.

"These people [from Westboro] are almost as crazy as the murderer," he said. "If they are here to disrupt the social order, that constitutes grounds to deny them entry. There is no redeeming virtue in the message they are bringing."

According to Mr. Martin, Mr. Day's office sent an alert to border patrol to "look out" for people with signs and pamphlets that fit the hateful messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country.

"In the opinion of his office, coming up here with the message they're articulating constitutes hate speech," said Mr. Martin.

Members of the Kansas-based fundamentalist sect were already planning to picket in Canada prior to last week's bus slaying. The group was scheduled to protest in Toronto Thursday night at the opening of playwright Alistair Newton's "The Pastor Phelps Project: a fundamentalist cabaret", which satirizes their leader's fervent anti-gay stance.

Members have also been planning to picket outside a performance of "The Laramie Project" - a play based on the real life murders of two homosexuals in the United States - in Red Deer, Alta., Friday night. Residents of Red Deer have been planning their own counter-protest.

In 1999, the Canadian government said it was powerless to prevent Mr. Phelps from entering the country when he was planning a protest in Ottawa over a Supreme Court ruling extending rights to gays and lesbians.

At that time, the government said the minister could only make exceptions at the border to grant people entry who might otherwise be denied, not deny people entry who would normally be admitted.

Mr. Phelps, however, was a no-show at the protest because he feared for his safety after a pro-gay rights group planned a counter-protest.

The Winnipeg Police Service said they were not planning to block the funeral protest if the group successfully crossed the border, but they were prepared to be on hand if necessary.

Winnipeg Free Press"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE9WqpEEBY0

I am looking for the youtube link of this group doing something really nasty on youtube... but it moved.  But there is alot to turn the stoumach
 
Lone Wolf Quagmire said:
Oh the people in Alberta will love them I'm sure.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/news/local/Play_sparks_protest.html

I guess some of them made it through.  I'm from Red Deer,  in fact I had plans to be there this week.... damm, I missed my chance to counter protest. It has been WEEKS since I've been in a good scrap.  Something about this group just brings out the most agressive side of me.  Maybe it is one of their websites http://www.godhatescanada.com/
 
boot12 said:
The Phelps clan is like a three year old throwing a temper tantrum.  The best thing to do is to ignore them, as the controversy they create is what feeds them, at least in my opinion.

Boot12 somehow I don't think you've had a brother, sister, mother or father killed in Iraq or Afghanistan and had a bunch of people show up to the funeral with signs shouting that your family member was killed because he was a faggot who spread faggot fecies around and got what he deserved, thank god for dead soldiers praise the lord!
Can you begin to understand what kind of mental abuse that's heaping on a family?

Somethings it's best to ignore.
Ignoring these morons and their actions however would be akin to ignoring cancer.
 
The best way to confront these clowns ( and PETA) is to let them blather. We are a country of free speech, correct?
Let the fools talk and then counter their stupid talk.
Let them protest, and watch the counter protest grow. Fight fire with fire.
Do not resort to violence as that only legitimizes their cause.
 
They will be stopped and prevented from entering Canada.
 
I've tried to hold back from posting in here, until I could figure out what kind of people would do this.

Well, now I've figured out. They ARE NOT people. They are monsters, who do not deserve to walk on this earth, let alone step foot into Canada.

I'm going to bite my tongue now, because what may come out won't be very pleasant.


-Dead
 
Well, if there really is a God, someday these people are in for a big shock.......
[does anyone remember Rowan Atkinson's "Devil" skit?]
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrFVjg79_iM

Church members in full retreat. I think violence in this case sent a pretty clear message.



Is it me or is Fred Phelps the evil creepy guy from the movie Phantasm?

phantasm.jpg


Fred_Phelps_on_his_pulpit.jpg


Or maybe from poltergeist.
phelpskane.jpg
 
Freedom of religion, got to love freedom when it's stuffed down the throats of other people...

There will be a thick presence of police and people there to pay thier respects, hopefully there will be nothing ugly in the way of these disgusting fanatical morons to disrupt the services.

My condolences to the family and freinds of Tim, RIP.

 
I actually prefer this response to these "persons" it somehow seems to be poetic justice......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF5mfG0vO8o&feature=related
 
I love it....a taste of what they protest  ;D
 
i sent an e-mail to my MP. i really hope they do get blocked at the border, or maybe we'll get lucky and they'll fly in and have to get "randomly searched" >:D
 
Flawed Design said:
Boot12 somehow I don't think you've had a brother, sister, mother or father killed in Iraq or Afghanistan and had a bunch of people show up to the funeral with signs shouting that your family member was killed because he was a faggot who spread faggot fecies around and got what he deserved, thank god for dead soldiers praise the lord!
Can you begin to understand what kind of mental abuse that's heaping on a family?

Somethings it's best to ignore.
Ignoring these morons and their actions however would be akin to ignoring cancer.


My apologies for not making myself more clear, reading my post again it does seem like that is what I was implying.

I could never expect people attending a loved ones funeral that was being protested to simply turn the other cheek and ignore these hateful people, as I cannot begin to imagine how infuriating their presence must be.  I would personally have a hard time condemning anything that happened to these people while they were out in full psycho mode during an event designed for mourning. 

What I meant by my post was that we should ignore them in the sense of giving their "cause" media coverage, and hits to their website.  You have to remember, this is a single tiny church in Kansas with a congregation that is mostly made up of members of the Phelps family.  Hardly deserving of national airtime.  Yet, I remember a while back that fox news had an interview with the main pastor's daughter and she and the host argued for 10-15 minutes.  Gets people to tune in, yes, but does nothing positive for us as a society because it simply drives them to continue spreading their vitriol.

Regards.
 
Thank you everyone for providing the good information on this thread; I am also sending an email to my MP.

Maybe it's time our Canadian politicians began asking The American government to better monitor their side of our shared "porous border"  by keeping this group out of Canada.

These fundamentalist hatemongers are no different than al Qa'ida--they are American-born terrorists; they are self-proclaimed "enemies of Canada" --they share the same hatred of the Western world as the Taliban and al Qa'ida ring leaders--thus, a threat to national security.My thoughts are with the McLean family at this difficult time.

I implore the Canadian "powers-that-be" to keep people/groups like this out of Canada--by every means available ...
 
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080807/funeral_protest_080807/20080807?hub=Canada

Extremist church to be blocked at border: report


Updated Thu. Aug. 7 2008 11:47 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Canadian border guards have been told to bar a fanatic church group that was planning to protest the funeral of a man beheaded on a Greyhound bus, reports say.

NDP MP Pat Martin told the Winnipeg Free Press that Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day sent the alert to border guards Thursday.

The church group, described in a British documentary as "the most hated family in America," told CTV.ca earlier Thursday that it planned to protest at the funeral of 22-year-old Tim Mclean on Saturday.

Martin said his office was flooded with phone calls Thursday with Winnipeg constituents angered by the group's plan.

"These people are almost as crazy as the murderer," he told the newspaper, referring to the church's intentions.

The daughter of the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Ka., told CTV.ca she and several other church members will go to Winnipeg on Saturday to demonstrate against what she described as McLean's "filthy way of life." Shirley Phelps-Roper said his life was emblematic of Canada's moral decay.

"God handed us a gift," Phelps-Roper said in a phone interview on Thursday.

She said McLean deserved his death by beheading on a Greyhound Bus last week.

"(His death was) supremely unemotional. You got God shaking in rage. There is no emotional component ... He was a rebel against God. He was taught to be a rebel by his parents. He came from a rebel country ... They brought this wrath upon his head. And it sucks to be him and it sucks to be them," Phelps-Roper said.

She said his brutal murder was a sign from God.

"You gotta connect the dots, people ... from your idols to your filthy way of life," she said.

"Here's what I know. He is dead and God does not do that to people that serve in his truth."

Phelps-Roper described McLean -- who she had never met -- in an insulting, insensitive and graphic manner. Her crudest descriptions of the 22-year-old are not printed.

"I haven't met him personally, but he has nothing going on," she said dismissively.

"(His life) was all about him. Blah, blah, blah ... He was a rebel ... I don't need to know anything else ... I don't need to know the minutia. Everything you need to know is right there."

The Westboro Baptist church has gained notoriety in recent years for setting up protest pickets at the funerals of U.S. soldiers who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Church members claim the deaths are part of God's wrath against Americans for turning their back on his teachings. They have repeatedly called the U.S. a "fag" nation, a phrase Phelps-Roper used repeatedly to describe Canada.

Phelps-Roper said she does not mind that her family is reviled by the majority of Americans. She claimed she rejoices when people say they despise and hate her family.

"I say, 'cha ching.' That goes in our bank. God gives us tokens of his love," she said.

Phelps-Roper said members of the Westboro Baptist Church, which numbers about "70 souls," is comprised mainly of a single extended family.

The group was supposed to protest a play held in a downtown Toronto bar that mocked their church's reviled views. "The Pastor Phelps Project" played at The Cameron House Thursday without incident, according to reports.

McLean was killed on July 30 after being stabbed repeatedly on a Greyhound bus by a complete stranger. He was then beheaded.

Vince Li, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for Li.

 
:-[  It really does make me more bothered and upset than angry.  Some people just need these sort of events.  Need them so that they can twist them around for their own god damn use and gain.  First PETA, now this...it makes me sick, honestly.  :'(
 
I won't say what I think of this "group".  I will say, I hope they get lost, and land outside the Tignish Legion back home and start mouthing off to people, about 2 am or so, and I hope that the Tignish Legion is the same sort of spot it was when I was around there last.

Yup, that might educate them some.  Or the RC church on Main Street where the lads used to park and hang out in the parking lot. 

 
WrenchBender said:
http://winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/story/4209993p-4802639c.html
It appears they may have crossed the border after all. I hope that the family does not have to put up with these nutjobs. they have enough to deal with as it is.

WrenchBender

Well they were in Red Deer protesting,  they could simply have sent those guys over.

I'm completely disgusted.  First I'm disappointed that our border was crossed by these freaks,  who managed to out smart the system by using FedEx! They don't have a right of free speech, not in our country. They don't even have a right to enter our country, that they were let in because they didn't have 'signs' BS. Secondly I'm disappointed they haven't been arrested yet,  they run many websites that easily fall into hate speech.  Thirdly I'm disappointed that I get a giddy feeling with the thought that they could be picked up on a security certificate and held indefinably, without trial in horrible conditions... (I just smiled)

Something about this group really brings out the worst in me. 

If that group of ... well I will say 'people' protest at that man's funeral and go back to the states with all of their tar, I will be further disappointed.  I'm not advocating anything, I'm just saying they're foreigners who are coming here to harass and degrade an innocent family in their moment of grief.  There used to be consequences if you went into a community and violated the peace.  Just as there should be consequences for the minister who failed to take enough action to keep these foreigners out.
 
http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2008/08/08/6388411.html

But this will not be taken sitting down by Manitobans.

"It may be a tense or ugly situation because a group of outraged Manitobans, spearheaded by Winnipeg Beach resident Jim Cotton, who doesn’t know the McLean family, plans to attend to try to block the picketers, and show its support for the McLeans.

The group says the protesters will not be met with violence or placards, just a human barricade to separate them from funeral guests."
 
Back
Top