46, 635 Too Many: Case Study

46,635 Too Many On March 3, 2006, a twenty year old marine by the name of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was killed in a humvee accident in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. On the day of his sons funeral Albert Snyder, Matthew Snyder’s father, was greeted at the gate with picket signs saying, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Fags Doom Nations,” “America is Doomed,” “Priests Rape Boys,” and “You’re Going to Hell.” On March 2, 2011, now 5 years later the father of this fallen Marine has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the legal fees in the amount of $16,510.80 to the Westboro Baptist Church, the organization responsible for the picketing at Matthew Snyder’s funeral. The Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest at Snyder’s
The Westboro Baptist Church is the organization responsible for the 46,635, to date, of anti-American pickets across the United States since June, 1991. The number of protests by this group has gone from 46,593 to 46,635 in two shorts weeks. That is forty-two times in fourteen days that the general public of America has been subjected to the hurtful words of this group. On their website, GodHatesFags, the Westboro Baptist Church preaches its beliefs and interpretation of the Bible. On this site, the picket schedule is also posted for anyone to see. The organization will calmly protest any military funeral it can, regardless whether the fallen soldier was gay or not. The protesters notify the authorities before they begin and follow any stipulations they may have, such as remaining on public property and protesting in a peaceful manner. The protesters read passages from the Bible and sings songs saying, “God hates you.” In the case of Matthew Snyder, the only information Fred Phelps had was the date and time of the funeral he had received from the local news. The group just observed its 1,057th week of protests against public sodomy at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas and continues this observation week after