Thaindian News

Dec 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The controversial Baptist church which has been often accused of abusing many American rights, including Freedom of Speech and Right to Protest, is at it again, this time vowing to picket at the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, who died of breast cancer last week, after a six year long battle.

Ms Edwards is to be honored at the Edenton Street Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. The service begins at 1 pm, and the public is welcome to attend. The Edwards family asked for donations to the Wade Edwards Foundation be made in lieu of flowers, in honor of the sixteen year old son of the Edwards’ who died at the age of 16 in a car crash. Burial plans have not yet been announced.

But the Westboro Baptist Church from Kansas, led by their pastor, Fred Phelps, made an announcement of their own, in a press release which they titled, “God hates Elizabeth Edwards”. Many have proclaimed disgust with the group for assuming to speak for God, when in the Christian faith, God does not hate.

The church that only has seventy members, which are mostly Phelp’s, children, grandchildren, and in laws, has protested at around 200 military funerals as well. With signs such as “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” their cult like mentality has not only upset many military families, but American citizens, and those of the Christian faith as well.

The right to Free Speech is under scrutiny from such acts as these, with a Supreme court hearing arguments just last October on whether or not this church had the right to picket such a holy ceremony as the funeral of the military’s fallen. In the name of God, and claiming the rights of Americans, they picket the funerals of those who died in order to give them those rights. It is a paradox which many find tragically ironic.