Hate group to picket churches Sunday

By WESLEY P. HESTER | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Published: September 25, 2010

Richmond, Va. --
Members of the Kansas-based hate group Westboro Baptist Church will picket local churches tomorrow morning ahead of a mock Supreme Court hearing at Virginia Commonwealth University on a Westboro-related hate-speech case.

The anti-gay, anti-semitic group -- nationally known for heckling at military funerals claiming God kills soldiers as punishment for national tolerance of homosexuality -- made waves when members came to Richmond in March, drawing hundreds of counterprotesters.

Tomorrow, members are scheduled to picket the West End Assembly of God in western Henrico County from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Trinity Baptist Church in Richmond from 10:25 a.m. to 10:55 a.m., and St. Paul's Baptist Church in eastern Henrico from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a Westboro spokeswoman, said the churches were targeted based on their size, what she termed acceptance of homosexuality and "filling their pews with divorced and remarried people, which Christ says is adultery."

"We'd picket all the churches if we could," she said. "These churches have got the 'It's OK to be gay' thing going on. The whole thing is just a tawdry, vile cesspool that is ready for destruction, and that's what's coming -- imminent destruction."

John Hershman, senior pastor at West End Assembly of God, said that while he respects the group's First Amendment rights, he regrets that some of the 2,000 people who attend his three Sunday services would be exposed to the group's message.

"They charge that we preach the 'damning message' that God loves everyone. To that, I simply say, 'Guilty as charged.' We do proclaim that, and proudly," Hershman said.

"We do not teach that it's OK to have a gay lifestyle," he noted, "however, we open our doors to anyone and everyone who will come in to have fellowship with us."

Members of the hate group also will protest at a service in Williamsburg today for 1st Lt. Todd W. Weaver, 26, of Hampton who died earlier this month in Afghanistan. Protesters will be at the Williamsburg Community Chapel from 1:15 to 2 p.m., according to the Westboro website.

The hate group's first appearance in Richmond, including a stop at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, led to the formation of a group called Pennies in Protest that raised $14,000 for the museum and other Jewish and gay organizations.

After tomorrow's picketing, Margie Phelps, a Westboro member and attorney for the group, will argue against Richmond attorney William H. Hurd in a mock hearing of the Supreme Court hate-speech case Snyder v. Phelps.

Albert Snyder, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq whose funeral service in Maryland was picketed by Westboro Baptist Church, is suing the group and its pastor, the Rev. Fred W. Phelps, for allegedly disrupting the service.

Snyder won a $5 million verdict in district court, but an appeals court reversed the decision, saying the protesters were exercising their right to free speech. The case is before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In June, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli opted not to join 48 other states in filing a supporting legal brief on behalf of Snyder.

From: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/sep/25/west25-ar-524457/