Church Fined Millions for Anit-Gay Protest at Funeral
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/01/ap/national/main3439663.shtml
"BALTIMORE, United States (AFP) - - A court on Wednesday ordered an evangelical church to pay 11 million dollars in damages to the father of a US Marine killed in Iraq for causing distress by picketing his son's funeral claiming the war is a punishment for tolerating gays.
The jury ruled that members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church caused mental suffering to Albert Snyder, who says he became depressed after they paraded outside the funeral of his 20-year-old son Matthew in 2006.
They waved signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "*** troops."
A video of the protests was played in court during the week-long trial of church members Fred Phelps, who founded the church in 1955, and two of his daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis.
Their lawyer Jonathan Katz said the funeral was a public event and their actions were protected by the constitutional rights to free speech and religious expression.
But the jury decided Wednesday the church members should pay 2.9 million dollars in compensation and a further eight million in punitive damages for "mental pain and suffering" caused to Snyder, and for invading his privacy.
The church says the United States is losing troops because it tolerates gays, including in the military -- hence the many protests it has held at military funerals such as Snyder's. His sexuality was not an issue at the trial.
It claims to have carried out similar pickets more than 30,000 times, but the Baltimore case was the first one involving a funeral protest to go to trial."
Anata wa wakarimasu ka.....
"BALTIMORE, United States (AFP) - - A court on Wednesday ordered an evangelical church to pay 11 million dollars in damages to the father of a US Marine killed in Iraq for causing distress by picketing his son's funeral claiming the war is a punishment for tolerating gays.
The jury ruled that members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church caused mental suffering to Albert Snyder, who says he became depressed after they paraded outside the funeral of his 20-year-old son Matthew in 2006.
They waved signs reading "Thank God for dead soldiers," and "*** troops."
A video of the protests was played in court during the week-long trial of church members Fred Phelps, who founded the church in 1955, and two of his daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis.
Their lawyer Jonathan Katz said the funeral was a public event and their actions were protected by the constitutional rights to free speech and religious expression.
But the jury decided Wednesday the church members should pay 2.9 million dollars in compensation and a further eight million in punitive damages for "mental pain and suffering" caused to Snyder, and for invading his privacy.
The church says the United States is losing troops because it tolerates gays, including in the military -- hence the many protests it has held at military funerals such as Snyder's. His sexuality was not an issue at the trial.
It claims to have carried out similar pickets more than 30,000 times, but the Baltimore case was the first one involving a funeral protest to go to trial."
Anata wa wakarimasu ka.....