Fallen Army Ranger Funeral tomorrow please go!

This article is in our home town newspaper.
Pastor Rudy will be going to the funeral to witness to these "church people" whom we STRONGLY disagree with.
Please pray against them even showing up at the funeral.
Please pray for Chris' family as they bury him and grieve.
Please pray and stand beside his family.
If you'd like to go with Rudy (parking may be an issue)
Please meet at our home at 1:00-1:15
Okay, here's the article... UGH.


Anti-gay church to picket funeral
Memorial for Army Ranger Gathercole to be target of 'disrespectful' protest

By NATHAN HALVERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 5:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 5:27 a.m.

Members of an anti-gay group from Kansas plan to picket the Sunday memorial service of Army Ranger Christopher Gathercole, a 21-year-old Santa Rosa man who was killed in Afghanistan on Memorial Day.

Westboro Baptist Church members have gained national attention protesting at military funerals across the country, where they display signs reading "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," "Thank God for I.E.D's," and "God Hates You."

The group's main concern seems to be with gays, whom it blames for inflaming God's rage and triggering divine retribution in the form of Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and the deaths of American soldiers. Members of the church attend military funerals to draw attention to what they see as God's wrath.

Edward Gathercole was dismayed to learn protesters planned to picket outside his brother's funeral service at Santa Rosa Memorial Park at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

"This is an honor and celebration of my brother's life," Gathercole said. "The protest is just inappropriate and disrespectful."

Several states and Congress have moved to pass legislation banning the group from protesting in proximity to military funerals. The group's home state passed similar legislation, but the law was overturned by the Kansas Supreme Court because of First Amendment issues.

The anti-gay church was founded by Fred Phelps in the 1950s in Topeka, Kan., and most of its current 60 members are related to him.

"You can sum up the Bible in three words: Obey. Obey. Obey," said spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper, one of Fred Phelps' 13 children.

The group has protested at 350 funerals since mid 2005, Phelps-Roper said. Fred Phelps is not coming to the Santa Rosa protest because the "bitter bikers come out," she said.

The Patriot Guard, a national organization of motorcycle riders, was founded to provide military funerals a buffer from the Westboro Baptist Church, according to the Patriot Guard's Web site.

The Patriot Guard will attend the Memorial Service on Sunday, said Doug Newton, motorcade organizer and member of American Legion Post No. 111.

"The family doesn't deserve this, and neither does the soldier we're going to bury," Newton said. "They are a pretty sick group. If they show up, we'll deal with it. And if they get out of control, the police can deal with it."

Protesters have appeared before at military services in Sonoma County. John Jenkel, an eccentric Sebastopol man who believes former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is linked to 9/11, hired protesters to carry signs along the 2005 funeral procession for Army Cpl. Joshua Kynoch. Two of the protesters were attacked, requiring one of them to get five stitches on his head.

About eight protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church will attend Sunday's memorial service, Phelps-Roper said. They will protest along a public right of way such as the sidewalk, and will not enter the cemetery.

"We're not there to talk to these people. We're there to talk to the rest of the nation," she said. "We're bringing the wrath of God down on your head."

The protesters generally stand out of sight of the funeral, she said.

The group's reluctance to get too close to the funeral might be the result of losing a $10.9 million lawsuit to the father of a deceased solider, who sued the group in federal court in 2007 for invasion of privacy and mental anguish after protesters showed up at his son's memorial service.

The jury awarded Albert Snyder of York, Pa., $2.9 million in compensatory damages, $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress. The judge said the compensatory damages of $2.9 million "far exceeds the net worth of the defendants."

The protesters also plan to picket outside four Santa Rosa churches before heading to the memorial service.

"I'm aghast," said John Cushman, senior pastor at Church of the Roses in Santa Rosa, where the group plans to protest Sunday morning.

"That is so awful and off-the-wall hateful," Cushman remarked while reading the group's Web site.

The Kansas group provided a litany of off-color remarks on why it was picketing the churches. The poorly edited fire-and-brimstone reasons primarily revolved around gay issues and differences over religious views.

Cushman said the Bible did not support the Kansas group's claims.

"It's unsupported by anything in Scriptures that I've ever read," he said. "Their bigotries are just not supported."

This story includes information from Staff Writer Guy Kovner, the New York Times and Staff Researcher Michele Van Hoeck. You can reach Staff Writer Nathan Halverson at 521-5494 or nathan.halverson@press

democrat.com.