Fire breaks out at 'God Hates Fags' church

[meegbear]

ALSO SEE: 'God Hates Fags' pastor blames gays, judges for Saturday church fire

Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, known for its vocal condemnations of homosexuality, website GodHatesFags.com and picketing of gay pride parades and funerals, has sustained thousands of dollars in damage after a fire early Saturday morning. Impromptu protest followed as firefighters carried out their response.

"None of what they do is going to stop us from delivering our message," said church counsel Shirley Phelps-Roper of any "cowards" that would have set the fire on purpose, also saying that it was the "most aggressive act" towards the Phelps family to date.

"There is evidence that hatred of our religion was the motivation, in part at least," states a "Civil Rights Hate Crime Complaint" written by pastor Fred Phelps Sr. to Attorney General Michael Mukasey. In a recently released YouTube presentation, Phelps also blames law enforcement, judges, and the "filthy, fag-riddled military" for what he considers an assault on his First Amendment rights.

Meanwhile, a neighbor is suspicious that the fire is a hoax meant to intimidate her into giving up her property. "They keep claiming that this property is theirs, and it is not theirs," said 91-year-old Leona McQueen. "They keep wanting to buy me, but I don't want to sell it. I don't know if whether they are trying to push me out."

"It's a ridiculous accusation," Phelps-Roper countered. "The fire was started by someone as we slept. Thankfully the lord our god (sic) keeps us in all our ways."

The cause of the fire has not been determined. No picketing signs were harmed. Video footage taken during the emergency response appears below, courtesy of The Topeka Capital-Journal.

http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/westboro080408.html

Click the SEE ALSO link to see his YouTube rant (before it gets pulled).

[freesqueeze]

1. "Civil Rights Hate Crime Complaint"

on the part of the godhatesfags guy?...how ironic.

It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals. Arson investigators are normally very good at piecing things together.

[zbdent]

6. he should go whining to the ACLU ...

[Clintonista2]

12. Wanna know something even more ironic?

Phelps used to be a civil rights attorney.

[bluestateguy]

2. My condolences

to the firefighters whose Saturday morning sleep was interrupted by having to waste their time saving this compound.

[1620rock]

3. Oh, probably just a little fire and brimstone leaking up through the floor.

[ronnykmarshall]

4. Did someone look up Shirley's ass for a gas can.

You know those fuckers did this themselves.

Too bad that pig didn't die.

[Pab Sungenis]

9. It's the Phelps Reichstag.

Set a fire, collect the insurance, then blame the gays.

[RetiredTrotskyite]

15. Yanno....

I was just thinking the exact same thing, pabsungenis. The Relgious Wrong's version of the Reichstag fire. These jerks probabl did it to themselves as a cry for attention-and, not co-incidentally, as yet another attempt to blame LGBT people for everything they can think of. I hope the actual cause was a rainbow-coloured blot from the blue.

[Crowman1979]

19. Well with the amount of spawn she's popped out, she could definitely fit a gas can up there.

And just the thought of that would probably turn me from straight to gay if I wasn't in a relationship.

[ashling]

5. Divine Retribution?

[zbdent]

7. "What, that smell? That's Daddy's new cologne ..."

"Eu de ANWR" ...

[TlalocW]

8. Well, ol' Fred is getting up there in years

And I'm sure that he realizes he doesn't have a lot of years left so he's probably been setting his affairs in order. The problem is that he's a bit rickety to be burning the stash of gay porn he undoubtedly has, and the fire probably got away from him so he hurried back into his room, got back into bed, and started snoring in an unconvincing, "Honk-shoe, honk-shoe," manner while his kids called the fire department.

TlalocW

[Lucky 13]

10. I can't wait to protest at HIS funeral...

bastard.

[TlalocW]

11. I wouldn't bother

If when Fred dies everyone gave out a collective yawn, that would be the worst thing to happen to their family.

TlalocW

[Ken Burch]

13. I didn't hear about this fire until just now.

Wouldn't it be great if the cause turned out to be a rainbow-colored lightening bolt?

[Clintonista2]

16. Pretty sure he's already dead

He literally looks like a walking corpse.

[lightningandsnow]

14. Instant Karma: not just a song by John Lennon.

[Jamastiene]

17. Good thing they called the fire department to come put the fire out...

before any of the fire could reach 91-year-old Leona McQueen's property and harm a single hair on her head. I hope she digs her heels in and holds her ground against that hateful bunch.

Too bad they couldn't time the firefighting effort to protect her, but let that nasty Phelps shit burn down.

:evilgrin:
I know. I know. I'm going to hell for saying that, but I don't really care. I'll be in good company when I get there. A girl sure can dream, can't she?

[HillbillyBob]

18. Too bad it did not burn to the ground, I and my family have been exposed

to their vileness in person, my aunt lives nearby there and she has had to deal with him picketing gay friends funerals, gay friends she had known for 30 some years and a woman whose husband tried to kill her , she died several years later due to the wounding.
She divorced him so they picketed saying she was a harlot. He and those creatures he calls family picketed a friend of mine's funeral too.
My aunt has some pretty stout things to say about them, but she is not the kind of person to do anything about it she is a real Christian, unlike those I hesitant to call them people.

[RetiredTrotskyite]

21. Amen! Sing It, HB!

I am so tired of all these hypocrites! They count on the fact that true Christians will not act against them. I don't say this in any snarky way. It is just good to see that at the Universe decked this idiot. He is simply despicable. He has also picketed the funerals of those killed in Iraq...fortunately in many cases, bikers have said enough and formed honour guards to help the mourners to avoid some of the unpleasantness. My hat is off to them.

[Iggo]

20. They should try scratching a backwards B on their faces.

Maybe it'll work this time.