Westboro Baptist Church members enter Canada to picket funeral of man beheaded on bus

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Every Breaking Wave

Every Breaking Wave

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CBC.ca said:
Members of a fundamentalist American church group planning to stage a protest at the funeral for a Winnipeg man brutally killed on a Greyhound bus have managed to enter Canada, a spokeswoman told CBC News on Friday.

Canadian border guards are under orders to prevent members the Westboro Baptist Church, a controversial Kansas-based sect, from entering the country.

The group intends to picket the funeral of 22-year-old Tim McLean to tell Canadians his slaying on July 30 was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and divorce and remarriage.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church wave protest signs outside funeral services for a soldier in Iowa in 2006. (Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press)Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office sent an alert to border patrol to "look out" for people with signs and pamphlets consistent with the messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church founder Fred Phelps, said a group of church members was turned away from a border crossing at Niagara Falls, but a small group did manage to get into Manitoba overnight.

"They were looking for picket signs and they were looking for leaflets. Well, we don't do leaflets, and the picket signs, you know, Fed Ex ships them overnight," she said.

However, Phelps-Roper said the reaction the group has raised from some police and public officials has her questioning whether the planned protest will go ahead.

"The question to my mind [is] whether or not we ought to get them the heck out of that country, because that's some crazy stuff when you've got your officials talking like they are in a back-alley brawl and not government officials who took an oath to obey the law and so forth."

Phelps-Roper said she would advise church members not to go ahead with the protest if there is a concern they might be arrested or harmed.

Counter-protest planned
A counter-protest against the church's picket plans was launched on the social networking site Facebook on Thursday.

More than 700 people have since joined the group; postings indicate they plan to form a "human wall" around the family to shield them from the church protest, if it takes place.

Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin said the group should be "sent packing," and should not try to show up in Winnipeg "for their own safety."

"We're not going to allow these people to compound the tragedy of the McLean family loss, and Canadians simply won't tolerate these lunatics disrupting what should be a respectful service," he told CBC News on Friday.

"Your freedom to swing your arm in the air ends when it touches the end of my nose," he added. "What these people were going to do was hurtful, harmful and disruptive to the peace, order and good government that we guarantee to our citizens, so they have no place in this country."

Family in shock, requests privacy
Meanwhile, Tim McLean's mother released a short public statement Friday morning, saying the family is in "complete shock at the horrifying loss of our loved one."

Carol deDelley expressed frustration that some media outlets have not identified McLean's family members properly; the statement identifies Tim's parents and step-parents and the six siblings in his blended families.

DeDelley asked for privacy during the family's time of mourning.
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For those who are unaware, Tim McLean was a young man unexpectedly murdered on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba last week. A man came up to him as he was sleeping and stabbed him multiple times before beheading him and cannibalizing part of his body.

For more information on the incident:
40-year-old suspect held in gruesome Manitoba bus killings
Greyhound slaying sparks debate over bus safety
Accused in bus slaying ordered to get psychiatric assessment
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Fuck the Westboro Baptist Church.
 
On the plus side, being Not America, we at least have a chance at trying to intercept some of them at the borders.

Note to government : intercept any Fed-Ex shipment between Westboro and Winnipeg and declare it unwelcome in Canada :p
 
Yeah, that's very true, but on the down side, it probably makes all Baptist look shit crazy. (I'm not baptist, but it's still horrible... well besides the obvious. They have no standards/class, sheesh)
 
I'm just appalled that they would actually do something like this; Tim McLean has been described by many who knew him as an exceedingly kind person. The fact that people would this slaughter and cannibalism to try and make a point that is completely unrelated to what happened...

Let the family and friends grieve for their loss. Don't turn such a tragic and horrifying incident into a religious issue.

First the PETA ad, and now this...

Is there no such thing as humanity anymore?
 
Haven't heard about what these guys do in America? They routinely protest at soldiers' funerals. Why? Because America isn't killing gays, the soldiers dying is proof that God is angry.

On the plus side, my state enacted a law making it illegal to protest funerals. Best curbing of protest rights ever.
 
God, what a load of bullshit.

Do these ignorant people realize that if someone dies, they are entitled to a fueral? All they care about(in my view, anyways) is themselves.
 
Oh, man, that bus slaughtering sounds terrible. What a horrific situation. :(

As for the Westboro Baptist Church, fuck them as much as always. I'm assuming they're going to this particular funeral because they're attention whores like always and are going to this thing because the murder has receieved a lot of press. As if McLean's family haven't suffered enough because of the murder alone.
 
Okay, this is just sickening. And they've hit a whole new low. A disgusting one. And their belief that stuff like this is divine punishment is disturbing.

Also: Westboro Baptist Church =/= Christian. Before any religion flamewars start.

They represent Christianity as much as Al Qaeda represents Islam.
 
They're doing this to have their faces in the news. That's vanity I think, which is supposedly a sin.
 
The Westboro Baptist Church can go to hell and Fred Phelps can go fuck himself :bash:.

I support free speech but the WBC's protests are borderline hate speech and fighting words, which are not protected by the 1st Amendment.

By the way, I heard the WBC's members are mostly related to each other.

I'm not religious but I will tolerate and respect any religion as long as you keep it to yourself.

In May of 2006, President Bush signed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, a law that bans picketing with in 300 feet of national cemeteries.

So, apparently the WBC has gotten attention (in a bad way).

Also, I personally think that REAL Baptists hate the WBC for slandering their religion.
 
First off, I have to say when I read about this murder, I was absolutely appalled. Just the fact that this happened is sad. My thoughts and prayers go to the man's family. No one deserves to die in such a gruesome way.

Now for the Westboro Baptist Church. WTF is with you guys? For God's sake, there is no way that this poor man's gruesome murder is a message from God. I respect them having their beliefs, but picketing a man's funeral is going way too far. If I lived near where this funeral was happening, I would probably be apart of that group of people protecting the family from these nutjobs.
 
Is nothing sacred to these people? (Which is really sick since they claim to be a religious group.) Not even the United States seems to be able to contain these bastards' egos. These people must make Jesus sick and have carved out their own little corner in the inner most circle of Hell for this corruption of Christianity.

Your loved one has been killed by one of the most gruesome means possible. Now some morons want to picket the funeral because your country doesn't live by their incredibly extremist interpretation of their religion. Who should have to put up with that?

I'm with the "They should go fuck themselves" crowd.
 
I thought they were banned from Canada (a few years back they decided to picket the Parliment building, due to them legalizing same sex marriage, which got them banned from entering Canada.)
 
The group intends to picket the funeral of 22-year-old Tim McLean to tell Canadians his slaying on July 30 was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and divorce and remarriage
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So was this guy divorced and got remarried, had parents who were divorced and got remarried, was gay or pro-gay rights and pro abortion, or are these people just a bunch of dickheads who would protest anywhere even if it was totally unrelated?

Not that it matters, I just want to know if these guys are just dickheads or insane dickheads.
 
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They are the real-life equvilent of internet trolls. The best way to deal with them is to ignore them.
 
This whole thing is sick. I'd defintly be on the protecting the family side if i lived there. This crap is why i like the holy Flying Spegethi Monster.
 
Despite living in Kansas, I'm glad I don't live in Topeka where they are based. I think I'd lose my sanity if I saw a "God Hates Fags" sign in real life.
 
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