The 'God Hates America' cult, famous for its merciless protests at some of the most inappropriate occasions imaginable, have been ordered to pay nearly US$11 million in damages to relatives of a US Marine, after its members cheered his death at his funeral.
Notorious for protesting funerals of troops killed in Iraq, members of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas have been widely condemned in Christian circles for the offensive nature if their protests.A federal jury determined the Church and three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead man's family and inflicted emotional distress when they protested at his funeral last year.
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.
Members of the cult said the soldier's death was God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality.
Snyder's father testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America's tolerance of gays.
The jury awarded Snyder's family $2.9 million in compensatory damages and an additional $8 million in punitive damages.
Westboro Baptist Church, which is not affiliated with any official Baptist denomination, has just 75 members, led by Pastor Fred Phelps and made up mainly of his relatives. They have appeared outside funerals of American troops killed in Iraq since 2005, chanting "America is doomed" and calling the fallen soldiers proof of God's wrath against America's open stance to homosexuality.
The 'God hates America' cult was sued by the Marine's father, Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania. The case was the first civil suit against the church, which has demonstrated at some 300 military funerals in the past two years.
Fred Phelps has been waging a one-man war against homosexuality for years.
Earlier this year the Church outraged mourning Americans when it planned to picket memorial services of the tragic Virginia Tech shooting victims.
Members of the Church in Kansas announced in April that it hoped to protest the funeral service for Ryan Clark, one of 32 victims of the massacre.
In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech. tragedy, Westboro Baptists Church said in its press release: "God hates Virginia Tech, Virginia, and America".
The obscene nature of its protests have led to 31 states in America passing legislation banning protestors from attending military funerals.
