Amen brother. Thanks for putting this on the radar screen.
I only wish we could ignore these nitwits and maybe they will slink back into their holes.
Causing grief in any way to the families of our fallen heros is about as far from Godly as one can get.

This group has the collective IQ of a melon.

As a war veteran, I also have been horrified at the vehicle chosen by those Westboro people to expound their views. Good on anyone who stands up in defense of our fallen heroes and their families.

I would, however, like to intercept the usage of the term “radical churches” before it becomes synonymous with the word “Baptist.” I am one who has almost half a family and numerous friends in the Baptist faith. Many of them fought in our wars, from tramping on foot through Europe and the Far East to flying B-17’s over the skies of Nazi Germany. I am not personally a Baptist, but I have certainly been intermingled with them for many, many years. I am not an expert. I can only give you here what I have seen and read and would certainly welcome any clarifications or corrections from those actually of that faith.

Those with no connection to the Baptist faith usually do not realize that Baptists are not organized in the way many other denominations are. They have no hierarchies. They have no synods. They have no bishops. As far as I can recall, they do not even have an obligatory denominational catechism. They do have general conventions but also a long history of failing to organize a larger church body in a significant and long-lasting way. Their loose confederations have often split repeatedly because of a very stubborn flair for independence. Historically, about the only places you could considered them joined as in a traditional religious confederation is in their joint support of foreign missions, some cooperation in the religious publishing area, and their financial support of some theological seminaries and post-secondary schools.

The individual Baptist churches of my experience have always been independent entities. They govern themselves through the pastor and elders elected from the congregation. They do not answer to any outside church authority. Their catechism is the Holy Bible, on which they depend for guidance and for correct governance of their own congregation. They welcome strangers with love and charity — at least, this has always been my personal experience.

To give you an example: I once had an uncle who was a very active lay leader in his Baptist church. An internal dispute arose over the pastor, of whom my uncle was a supporter. Rather than cause that church to suffer further, my uncle simply started another Baptist church in the area; and that church called the old paster to be their own. In so doing, that new church answered to no outside authority. They did not need an imprimatur from a bishop or synod or any other overarching religious authority. They just went and did it — almost like an epitome of the religious freedom we enjoy in America.

In my opinion, when you make reference to the Westboro Baptist Church, you make reference to one independent and self-governing congregation which, in my opinion, has sadly gone astray in terms of its methodology for proselytization of their religious views. Please do not lump all Baptists into this dispute. If you do, you will insult my own elderly mother who descends from an ultra-Baptist family and who seems to me to have become more patriotic than George Patton.

God works in myterious ways. I do not believe it was an accident that I found this website. Thanks so much.

bullit proof monk,as a proud member of the patriot guard,i can tell you that your nephew IS and always will be,a member of our ranks.he is a brother and fellow veteran.and his service will always be greatly appreciated by us.we are so sorry for your family’s loss.and,although i wasn’t there at his service,i know that the ones who were there as well as the rest of us,were humbly grateful for the invitation of your familyto be there.we not onlystand as a shield.we also honor a fallen brother or sister.and i think i can speak for my brothers and sisters who were there by saying….it is our honor to be there for all.