Anti-Gay Church May Soon be Homeless

The church and office building of the anti-gay Baptist Church presided over by Fred Phelps may be taken and sold to satisfy a lawsuit against the church if the suit's appeal affirms a $5 million award.

Westboro Baptist Church has a small congregation comprised mostly of Phelps' extended family, several of whom are lawyers. The $5 million sum was levied against the church following a lawsuit brought by the family of a fallen U.S. soldier killed in Iraq.

The church's members are known for picketing the funerals of gays. More recently, they have begun picketing the funerals of American troops killed in the Iraq war. Picketing members often carry signs with messages such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates America," reported CNN.com last October when the ruling was made.

In their defense at the trial, church members claimed that picketing funerals and displaying such messages is an act of faith based on their belief that God is punishing America for its legal and social tolerance of GLBT people.

During court proceedings, reported CNN, members of the church picketed the federal court house with signs reading "God Hates Fag Enablers."

An Apr. 4 story posted at cjonline.com reported that the federal judge who presided over the case has placed liens on the church's property. Unless the judgment is overturned on appeal, the church may find its property seized and sold off to help satisfy the damages awarded by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett to Albert Snyder, whose son Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder's funeral was picketed by members of the Westboro church.

In the meantime, the property being placed under lien is a preventative measure to help stop the owner from selling the property or transferring it to someone else.

Judge Bennett also ordered two of church's members, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis, to post bonds for $125,000 and $100,000 respectively. If the two do not comply, the judge has said that he will cancel a stay on the seizure of their property.

Phelps-Roper, who is a lawyer, contends that the court can seize neither her nor Phelps-Davis' homes, which constitute all the property they own, the article reported.

Said Phelps-Roper, "I have nothing at risk."

Though the church has been sued before and successfully defended itself on First Amendment grounds, the suit brought by Snyder, which claimed intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of the family's privacy, was ruled in favor of the Snyder family last year by a jury that initially awarded the family a total in damages just short of $11 million.

In Feb. of this year, Judge Bennett reduced the amount of the damages to a total of $5 million, $2.1 million of which was for punitive damage.

The CJ Online article cited Sean Summers, a lawyer for Snyder, who said that the $5 million judgment would bankrupt the church and the three church members named in the suit. Though bankruptcy could absolve the church and its members of some of the damages, the $2.1 million for punitive damages would still be due the plaintiff, Summers said.