Westboro Baptist Church Ordered to Pay $10.9 Million to Father of Marine

The father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, a Marine killed in Iraq’s Anbar province in 2006, was awarded $10.9 million in compensatory and punitive damages on Wednesday after a federal jury found that the Westboro Baptist Church was guilty of defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Carrying derogatory signs and chanting “God Hates Fags,” members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed the funeral of the fallen Marine and blamed the soldier’s death on America’s tolerance of homosexuals.

Shortly after burying his son Al Snyder filed a lawsuit against the church. During the trial Snyder told a jury that the picketers had carried signs bearing slogans that read “God Hates Fags,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” and “Thank God for IEDs.”

A highly controversial group, the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed dozens of funerals for soldiers and each time blamed the deaths on the America’s willingness to accept the homosexual lifestyle in the mainstream.

Church founder, Fred Phelps, said of the decision. “All it was, was a protestation by the government of the United States against the word of God. They don't want me preaching that God is punishing the country by killing their servicemen.”

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