Westboro Baptist Church Announces Plans To Picket Beau Biden’s Funeral, But History Indicates They Won’t Show Up
The Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket a funeral for Beau Biden, but if history is any indication, then it’s likely the hate-spewing Kansas church won’t show up.
The anti-gay church, known for its past picketing at funerals of celebrities and of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, this week said it would protest the funeral of Joe Biden’s son. Beau Biden died this week after a battle with brain cancer.
Westboro Baptist Church announced the Biden picket plans in a message this week that called out Biden and the state of Delaware for how church members had been treated at a past protest there.
“As for Beau Biden, his life was cut short by the will of God to whom all glory is given and he has an eternity of answering to the Lord for his own words, thoughts, actions and sins,” the protest announcement said.
The announcement also took on Vice President Joe Biden.
“Lord willing, WBC will zealously warn Joe Biden and the others at that time/place that God has clear standards, that He requires obedience, and that He curses those who refuse to obey, especially those who interfere with His people in their worship of and service to Him,” according to the website. “Our faithful warning: Repent or likewise perish!”
But the Westboro Baptist Church has been talking more than protesting lately. In recent years, church members have made many threats to picket — including funeral services for children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 — but not shown up.
Some sources close to the church have claimed that members no longer have the finances to travel far beyond Kansas. Other times, the church has been thwarted by funeral planners.
That was the case earlier this year when church members announced plans to protest the funeral of Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy. When the day came for Nimoy’s service, the church tweeted that it would not be showing up to protest.
As it turned out, the church members couldn’t figure out where to go.
Leonard Nimoy’s funeral is today, but nobody is sharing WHERE. So Westboro AND @WilliamShatner can’t attend ? https://t.co/FBwkrfmEGM
— WBCVideo (@WBCVideo) March 1, 2015
If the Westboro Baptist Church does show up to the funeral for Beau Biden, counter-protesters will likely be ready. The church is often countered by groups who drape sheets to block them from view of mourners, and already there is a movement online to prepare in case the church does show up.
[Image via Getty Images / Mark Wilson]
