SpokaneFāVS
Westboro Baptist Church announced today that they will be in Spokane on Friday to protest the memorial for former House Speaker Tom Foley.
According to a press release, they will be protesting because of Foley’s pro-choice views and his Catholic faith.
The church, based out of Topeka, Kansas, stated in the release, “The United States government was a corrupt cesspool of idolatry on former Speaker of the House Tom Foley’s watch!…The people of this doomed nation have the smiting rod of God across your backs in the form of corrupt leaders such as Tom Foley.”
The service for Foley will be held 11 a.m., Friday at St. Aloysius Church.
Tracy Simmons is an award winning journalist specializing in religion reporting, digital entrepreneurship and social journalism. In her 15 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti.
Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas and Connecticut. Currently she serves as the executive director of SpokaneFAVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Wash. She is also a Scholarly Assistant Professor at Washington State University.
Don’t feed the trolls. But I can’t control the trolls from coming to funerals.
So sick of these assholes.
I know they welcome hate but seriously can someone just legally ban them from being within a 5 mile wide radius of funerals.
I think a lot of people share your frustration!
I propose that we do something like what we did at the Sikh Temple. We get hundreds of people who would like to honor Foley, but don’t really need to be at the memorial service itself, to show up and make a ring around the church that keeps the Westboro hatemongers from getting any place close. PJALS teaches some excellent tactics for peacefully moving / keeping people away from a place that they are not wanted.
I enjoyed covering that last time Deb!
Hi Deb,
I’m planning to be at the church to counter protest – I wrote an article about it earlier today on the site. Love it if you could join!
A little late on this, but the next time they’re in town, I say we fight back by doing the opposite of what they do. Gather around, preach love and sing songs of love and happiness (I have this one in mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNrXMOSkBas)