Although they missed the chance to picket his funeral and memorial service, the Westboro Baptist Church still plans to stage two hate-mongering protests for Steve Jobs in Cupertino on October 19.
The Kansas-based congregation, infamous for picketing the burials of slain soldiers and its “God Hates Fags” slogan, plans to picket outside Apple headquarters during the employee celebration of Jobs and at a local high school.
In a rambling online statement, the church cited the immorality of “some nerdy people possessing ONLY what God loaned them for a very short while, have stolen God’s glory and given it to themselves.”
Earlier, the church had announced plans to picket Jobs’ funeral on October 6.
Margie Phelps, daughter of pastor Fred Phelps, announced it via Twitter for iPhone: “Westboro will picket his funeral. He had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin.”
The 70-member group, which reportedly pickets about six events daily, missed both Jobs’ private funeral and Sunday’s memorial service at Stanford, but its website says the Church still plans a public protest outside Cupertino High School on October 19 from 8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m and at Apple headquarters from 9-10 a.m.
Intent on stoking the hell fires of hatred as usual, the updated picket schedule announces:
“Apple will have a “Celebration of Life” for Steve Jobs. YO, dummies, HE IS DEAD. HE IS IN HELL! WHAT are you celebrating?”
“Cupertino, CA is in silicon valley. When you say that, you get images of fullness of bread and abundance of idleness! A little work and a lot of play and excess. Some nerdy people possessing ONLY what God loaned them for a very short while, have stolen God’s glory and given it to themselves. They will not thank or praise God for his blessings.”
So far, counter protests have been more effective than courts in curtailing the aggro of the Westboro crew. The U.S. supreme court upheld the Church’s right to protest in the 2006 case of the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. In an 8-1 decision the court decided in March 2011 “held that their speech related to a public issue and was disseminated on a public sidewalk.”
We’ll keep you posted on what happens at the Cupertino protest.
