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The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., whose tiny Westboro Baptist Church has protested outside the funerals of fallen soldiers and celebrities to spread its views about homosexuality and abortion, has died, according to news reports. He was 84.

, that his father died just before midnight Wednesday. A daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, 

 that her father died at Midland Care Hospice in Topeka. The Associated Press says it too has confirmed the news. The cause of death hasn't been reported yet.


.
While the church's protests outrage many Americans, 

 that the First Amendment gives the protesters the right to do what they do. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority in the 8-1 decision, said that because the protesters' signs address the state of the nation, the content "relates to broad issues of interest to society at large, rather than matters of 'purely private concern' " and deserves protection.



In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the protest at the center of the case — staged at the 2006 funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died while serving in Iraq — was "a malevolent verbal attack on Matthew and his family at a time of acute emotional vulnerability" and deserved no First Amendment protection.

. There was also word over the weekend that the church 

, though the reason wasn't clear in the reports. One son 

Religion and Faith

Mark Memmott

Author

The Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., whose tiny Westboro Baptist Church has protested outside the funerals of fallen soldiers and celebrities to spread its views about homosexuality and abortion, has died, according to news reports. He was 84.


Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Sr. dies

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