More Money Woes
for Westboro Baptist Church

A federal court has ordered liens against the staunchly fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, which recently lost a civil suit, The [Baltimore] Sun reported Monday.

Judge Richard D. Bennett of the U.S. district court of Maryland ordered church founder Fred Phelps and his two daughters to post cash bonds of $125,000 and $100,000 within the next 30 days. The judge also placed a lien on an office building owned by the elder Phelps that is worth $232,900. No money may be borrowed against the equity in the buildings, and no new mortgages can be issued on the property. The church property was appraised recently at $442,800.

The Topeka, Kan.-based Phelps family is currently appealing a $5 million judgment in a civil case they lost in November, in which a jury found that the group intentionally inflicted emotional distress on a family by picketing the funeral of their son, who had been killed in Iraq. The church often pickets military funerals, saying the deaths are God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality. (The Advocate)