Religious group to protest at funeral for Ill. soldier

ANNA, Ill. -- The mourners of Spc. Brian Romines won't be the only ones present at his funeral Saturday morning. An extremist religious group will be there, as well, preaching a hateful message outside the Anna Heights Baptist Church, location of the service.

Romines, an Army National Guard soldier, was killed by a roadside bomb earlier this month while on a tour of duty in Iraq.

The Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-America, religious group based in Topeka, Kan., plans to have about a dozen demonstrators outside the church to protest the American military.

The church rejoices at news of American soldiers killed in Iraq by improved explosive devices, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church pastor Fred Phelps, because the tragedies are examples of God's judgment being delivered upon a sinful nation that condones homosexuality.

The group has held similar demonstrations across the country.

"What we expect is for people to be really angry," said Phelps-Roper. "Their cause is with the Lord their God -- their cause is not with us. This is his judgment."