Fringe church trades funeral protest for Toronto radio airtime

Members of a fringe U.S. church agreed Thursday not to picket the funeral of a nine-year-old girl killed in the mass shooting last weekend in Arizona in exchange for some airtime with a Toronto radio station. Shirley Phelps-Roper also told controversial morning radio host Dean Blundell of 102.1 The Edge, that the Westboro Baptist Church will also not be protesting any locations in Arizona as originally planned. Mr. Blundell said the church was preparing to go to Arizona Thursday to picket the funeral, along with a number of other sites including the scene of the shooting and the hospital where the injured congresswoman is recovering. They believe the accused gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was sent by God to punish sinners. The church is widely known for organizing protests at the funerals for fallen soldiers, blaming their deaths on the U.S. government’s stance on homosexuals in the military.