Wolrd Religion

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia are backing the family of fallen Marine Matthew Snyder in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case that could decide the constitutionality of laws restricting protests at private family funerals.

The respondent, Phelps, has staged loud protests with members of his Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals around the country. He argues his signs, bearing messages such as "You're in hell" and "God hates you," are protected forms of speech.

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"H'Nguen, was forced to take her two children, H'Danh and Y-Ly, to the Nhan Hoa Police Station" on May 3 "and told she must sign documents giving custody to the government," said International Christian Concern (ICC), an advocacy group closely monitoring the case.

Her husband, Montagnard Christian K'pa Lot, died in March of torture while being detained for publicly expressing his Christian faith and fighting for religious rights, ICC and other activists said.

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