Westboro Baptist Church to Protest at Elizabeth Edwards' Funeral

Dec. 10, 2010— -- As Elizabeth Edwards' family makes the final preparations for her funeral, members of a controversial church known for picketing at the memorials of fallen soldiers, says they will protest outside her funeral.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church are planning to disrupt Edwards' funeral Saturday, saying the wife of former Senator John Edwards is "going to hell" because she admitted to doubting her faith when her oldest son died in 1996.

Edwards, a political spouse who became a staunch advocate for affordable healthcare, died of complications from breast cancer Tuesday. She was 61.

The funeral is planned for Saturday at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C. She is then expected to be buried at Oakwood Cemetery alongside her son Wade, who died in a car accident when he was 16.

"God heard self-absorbed Elizabeth as she rode the talk show circuit spewing blasphemy," Westboro said in a statement.

"Elizabeth Edwards and her faithless husband, John, lightly esteemed what they had. They coveted things that were not theirs, and presumptuously thought they could control God," the church said.

John and Elizabeth Edwards separated but did not divorce early this year, after it was revealed that John, a former senator and vice presidential candidate, had an affair with a campaign staffer with whom he had an illegitimate daughter.

Westboro, essentially the large extended family of the church's founder, fundamentalist pastor Fred Phelps, are no strangers to picketing funerals. The church is based in Topeka, Kansas.

Church members planned to protest today at the funeral of an Indiana soldier killed in Afghanistan.