Falwell’s funeral was today and a Liberty University freshman has been arrested. A solider from Fort Benning, a high school student and unnamed suspect are being sought.

Authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car. (five or six according to local reports)

…19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va. of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas. They were “slow burn,” according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.

No word on charges. (Campbell County Sheriff Terry Gaddy says Uhl has been charged with manufacturing an explosive device) One of Uhl’s relatives alerted police, he was arrested Monday night. The bombs were found in the trunk of his car. 

I’m assuming the protesters this student and his friends wanted to do permanent damage to were Westboro Baptist Church.

About a half dozen members of a Kansas church that denounces homosexuality protested Tuesday afternoon at the funeral of evangelist Jerry Falwell.

The members of Westobo(sic) Baptist Church carried placards accusing Falwell of being in league with gays and of cozying up to Israel.

The church, which operates the GodHatesFags Web site, had warned Lynchburg police in advance they were coming.

On its site Westboro, run by Rev. Fred Phelps, called Falwell, a “corpulent false prophet” and said he”spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like ‘God loves everyone.’”

In attacking Falwell the church says he “warmly praised Christ-rejecting Jews, pedophile-condoning Catholics, money-grubbing compromisers, practicing fags like Mel White (of Souflorce)(sic), and backsliders like Billy Graham and Robert Schuler,(sic) etc.” 

Police set aside a small area across from Thomas Road Baptist Church, Falwell’s church where the funeral was being conducted, for the protestors.

A spokesperson for the Lynchburg Police Department told 365Gay.com that members of the group “Christian Bikers” parked in front of the area blocking the Phelps clan from the view of mourners.

The Westboro group left after about 45 minutes, and well before the funeral began.

About 8 thousand people attended the 90 minute service.
No chatter from Liberty U students about their fellow student and his bombs registering at Technorati yet.

Update: I contacted Jeri of Blog on the Lilypad  Jeri came  out of a hard core fundamentalist background and now exposes their excesses and abuses and helps others who leave, and often at great cost to herself. She kindly put the information up at the Fighting Fundamentalist Forums. There has been no chatter, there is no concept and awareness of potential harm or even basic biblical truths such as “do not do evil, but overcome evil with good.”  
Four of their own building bombs is just a joke.

There is more information at The StarExponent out of Virginia.

Jesse Benson, 19, of Zanesville, Ohio, said he roomed with Uhl as freshmen this year and both shared the view that the Westboro group is a “sorry, disgraceful bunch of people,” but that he was certain Uhl would never have done anything to harm them.

“He had a very, very deep respect for Jerry Falwell, as do I,” Benson said in a telephone interview. “Jerry Falwell would not have approved him harming anybody for any reason. Out of respect for Jerry Falwell, he never would have done anything.”

Benson said Uhl was in Liberty’s Army ROTC program and was studying to become an Army chaplain, and he was surprised to learn that his close friend had been arrested.

“He would not have done this,” Benson said. “This is completely out of Mark’s character. At college, he went out of his way to help me so many times.”

One of the remaining suspects may already be in the military, Gaddy said, and another is a high school student in Fauquier County.

Hello. 
Uhl had working bombs in the trunk of his car, and he is facing felony charges. 
Mark Uhl is not mentally ill, he is a fundamentalist who believes his behavior is justified by God.
He and his cohorts built bombs with intent, rationalizing and disbelief isn’t going to change that. 
If they hadn’t hurt or killed Westboro Baptists, the bombs could have hurt or killed the bikers that protect families at funerals the Phelps picket. Or anyone on campus. Or themselves. 
Uhl believed the Phelps protest would disrupt the funeral of his hero and didn’t think through what bombs would do?
Some Liberty University students held a counter-protest to the Phelps. It’s a notch down from lobbing bombs at people but counter protesting isn’t any more rational than thinking bombs would help a funeral proceed. The bikers that follow the Phelps around to give grieving families peace at a funeral, work well with law enforcement without causing harm to the members of the hate group.  
17 different law enforcement and city agencies were involved in Falwell’s funeral, from traffic to security.
The sense of community is buried here, isn’t it?
The inability to trust campus security, police, friends, professors, ministers; a mindset of an eye for an eye, Old Testament retribution, an inability to trust, understand and grieve with others, and to work through individual hate and confusion.
The pain of Uhl’s family must be profound, having to turn this young man and his friends in, knowing Uhl and his buddies have robbed themselves of their future.

The information on Uhl’s arrest was withheld from media until after the service.
This thinking, this bomb plot is no different than The Army of God.
This has nothing to do with respect.

Mark Uhl’s MySpace blog -  He defines himself as a Soldier of Christ, Mighty Warrior.