Westboro Baptist Can Picket Military Funerals

[ErasOmnius]

This is probably a good thing, although there are a lot of mixed emotions that come with such picketing.

[Dante]

Ah, the bringer of bad news and about as welcome as bubonic plague. Somehow I'm not surprised.

[athanasios]

No it is not bad news. It is good news. Freedom of speech. But regarding the specific picketing it is 100% wrong:

1. respect for the diseased

2. the diseased will be judged by God and Jesus, not us.

[SandChigger]

I'm all for removing the tax exempt status of any "church" that engages in political activities of any sort. :)

[Lord J]

Too bad the elusive "Illuminati" doesn't take them out. Sometimes a shadow government would be nice for nutjobs like these. Of course, they actually serve quite a positive purpose, due to the fact that no matter how divisive American politics become, both sides will agree that they are not Westboros.

[ErasOmnius]

I think it's great that the Court said that funerals could be picketed, even of the military. I don't think that churches should get involved in politics, either. It never helps anything at all.

[Dante]

You may want to justify your opinions before, god forbid, you come off as some sort of raving nutjob.

[ErasOmnius]

You may want to justify your opinions before, god forbid, you come off as some sort of raving nutjob.

I feel that the freedom to picket is a right, and should not be infringed upon. I am not for war at all, so I don't have the 'patriotism bug', where I near-venerate members of the military, ad feel it is OK to have their funerals protested. So even though I do not agree with the message of Westboro fully, nor their methods -- I feel they have he right o picket peacefully and lawfully.

[Dante]

One could argue that there is a proper time and place for organised protests, and that the funerals of people completely unrelated to their cause would be neither.

[athanasios]

I'm all for removing the tax exempt status of any "church" that engages in political activities of any sort. :)

Even though I agree with what you say, i fail to understand what you refer to by 'political activities' in our specific topic.

[Dante]

No surprises there.

In related news:

A day after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest against homosexuality at military funerals, the fallen Marine's father, who unsuccessfully sued the controversial Kansas congregation, warned that the church's protests will eventually spark violence.

"Something is going to happen," Albert Snyder told CNN Thursday. "Somebody is going to get hurt."

"You have too many soldiers and Marines coming back with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and they [the Westboro protesters] are going to go to the wrong funeral and the guns are going to go off."

"And when it does," Snyder said. "I just hope it doesn't hit the mother that's burying her child or the little girl that's burying her father or mother. It's inevitable."

And furthermore:

"This [Westboro] ruling is important for many reasons. First and foremost, it preserves the primacy of free speech in America, which benefits us all. But from a parochial pro-LGBT narrative, it’s equally important to note that it proves the lie to the multiple instances when anti-gay activists falsely claimed that advances in LGBT equality and protections — whether they come in the form of marriage equality or hate crimes protections — will result in the infringement of religious and speech rights. They never have and, if this ruling is any indication, it reaffirms the fact that they never will. So the next time someone claims that marriage equality will result in pastors being prosecuted for hate speech, make a note of it: Snyder v Phelps."

[ErasOmnius]

It is sad that Mr Snyder lost his son -- especially for the misguided notion of fighting for the Leader of the West, the United States, in a land thousands of miles away. I think his quote might be able to be interpreted by Westboro as inciting violence, not just a warning. Hopefully they don't sue him. As far as parochial rights goes, this a free speech ruling, not a freedom of religion ruling. This ruling will simply not be used to expand the rights of the religious.

[Dante]

Did anyone say it would?

[ErasOmnius]

Well, I'm glad that we agree.

[Dante]

We don't, and you're stupid.

You know, in case that wasn't obvious by now.

[SandChigger]

Even though I agree with what you say, i fail to understand what you refer to by 'political activities' in our specific topic.

I'm thinking of a five-letter English word, derived from Greek. Starts and ends with nasal sounds. Liquid in the middle, same round vowel on either side. Got it?

[athanasios]

See another post of mine-earlier today...

[SandChigger]

Nah, I'm tired of clicking "View it anyway?" today and getting so very little out of the effort.

Make like the wind beneath my wings already.

[ErasOmnius]

In conclusion, though we may not agree fully with Westboro's methods, we all agree that they should not lose their right of protest.