"I had one chance to bury my son in peace and they took it away from me." - Albert Snyder, father of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, about the Westboro Baptist Church that protested Matthew's funeral. We've had a lot of posts about the *cough* Reverend *cough* Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church that protests the funerals of our Fallen with signs that read "Thank God for IEDs!" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". Below is a (mostly) well done article by Robert Barnes of the Washington Post . ...Phelps-Roper said only a "sucker" would have sympathy for Snyder and the loss of his son. Fred Phelps said the court's decision will be unanimous. "The speech is protected," he said. "They're not going to give up the whole body of American law over one teared-up moron."... While the bible can be interpretted in many different ways, I don't think that too many of you would argue against the statement that sympathy and providing comfort are among the more prominent Christian values. -So why does WBC have no sympathy for the families of our Fallen?- While I mentioned that Barnes' article was well done, it left out an important point that the WBC, even while claiming to be a church, is actually a money making scheme to keep the Phelps family funded. Their protests are uniquely designed to provoke the highest levels of human emotion (especially in Americans) in order to be assaulted and then sue the assaulter for damages. We noted in 2005: ...THIS GROUP DOES EMPLOY PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE TECHNIQUES INTENDED TO PROVOKE A HOSTILE RESPONSE OR OFFENSIVE REACTION FROM OTHERS. THEY WILL EMPLOY WRITTEN AND VERBAL INFLAMMATORY LANGUAGE AGAINST THE DECEASED PERSON, THEIR FAMILY, AND MILITARY PERSONNEL TO ELICIT DESIRED RESPONSES. THIS GROUP WILL THEN FILE A CIVIL ACTION IN AN EFFORT TO REACH A SETTLEMENT IN ORDER TO FUND FUTURE ACTIVITIES... The Supreme Court will hear the case next week. As Barnes' article states, there are probably two possible outcomes. (1) Phelps vile speech is protected or (2) the Court rewrites/amends the 1st Amendment to include protection of funerals (much like you can't yell "Fire!" in a theater when there is no fire). Either way, many of us will not be satisfied because the WBC will not pay for the damage they've caused to military families and the legacies of our Fallen. I doubt that the Supreme Court will view this as a case of harassment. A judgement in the case that one kind of event is exempt from free speech opens up a Pandora's Box (one that I'm pretty sure we don't want - unless the judgement is about harassment and not about free speech). -Judgment comes in various ways.- Fred Phelps is 80. Depending on your views, he might have some explaining to do not too long from now. Call it judgement. Call it karma. Hopefully, we can call it an end to some of this nonsense. Until then, I feel great sympathy and remorse for a man who's dedicated his life to money and lies and the anguish of good and decent people...because he must be one really miserable sonofabitch.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/1Vxg57ETo5M/the-fight-for-free-speech-includes-the-right-to-bury-your-son-in-peace.html
Posted
Oct 01 2010, 01:46 AM
by
BLACKFIVE