There simply are not words strong enough to express this writer’s outrage and total hatred of what the Westboro Baptist Church is all about. If any organization short of the Taliban reveals the face of pure evil, this disgusting assembly of hateful people under the direction of Fred Phelps and supported greatly through the efforts of his family. Phelps preaches of God the hater, a god who HATES homosexuals and considers other religions including Roman Catholics as devil worship. Any religious entity that does not actively condemn homosexuality is sending its membership to burn in hell. To get a better glimpse of what this hate group is all about, one can see them in their own words through a number of websites including godhatesfags.com and godhatesAmerica.com. They are especially harsh on Catholics, a “fag” church, they contend that one third of the Catholic clergy are gay and that priests are vampires or Draculas who suck the semen out of their parishioners calling the Pope the Godfather of Pedophiles. On their “Priests Rape Boys” website they’ve even posted, “Every time any person gives any amount of money to the Catholic Church, that person is paying the salary of pedophile rapists.”
Their treatment of Jews is pretty consistent with what might be expected not only promoting the time-honored bigotry toward Jews that they killed Jesus, but also that they help lead some of what they consider the worst efforts in American society. References to members of the Jewish faith are preceded by slurs like “bloody” or “evil.”
They also direct hatred toward ethnic groups singling out Italians for even more abuse as being “mobster breeding perverts” and “God REALLY HATES Italy.” Should anyone be surprised they also maintain a website “GodhatesIreland.com?”
These hateful rotten bastards challenge everything we hold as decent and dear as freedom loving Americans, but even more challenging, they face the ultimate gut check on those of us who value the First Amendment and its protection of freedom of Speech and Religion. Yes, even the Westboro Baptist Church has the right to express their obscene and vicious hatred. In how many other “tolerant” cultures would they be identified as a hate group and prosecuted for their actions?
This is where the real rub comes in, because they have chosen as their battlefront funerals for fallen servicemen as the front line for their public display of their hatred picketing funerals shouting and taunting the families of the fallen with protest signs, expressing “God hates fags,” “Your son deserved to die,” “God hates America,”
Something is stinking rotten in America. Every single one of us should be thankful for the first amendment realizing opening the door to some folks saying and printing things we find absolutely unthinkable and obscene. Still, even our most sacred freedoms have limits. Taunting families attending the funeral of a fallen family member is certainly one such instance. In the past, the court has abridged freedom of speech to certain restraints regarding, “time, place, and manner.” As such, it is reasonable that even if a burial ceremony is close to a public street, a safety zone should be able to be established. Here is a situation where the rights of the grieving family conflicts with those of these lunatics. There is a way to solve this problem without violating the first amendment no matter how much we legitimately hate all that the Westboro Sicko Church is all about.
Sadly, the case of the death of Marine Lance Corporeal Matthew Snyder of Finksburg, Maryland lead to one of the most hateful things one can imagine. Snyder was killed in an accident in Al Anbar province in Iraq in a non-combat vehicle accident on March 3, 2006. This young hero was twenty years old. A week later, as his funeral was held in nearby Westminster, Maryland the Westboro creeps arrived creating their vicious display of hatred and evil.
As if losing a precious son was not enough, the young Marine’s father, Albert Snyder pursued legal action in Federal Court in Baltimore, Maryland. Fred Phelps, the Westboro leader and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis were found liable of invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the amount of $10.9 million. In defiance, the Westboro thugs insisted they would never change their hate message. Not only did the Phelps sickos carry out the demonstration they also slurred the Snyder family on the Internet even taking a swipe at their Catholicism. The court would not pursue the Internet charges, but trial was held on the funeral disruption.
At the Baltimore Federal Court level, justice was served though the award was reduced to $5 million, but this story does not have a happy ending.
The Phelps hate clan appealed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, not only did a three judge panel of Robert B. King, Dennis Shedd, and Allyson Duncan throw out the charges, they held Albert Snyder responsible for court costs and the Westboro Baptist Church’s legal fees. Mr. Snyder is responsible for paying the court $165,100, a heavy burden for a working class family man.
The next stop on this case will be the Supreme Court, and it is our hope that the Supreme Court sides on the side of decency and not a contrived ACLU kind of judgment. It would appear the typical 5-4 conservative leaning verdict should be in order. God help us if it is not.
In the meantime, many Americans are raising money to help the Snyder family with its legal defense. Television personality, Bill O’Reilly has offered to at least pay the court fees should that be required.
Right minded Americans must rally behind the Snyder family and insist on some measure of civility in our society. Some will find ways to put the screws to the Westboro haters as well, but let’s be clear, any action taken against them must never resort to tactics worse than the ones they employ.
They are the lowest form of scum in our society. Let’s make sure we keep it that way until the mess can be properly cleaned up and disposed of.
Their treatment of Jews is pretty consistent with what might be expected not only promoting the time-honored bigotry toward Jews that they killed Jesus, but also that they help lead some of what they consider the worst efforts in American society. References to members of the Jewish faith are preceded by slurs like “bloody” or “evil.”
They also direct hatred toward ethnic groups singling out Italians for even more abuse as being “mobster breeding perverts” and “God REALLY HATES Italy.” Should anyone be surprised they also maintain a website “GodhatesIreland.com?”
These hateful rotten bastards challenge everything we hold as decent and dear as freedom loving Americans, but even more challenging, they face the ultimate gut check on those of us who value the First Amendment and its protection of freedom of Speech and Religion. Yes, even the Westboro Baptist Church has the right to express their obscene and vicious hatred. In how many other “tolerant” cultures would they be identified as a hate group and prosecuted for their actions?
This is where the real rub comes in, because they have chosen as their battlefront funerals for fallen servicemen as the front line for their public display of their hatred picketing funerals shouting and taunting the families of the fallen with protest signs, expressing “God hates fags,” “Your son deserved to die,” “God hates America,”
Something is stinking rotten in America. Every single one of us should be thankful for the first amendment realizing opening the door to some folks saying and printing things we find absolutely unthinkable and obscene. Still, even our most sacred freedoms have limits. Taunting families attending the funeral of a fallen family member is certainly one such instance. In the past, the court has abridged freedom of speech to certain restraints regarding, “time, place, and manner.” As such, it is reasonable that even if a burial ceremony is close to a public street, a safety zone should be able to be established. Here is a situation where the rights of the grieving family conflicts with those of these lunatics. There is a way to solve this problem without violating the first amendment no matter how much we legitimately hate all that the Westboro Sicko Church is all about.
Sadly, the case of the death of Marine Lance Corporeal Matthew Snyder of Finksburg, Maryland lead to one of the most hateful things one can imagine. Snyder was killed in an accident in Al Anbar province in Iraq in a non-combat vehicle accident on March 3, 2006. This young hero was twenty years old. A week later, as his funeral was held in nearby Westminster, Maryland the Westboro creeps arrived creating their vicious display of hatred and evil.
As if losing a precious son was not enough, the young Marine’s father, Albert Snyder pursued legal action in Federal Court in Baltimore, Maryland. Fred Phelps, the Westboro leader and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis were found liable of invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the amount of $10.9 million. In defiance, the Westboro thugs insisted they would never change their hate message. Not only did the Phelps sickos carry out the demonstration they also slurred the Snyder family on the Internet even taking a swipe at their Catholicism. The court would not pursue the Internet charges, but trial was held on the funeral disruption.
At the Baltimore Federal Court level, justice was served though the award was reduced to $5 million, but this story does not have a happy ending.
The Phelps hate clan appealed to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, not only did a three judge panel of Robert B. King, Dennis Shedd, and Allyson Duncan throw out the charges, they held Albert Snyder responsible for court costs and the Westboro Baptist Church’s legal fees. Mr. Snyder is responsible for paying the court $165,100, a heavy burden for a working class family man.
The next stop on this case will be the Supreme Court, and it is our hope that the Supreme Court sides on the side of decency and not a contrived ACLU kind of judgment. It would appear the typical 5-4 conservative leaning verdict should be in order. God help us if it is not.
In the meantime, many Americans are raising money to help the Snyder family with its legal defense. Television personality, Bill O’Reilly has offered to at least pay the court fees should that be required.
Right minded Americans must rally behind the Snyder family and insist on some measure of civility in our society. Some will find ways to put the screws to the Westboro haters as well, but let’s be clear, any action taken against them must never resort to tactics worse than the ones they employ.
They are the lowest form of scum in our society. Let’s make sure we keep it that way until the mess can be properly cleaned up and disposed of.
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