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There is no end to how sick people can be

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JenniferEver
The Disney Lady

Member since 5/05

18163 total posts

Name:
Jennifer

There is no end to how sick people can be

Do we have to protect their right to free (hate) speech, or should be make laws to prevent this?


All I can say is that i think they have the wrong idea about who is going to hell in this situation

April 17, 2006
Outrage at Funeral Protests Pushes Lawmakers to Act

By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
NASHVILLE, April 11 — As dozens of mourners streamed solemnly into church to bury Cpl. David A. Bass, a fresh-faced 20-year-old marine who was killed in Iraq on April 2, a small clutch of protesters stood across the street on Tuesday, celebrating his violent death.

"Thank God for Dead Soldiers," read one of their placards. "Thank God for I.E.D.'s," read another, a reference to the bombs used to kill service members in the war. To drive home their point — that God is killing soldiers to punish America for condoning homosexuality — members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, kicked around an American flag and shouted, if someone approached, that the dead soldiers were rotting in hell.

Since last summer, a Westboro contingent, numbering 6 to 20 people, has been showing up at the funerals of soldiers with their telltale placards, chants and tattered American flags. The protests, viewed by many as cruel and unpatriotic, have set off a wave of grass-roots outrage and a flurry of laws seeking to restrict demonstrations at funerals and burials.

"Repugnant, outrageous, despicable, do not adequately describe what I feel they do to these families," said Representative Steve Buyer, an Indiana Republican who is a co-sponsor of a Congressional bill to regulate demonstrations at federal cemeteries. "They have a right to freedom of speech. But someone also has a right to bury a loved one in peace."

In the past few months, nine states, including Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Indiana, have approved laws that restrict demonstrations at a funeral or burial. In addition, 23 state legislatures are getting ready to vote on similar bills, and Congress, which has received thousands of e-mail messages on the issue, expects to take up legislation in May dealing with demonstrations at federal cemeteries.

"I haven't seen something like this," said David L. Hudson Jr., research attorney for the First Amendment Center, referring to the number of state legislatures reacting to the protests. "It's just amazing. It's an emotional issue and not something that is going to get a lot of political opposition."

Most of the state bills and laws have been worded carefully to try to avoid concerns over the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. The laws typically seek to keep demonstrators at a funeral or cemetery 100 to 500 feet from the entrance, depending on the state, and to limit the protests to one hour before and one hour after the funeral.

A few states, including Wisconsin, also seek to bar people from displaying "any visual image that conveys fighting words" within several hundred feet or during the hours of the funeral. The laws or bills do not try to prevent protesters from speaking out.

Constitutional experts say there is some precedent for these kinds of laws. One case in particular, which sought to keep anti-abortion picketers away from a private home, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1988.

"A funeral home seems high on the list of places where people legitimately could be or should be protected from unwanted messages," said Michael C. Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Columbia University Law School.

The Westboro Baptist Church, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, is not affiliated with the mainstream Baptist church. It first gained publicity when it picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was beaten to death in 1998 in Wyoming.

Over the past decade, the church, which consists almost entirely of 75 of Mr. Phelps's relatives, made its name by demonstrating outside businesses, disaster zones and the funerals of gay people. Late last year, though, it changed tactics and members began showing up at the funerals of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has put it on its watch list.

Embracing a literal translation of the Bible, the church members believe that God strikes down the wicked, chief among them gay men and lesbians and people who fail to strongly condemn homosexuality. God is killing soldiers, they say, because of America's unwillingness to condemn gay people and their lifestyles.

Standing on the roadside outside Corporal Bass's funeral here under a strikingly blue sky, the six protesters, who had flown from Topeka, shook their placards as cars drove past or pulled into the funeral. The 80-year-old wife of Mr. Phelps, slightly stooped but spry and wearing her running shoes, carried a sign that read "Tennessee Taliban." She is often given the task of driving the pickup trucks that ferry church members, a stack of pillows propping her view over the dashboard.

Next to her stood a cluster of Mr. Phelps's great-grandnephews and great-grandnieces, smiling teenagers with sunglasses, digital cameras and cellphones dangling from their pockets and wrists. They carried their own signs, among them, "You're Going to Hell."

Careful not to trespass on private property, the group stood a distance down the hill from the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ. Police cars parked nearby, keeping watch, but mostly making sure no one attacked the protesters.

"God is punishing this nation with a grievous, smiting blow, killing our children, sending them home dead, to help you connect the dots," said Shirley Roper-Phelps, the spokeswoman for the group and one of Mr. Phelps's daughters. "This is a nation that has forgotten God and leads a filthy manner of life."

At the entrance of the church, Jonathan Anstey, 21, one of Corporal Bass's best friends, frowned as he watched the protesters from a distance. Corporal Bass, who joined the Marine Corps after high school, died with six other service members when his 7-ton truck rolled over in a flash flood in Iraq. His family was reeling from grief, Mr. Anstey said.

"It's hurtful and it's taking a lot of willpower not to go down there and stomp their heads in," Mr. Anstey said. "But I know that David is looking down and seeing me, and he would not want to see that."

Disturbed by the protests, a small group of motorcycle riders, some of them Vietnam War veterans, banded together in October to form the Patriot Guard Riders. They now have 22,000 members. Their aim is to form a human shield in front of the protesters so that mourners cannot see them, and when necessary, rev their engines to drown out the shouts of the Westboro group.

The Bass family, desiring a low-key funeral, asked the motorcycle group not to attend.

"It's kind of like, we didn't do it right in the '70s," said Kurt Mayer, the group's spokesman, referring to the treatment of Vietnam veterans. "This is something that America needs to do, step up and do the right thing."

Hundreds of well-wishers have written e-mail messages to members of the motorcycle group, thanking them for their presence at the funerals. State legislatures, too, are reacting swiftly to the protests, and the Westboro group has mostly steered clear of states that have already enacted laws. While Corporal Bass's family was getting ready to bury him, the Tennessee House was preparing to debate a bill making it illegal for protesters to stand within 500 feet of a funeral, burial or memorial service.

The House joined the Senate in approving it unanimously on Thursday, and the bill now awaits the signature of the governor.

"When you have someone who has given the ultimate sacrifice for their country, with a community and the family grieving, I just don't feel it's the appropriate time to be protesting," said State Representative Curtis Johnson, a Republican who was a co-sponsor of the bill.

Ms. Roper-Phelps said the group was now contemplating how best to challenge the newly passed laws. "This hypocritical nation runs around the world touting our freedoms and is now prepared to dismantle the First Amendment," she said. "A piece of me wants to say that is exactly what you deserve."

Posted 4/17/06 2:20 PM
 
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MrsERod
Praying for Everyone.

Member since 5/05

26170 total posts

Name:
MrsERod™®

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

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Posted 4/17/06 2:29 PM
 

heidla
Me and the guys

Member since 5/05

4024 total posts

Name:
Heidi

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Okay, so these ignorant bigots are going to any soldiers funeral to protest homosexuality? That is so asinine it is almost laughable. God should smite them down for being so stupid!!!!

Posted 4/17/06 3:02 PM
 

JenniferEver
The Disney Lady

Member since 5/05

18163 total posts

Name:
Jennifer

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Posted by heidla

Okay, so these ignorant bigots are going to any soldiers funeral to protest homosexuality? That is so asinine it is almost laughable. God should smite them down for being so stupid!!!!



One one of the anti Phelps sites...I think "godhateshomophobes.com there's a great catroon which I may make my avatar. it's a boy holding up a picket sign that says "God hates morons"

I just can't imagine what these families are going through, to have lost a child to war, or in Matthew Shepard's case to a brutal beating, and to have to deal with that at the funeral. Even on Phelps site is has a counter "Matthew Shepard has been in hell for XXXX days"

Can you imagine what it must be like to be their friends and family?

Posted 4/17/06 3:04 PM
 

dandr10199
Grace is growing up too fast!

Member since 10/05

11561 total posts

Name:
Dina

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

These people are so wrong to do this at soldier's funerals. My heart sinks when I hear this.
I am so sick and tired of people like this become the "face" of Christianity that everyone in the world sees. They manipulate a few verses of scripture to suit their own beliefs.

I am a Christian and find this behavior appalling.

Posted 4/17/06 3:09 PM
 

JenniferEver
The Disney Lady

Member since 5/05

18163 total posts

Name:
Jennifer

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Posted by dandr10199

These people are so wrong to do this at soldier's funerals. My heart sinks when I hear this.
I am so sick and tired of people like this become the "face" of Christianity that everyone in the world sees. They manipulate a few verses of scripture to suit their own beliefs.

I am a Christian and find this behavior appalling.



Phelp's group is only about 200 people, 90 of whom are his relatives, but they are incredibly vocal, and they give christians a very bad name even though they are nto associated with any mainstream group.

Even though I hardly ever agree with the Catholic league, AI wrote to them asking them to publicly come out against Phelps.

Posted 4/17/06 3:21 PM
 

Jax430
Hi!

Member since 5/05

18919 total posts

Name:
Jackie

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

How disgusting and utterly disrespectful. There are few things that bother me more than people who claim to be "religious" but who don't know how to treat their fellow man. Chat Icon Chat Icon

Posted 4/17/06 3:23 PM
 

Stacey1403
Where it all began....

Member since 5/05

24065 total posts

Name:

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

When their time comes to be judged boy are they going to be in for a surprise.

I can never understand people who live their lives by hateChat Icon

Posted 4/17/06 3:25 PM
 

jersee3380
He's here!!

Member since 5/05

1372 total posts

Name:
caroline

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Posted by dandr10199

These people are so wrong to do this at soldier's funerals. My heart sinks when I hear this.
I am so sick and tired of people like this become the "face" of Christianity that everyone in the world sees. They manipulate a few verses of scripture to suit their own beliefs.

I am a Christian and find this behavior appalling.



i agree 100%.

it really hits home w/ me b/c dh is a former marine and is now in the air force, still fighting. those people make me sick Chat Icon

Posted 4/17/06 4:24 PM
 

dpli
Daylight savings :)

Member since 5/05

13973 total posts

Name:
D

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Posted by marymoon

Disturbed by the protests, a small group of motorcycle riders, some of them Vietnam War veterans, banded together in October to form the Patriot Guard Riders. They now have 22,000 members. Their aim is to form a human shield in front of the protesters so that mourners cannot see them, and when necessary, rev their engines to drown out the shouts of the Westboro group.




This is the only positive thing to come out of these protests, IMO.

Posted 4/17/06 4:37 PM
 

lucyloo
nope

Member since 1/06

9758 total posts

Name:

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

If I was at the funeral for this soldier and I saw these protesters I would probably go to jail for trying to assault them.

Posted 4/17/06 4:55 PM
 

JenniferEver
The Disney Lady

Member since 5/05

18163 total posts

Name:
Jennifer

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Posted by dpli

Posted by marymoon

Disturbed by the protests, a small group of motorcycle riders, some of them Vietnam War veterans, banded together in October to form the Patriot Guard Riders. They now have 22,000 members. Their aim is to form a human shield in front of the protesters so that mourners cannot see them, and when necessary, rev their engines to drown out the shouts of the Westboro group.




This is the only positive thing to come out of these protests, IMO.



it reminds me of what Romaine Patterson did (as described in the Laramie project..it was my absolute favorite monolgue when I played the role, and it was talking OVER Phelp's sermon). She made angle costumes with huge wings and shoot in front of the protesters...the wings blocked the signs

Posted 4/17/06 5:50 PM
 

Shanti
True love

Member since 6/05

12653 total posts

Name:

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

I wonder if these people ever stop and think what Jesus would say if he were alive today...

Posted 4/17/06 5:54 PM
 

missus-hbradio
Twin mommy

Member since 5/05

15857 total posts

Name:

Re: There is no end to how sick people can be

Posted by Jax430

How disgusting and utterly disrespectful. There are few things that bother me more than people who claim to be "religious" but who don't know how to treat their fellow man. Chat Icon Chat Icon



This is my exact issue with this. How freakin sick and disgusting can a person be.

Posted 4/17/06 7:59 PM
 
 

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