Kowabunga

I've written about the Westboro "Baptist church" before, but it has been sometime and the news sites haven't had a lot about them until now. a little background: The Westboro "Baptist church", and I use quotation marks to indicate that they are not, in my opinion a Christian church but a bunch of moonbats who don't know the difference between right and wrong., is the group that has taken to protesting at the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Their agenda is to promote an anti-homosexual agenda and over the past couple of years decided that these brave Americans who have chosen to serve their country and help oppressed peoples in other countries are being killed by God for America's tolerance of homosexuality. These people are real wankers.

Now the father of a fallen American hero whose funeral was targeted for protest by the Westboro cult is suing that group. From the Evening Sun:

The father of a Marine killed in Iraq took the stand in his invasion of privacy suit against a fundamentalist church that pickets soldiers' funerals, saying protesters carrying signs at his son's burial made him sick to his stomach.

Albert Snyder said Wednesday he had hoped for a private funeral for his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder.

"They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family," Snyder testified. "They wanted their message heard and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside."

The report goes on to cite that this guess will test the limits of the First amendment's protections on free speech. There are limits to free speech, the age-old example being you cannot shout "fire!" in a movie theater when there isn't a fire. The limitations also include vulgar (that would be Kerry's favorite "F" word), shocking or outrageous statements.

Based on that, I would say Albert Snyder has a good chance of winning, as these protests are not only an invasion of privacy, they are also outrageous in their claims. So much so that many States have enacted laws keeping them a set distance from the funeral to prevent them from interfering with the funeral rights.

The report goes on to include what one of the signs these protestors carried. It was very offensive, and used a word that is frequently used in hate-speech against gays. I think you can figure it out without my using it, and it is detailed out in the report. Phelps, the leader of the Westboro cult, claims that that word is used in the bible in this fashion. To the best of my knowledge, he is full of sh!t.

It saddens me greatly that there are sickos like the Westboro cult in this world.

As for the Snyder's, I grieve for your loss and you have my deepest sympathies.

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Westboro Baptist Church Funeral Protests Marine