A few weeks ago the Supreme Court declared the rights of Westboro Baptist Church to use the first amendment of our Constitution to publically harass and hurt members of our society mourning the loss of a son or daughter who has just paid the highest price a human can pay to defend the freedoms we enjoy. I respectfully disagree with their decision. I have read the opinions and I understand the logic that informs these men and women who write law. Justice Alito was the sole dissenting opinion and I have read his remarks in full and urge you to do the same.
I do believe strongly in freedom of speech but I also believe in a higher law that tells me what these men and women do is just plain WRONG. I will go so far as to call it blatantly sinful to treat any human being the way these noxious folks do. Justice Alito made the bold point of saying:
the nation’s commitment to free and open debate “is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case.”
Their treatment not only of our military but also of gay men and women, of those suffering from cancer, Catholics, the list seems endless- is painful for me to watch. The worst part is they claim to believe in God, and to follow him. (It is at this point I would love to be able to stand up and say I know Jesus Christ, I love Jesus Christ, and you Mr. Phelps are no follower of Jesus Christ).
Watching the supreme court make this decision was like watching a train wreck for me. We have become so smart as a nation, we're just plain dumb. How in God's name can we stand by and tell these families who are being assaulted at their own childs funeral that this is the very right their child fought and died for? Have we all gone mad?
So I watched with interest as the king walked down the street with no clothes and wondered if anyone aside from myself and Justice Alito noticed or had enough nerve to say something. Not a peep.
Lets do a split screen now. Turn your attention for a moment to the Middle East, Afganastan to be exact. Have you read the reports these last few days about Pastor Terry Jones who burned the Qu' ran? Did you read what happened half a world away because this pastor made that decision? Did you further read his behavior is being condemned by the US? I hope not the Supreme Court. There are at least 20 dead bodies lining the streets in Afghanastan, Muslims calling for the end of American Infidels and promising bloodshed and violence, and boy are they delivering.
But PLEASE all you leaders of this great Democractic Republic, please don't tell me now that that pastor shouldn't have done this. The time for telling people to shut up and sit down, passed you by while you sat in your long black robes telling Mr. Snyder his son's funeral was a place for the Westboro whackos to make a public display by spitting in his face with their vile comments and the face of every other law abiding American citizen. Our Freedoms are being driven off a cliff and are now serving the enemy. Using clever words, and legal tactics cannot make what is wrong, right.
In my opinion Pastor Jones and Fred Phelps are men cut from the same cloth. They hijack God and hurt men in the process. But they don't do it alone. They have the help of a bunch of fools who say the govern us. They hold their heads high citing statutes and clauses, while hearts are being torn asunder.
Any decent mother or father knows its time to take Fred Phelps and Pastor Jones out to the woodshed by the ear for a talking to. They needed to be told loud and clear to sit down and shut up and that the their world view of Christianity has failed the test of common sense, let alone adherence to the commandments. Each of our actions have consequences, and those consequences ripple like a stone in a pond affecting those far and wide. If we as a society condone such malicious behavior under the guise of freedom we denigrate the sacredness of that freedom rather then reinforce it. Thinking everyone in the world is going to be as foolish as we Americans are when it comes to trampling on the sacred is ludicrous. The nation of Islam is proving that in Afghanistan tonight. Blood is being spilled and passions running amuck because someone in Florida not only didn't have enough sense ( or perhaps he did) to see how volatile his actions might be, but offended their view of the sacred and he had the backing of the US Constitution while doing so.
Alito added: “The court now holds that the First Amendment protected [Westboro’s] right to brutalize Mr. Snyder. I cannot agree.” Me neither.
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