The Supreme Court recently overturned a judgment by a district court that had been given to the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas prohibiting them from demonstrating at the funerals of military men and women.
This group, that calls itself a church, shows up at the funerals carrying signs that read: "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates America." The members have no respect for the dignity of the ceremony they are disrupting, nor the feelings of the family and friends who are mourning a loved one. Do they not even know that the proper respect for the dead calls for decorum? Many of us still stop our cars when a funeral procession passes, and I recently saw a State Trooper standing with his hat on his chest as he stopped traffic on a county road so a funeral procession could quietly roll out of a church parking lot. And further down the road when the line of cars turned into a cemetery, that same trooper stood in silent respect.
Compare that quiet, somber moment to the chaos of a demonstration with people shouting and waving placards. Imagine if you were burying your son or daughter, or wife or husband, how you would feel.
Oh, the disgrace, and yet our Supreme Court, with only one dissenter, ruled that the protesters are protected by First Amendment rights.
I'm sorry. I don't think the men who drafted the Constitution of the United States, ever envisioned a time when our moral compass would be so far off kilter that we would allow such ugly and debasing behavior and give it protection under the law.
Shame on the Supreme Court, and shame on us for supporting a society that is swirling closer and closer to the drain.
4 comments:
Amen! I saw that story and it infuriated me. Where are their manners, their hearts and their Christianity?
I was really surprised by that ruling, too. I think if a community realizes that is going to happen, they should all turn out and stand between the idiots and the mourners. Don't wait for the motorcycle vets to show up. Join them or stand as a town and back them away from the funeral and cemetery.
Well, I disagree in one respect. We do have the right of peaceable assembly and the right of free speech. So according to our Constitution, they have the right to do what they're doing.
However, they are breaking laws much higher than our laws. And they will need to answer for that at a later time.
My view.
Mary, you are so right. I think it is absurd that they call themselves a church. No God would condone what they are doing.
Helen, I will keep that suggestion in mind if they ever so up at a funeral near me. And I hope other people will consider doing the same.
Carol, while you are right about our right to free speech and assembly, when should our rights trample over the rights and dignity of other people. As Justice Alito wrote in the one dissenting vote on the issue, "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case."
This group is free to assemble and shout out their hateful messages in any public place, and nobody wants to deny them that right. I just think most folks would rather they do that at the town square than at the funeral of a soldier.
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