Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Westboro Baptist Church

A couple of years ago when I lived in Lee, New Hampshire, there was a big ceremony a few miles down the road at the arena of the University of New Hampshire, for the Rev. Gene Robinson, who was being made the Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson is gay, so this was a big deal, and my friend Holly and I went down to watch the protests. There were plenty of people on the pro-gay side of the argument, all standing around in the rain, and after a good while a small delegation from the Westboro Baptist Church rolled up and took their appointed place amongst the protest ropes laid out by the police. These are the followers of the odious Fred Phelps of Kansas. They had all their "God hates Fags" signs out, and stood around in their appointed spot and tried to make a scene.

I had a notebook and an umbrella and so I pretended I was a reporter on a deadline and went up and talked to someone in their pit. I stood next to a woman who was protesting and asked her for her thoughts. She started talking but there was something really weird about her, like she was strung up on something and not really herself. She talked to me about her feelings about gays, but it was more like a rant, and more like something she had had drilled into her -- there was something robotic about her words, and nothing that seemed to convey any emotion. It seemed all very rote. The most notable thing was that she refused to look anywhere close to my eyes.... After about two minutes I stopped and since it was raining really hard I stepped aside and let them protest another 10 minutes or so, when they they marched out of the area, to jeers mostly, and got back on their bus.

All in all they seemed pretty pathetic. And completely ineffectual.

So I am surprised to see someone awarded $10.9M dollars because the Westboro Baptist Church protested at his son's funeral. His son was a fallen Marine. I am more than sure than this man grieves for his son. I think the Westboro Baptist Church are bastards who one should get their comeuppance. But I don't think that matters. I think the Westboro Baptist Church has a right to protest at this guy's funeral, and express any thoughts they want, however odious. I don't think the courts have any business fining them for expressing their First Amendment rights. This is a classic first amendment case -- that is, the only ones who really need first amendment rights are those don't seem to deserve it. They were cited for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, but come on, any judge should surely know this kind of speech is allowed under the First Amendment. This is why the First Amendment was invented. But all-in-all I think they have the right to be there.

I can't take the Westboro Baptist Church seriously, especially based on what I saw that day at UNH. I saw that there is no passion behind their words, just a form of... well, evil. Not inherent evil -- I don't believe in that. These were just poor people -- and they were mostly kids who were protesting -- who had been severely warped by their parents and grandparents. The parents and grandparents were noticeably absent. But when you looked them in the face, you saw they were just pathetic, not threatening. They won't look you in the eyes. In a way, it says all you need to know.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicely reported. I have only read about 10 paragraphs on the subject of The Westboro Baptist Church and am outraged by their views. Your blog put it into a very realist context. I would still say...what a bunch of sad sad people.

Anonymous said...

I'm a Christian but I don't believe acting the way these people did show's well for my fait. I'm ashamed to say I'm a Christian after seeing people act like this in the name of God.

Portlandia said...

>>>I don't think the courts have any business fining them for expressing their First Amendment rights. This is a classic first amendment case -- that is, the only ones who really need first amendment rights are those don't seem to deserve it. They were cited for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, but come on, any judge should surely know this kind of speech is allowed under the First Amendment. This is why the First Amendment was invented. Though if they were protesting at my son's or my brother's funeral, I might break a jaw or two. I can get like that. I'd take my licks. But all-in-all I think they have the right to be there.<<<

They weren't "fined" by the courts or any other agency of government or subjected to prior restraint of any kind. They lost a civil lawsuit. The law has recognized "infliction of emotional distress" as a tort for many years. It is a well known exception to the overall free speech protections of the First Amendment. They took their chances and they lost and now they owe damages to the people they wronged.

I have no sympathy for them.

Anonymous said...

If you looked at this family close enough it would be revealed that they are an incest cult

Anonymous said...

I totally agree , this is a sick Church full of hate ! Sounds like a nasty cult to me ! these people will burn in hell !!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Look at it from the bright side: if someone manages to bankrupt this cult there will be less resources for them to brainwash more children. The fact that they lost only proves that God hates them, according to their own logic.

Anonymous said...

I went and looked at their website and it is incredible. Here is a group that professes to be strictly following the bible yet they only pick and choose what from the bible they believe in. They don't even follow the Ten Commandments since they observe a Sunday sabbath "which is not at all scriptural". This is definetly a cult and God has a special place for them. "Woe to those that deceive in my name says the Lord".

As a military family I thought it was absolutely sickening that this man gave his life for our country and then is dishonored and disgraced at his funeral. My heart goes out to his family and the other families they have and are planning on picketing.

Anonymous said...

A week ago I struck up a conversation with a guy also waiting for his car repair to be completed, and we talked about the protests of pheps and his cult. he told me he joined a freedom riders group and that his fellow bikers, many of them vets, had been to 46 funerals in mn, wi and sd plus a couple of other states, in the last year. he felt as i do, that free speech is fundamental here, but that it's simply wrong for these kooks to choose their particular media-grabbing venue to express themsevles. i'm glad they lost the civil suit, but you know how court challenges and appeals can drag on for years, so in the meanwhile, i liked this guy's solution and admired that conviction.

Dano said...

This was a civil suit David. And thank the Cosmic Muffin for this suit (and even more so for the verdict).

Likely had you (or, certainly, me) strode up to these pathetic POS's and cracked their jaw, we'd be looking at a civil suit. They were sued for swinging with hate rather than fists.

Best,

D