Godhatesfags.com is the name of its website, its members protest at funerals of American soldiers, and openly express their hatred for Jews and Catholics. It is the Westboro Baptist Church.
Even if you don’t agree with what its members are saying, there is one thing you cannot deny them and that is their right to say it.
The problem that many have with the Westboro Baptist Church is that its forms of protest and what its members have to say does not sit well in the listeners’ ears. But, the First Amendment clearly states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.â€
The First Amendment does not say anything about what you can or cannot protest about; it just asks that you do it peacefully.
Now protesting anybody’s funeral – whether it be a military or civilian funeral – is in bad taste and is disrespectful. But, just because it may be ugly does not mean that it is illegal.
The troops that fought and died to defend this country did so to defend our freedoms, and that means all of us, boneheads included. Further proof of this is the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Westboro Baptist Church’s funeral protest is protected by the Constitution.
The First Amendment to our constitution gives us the freedom of speech among other freedoms like selecting our religion and freedom of the press. Even though what the Westboro Baptist church might say may seem un-American, when we deny anyone their constitutional rights we ourselves are being un-American.
Just because what people say might offend and shock us does not mean we have the right to silence them. After all, this is the United States of America and we pride ourselves on being the land of the free.
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What does a group of private activists taking direct action have to do with a statue prohibiting the Government from restricting speech?
I agree with the editorials point. Why does “Anonymous” the hacker collective feel the right to pass their brand of self -righteous judgement on the idiotic Westboro Baptist Church who’s most obnoxious trait is that they themselves claim to be the voice of “God” on earth and thus heir apparent to the post of Judge Master- General. Reactionary liberalism isnt liberal at all folks , just plain old fascism, albeit with hipster cheer-leading squads.
First, Anonymous isn’t a collective.
Second, none of this has anything to do with fascism. You’d know that if you actually knew what the word meant.
Finally, “reactionary liberalism” is a near-perfect oxymoron. The quality of your writing makes me doubt you’re employing it as a figure of speech.
Words have meanings. Don’t use them if you don’t understand them.