While visiting a blog dedicated to our troops here and abroad, I noticed a little avatar on the sidebar - "I stand with Albert Snyder". It is a site dedicated to securing support, moral and financial for the efforts of the Snyder family in their quest to stop Rev Phelps and his band of wacko parishoners of the Westboro Church from holding protests at funerals of troops killed in the line of duty.I detest Rev. Phelps and his quest to purge homosexuality from our culture. He and his band of clowns epitomize the worst of America. Intolerant, ignorant and filled with hate for anything outside their narrow view of Life, these idiots are nothing but scum sucking assholes. The fact they pretend to be following the word of God only reinforces my low opinion of organized religion. Christians throughout this country should be appalled at how perverted their version of Christianity is. Thankfully, his flock only numbers around 70.
So what has Albert Snyder have to do with the jerkwad Rev. Phelps? Albert's son Mathew was killed in the line of duty while serving overseas. At more than a few funerals of soldiers they have held up signs like "God hates Fags". They do this based on their twisted logic that the US government and it's population support homosexuality. Everything is about homosexuality. Every problem we have is based on our supposed love affair with gays.
Albert Snyder and his family decided to sue Phelps to make him stop the protests. In other words, bring the weight of law into the situation. The Snyder's suit has not gone well. It has been shot down by the second circuit court. But they plan to continue to do battle with Phelps.
Okay fine.
At first I was ready and able to "stand with Albert Snyder". Just mention Phelps in my presence and you better be ready for a tirade about how religion can become the force of evil. But then I took a few moments to collect my temper. I paused long enough to reconsider how I felt.
No matter how much I hate Rev Phelps - and let there be no doubt, I truly hate this man I have never met.....No matter how I feel about this low life, his rights are as important as the rights of anyone else. As long as he adheres to the required local ordinances regarding protests, his protests should be allowed.
There are any number of things US citizens do that piss me off. Burn flags, make up lies about leaders origins or religious affiliation, try to limit where people can worship as they please, and yes stage protests at military funerals. Sadly though I cannot stand with Albert Snyder. Nor can I support his efforts through the legal network to curtail another citizen's right to protest, no matter how objectionable that protest is.
The fact we live in a country that has the flexibility to accept loony tune activities should be championed not squelched. We do not have to like some of the madness, but we should be willing to put up with it. Our tolerance is our strength.
Later..............................................
5 comments:
Amen to the balloons. Its is people like Snyder that really challenge one's devotion to the 1st amendment.
Sometimes I wonder if the drafters of the constitution could have spent a week in the 21st century before they drafted the document, if they would have made a different document.
I remember once I ran out of jelly for my PB&J sandwiches, and then I found out the gays have a crack black ops nighttime ninja outfit that steals into suburban homes and pilfers those things most precious to the heterosexual.
Hell, if any of us were to draft a list of people and/or organizations that should, forever more, shut the hell up, the lists would be long indeed.
In my former life as an adviser to students who published the campus newspapers, I arranged for a First Amendment seminar every quarter. An attorney from San Francisco came to campus to advise students on how to stay within in the legal limits of the First Amendment. He often said we all hear and read things that offend us and drive us crazy, but the answer to free speech is more free speech.
We can shout them down, but not take away their rights to speak.
I first heard of Rev. Phelps about fifteen years ago. I could not believe my ears when I heard him announce his plans for a funeral protest on the radio (he was being quoted as part of a news story).
The guy is exactly as you describe, Mike. I assure you that that the vast majority of adherents to organized religion find him extremely distasteful.
I wonder if there are annoying and tasteless protesters outside his church? What's good for the goose is good for the gander - although perhaps for the sake of the Reverend Phelps, I ought to say what's good for the gander is good for the gander, since lots of male geese live in same-sex relationships, and I'll just bet things like that make Phelps' head spin round like that chick in The Exorcist.
Another Surburban Mom - Welcome. I would like to believe the hype and think of them as founders who actually hoped to avoid some history from repeating itself.
Randal - Well, the whackos surely keep us entertained.
robin andrea - My father, an enlightened career military man told me once during the upheval fo the Nam days, that he hope that his efforts would ensure that the protests were never quashed.
BBC - natural gays? Hmm, like organic ones or something?
El Cerdo Ignatius - Yeah, I too have been following the good reverend for many years now. I will give him credit for not swaying from his opinion in all these years.
Of course I know the fringe Christian sects can be an embarrassment to the rest of the organized Christians. But why do they seem to stay mute?
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