So the WBC lot have started on the UK

[Tiberius]

Look at it this way: by joining the Phelps mob, this "GODHATESUK" will now be banned from entering Britain (one of the better things to come out of then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's mouth). I'm sure with his leaving the UK, the average IQ of both this country and the WBC will soar.

I disagree. Freedom of speech is one of our most important rights, and what Jacqui Smith did is nothing short of political censorship. Yes, the WBC have repulsive views to most people, but that doesn't give us the right to silence them. Whether you agree with their views or not, you cannot deny the the WBC has a long history of non-violent protest. They are not criminals, nor should they be treated as such.

Inciting hatred is not a crime, despite what the delusional UK government might think. All inciting hatred does is make people think a different way. If you incite them to act on their hate, then you've crossed the line into illegality, but not before that happens.

[TaraJo]

Don't worry about Westboro; they're basically falling apart. They've had members leave the church, and those people usually speak out against the church. Lauren Drain has been a big name lately; not only has she left the church, but she's writte a book about her time there:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/banished...512423&r=1

and she's even posed for the NoH8 campaign:





It's really nice to see her do a complete 360. But I think the former church member that was the most significant to me is Nathan Phelps who has become a big name in the secular community and even starting a group to help people overcome abuse by religious fundamentalism. One of the things he mentioned is that the church is probably going to have a crisis of faith here soon. You see, part of their beliefs are that 'real' righteous people won't die, but they'll ascend to heaven body and soul, kinda like Elijah did in the Bible. This is significant because Fred Phelps is 83 and Shirley, his daughter (who basically runs most of the church) is 55. Fred is probably going to die soon and the church is either going to have to admit they're full of shit, admit Fred is in hell or do some kind of extremely creative verbal gymnastics to explain it away. It also kinda explains why the church is so fond of protesting at funerals.

As for keeping Westboro out of the UK, I can completely understand why they would want to do it. They finance a lot of their pickets by going to funerals or memorials, pissing off grieving people until one of them retaliates and sue the person who fought back. It's dispicable and underhanded and horrible and the UK knows it's going to happen if they go over there. A good number of the people in the church are lawyers, so they know exactly what they're doing with this. Nations that have preemptively kicked them out are protecting their people from these lawsuits.