Dad sues ‘Thank God for Dead Soldiers’ church

[Amphora]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36449471/ns/...?GT1=43001

[Rev. Rye]

You know, when Fred finally dies, I bet that there's going to be a lot of people who picket his funeral just for the hell of it. I wonder what they'd think of that.

[Eilonnwy]

Speech is not free if you don't protect the speech that offends you the most.

I despise the WBC, but they are free to spew their hatred.

[Amphora]

I didn't realize that Baptist were this violent. Here I thought they were a peaceful folks

[chatpilot]

I don't think a mans funeral is the appropriate place to spew that trash. Going to a soldiers funeral and saying things like god hates soldiers etc. is just wrong on so many levels. They could at least wait till the dad got home and camp out on his lawn or something, even that is wrong in my view. Personally, if I was mourning someone at a funeral and Fred Phelps and his gang made an appearance I would shove those signs up their holy asses.

[Eilonnwy]

We have every right to disagree with their message, but legally they abide by the law in regards to picketing and protesting.

[Tiberius]

I don't think a mans funeral is the appropriate place to spew that trash. Going to a soldiers funeral and saying things like god hates soldiers etc. is just wrong on so many levels. They could at least wait till the dad got home and camp out on his lawn or something, even that is wrong in my view. Personally, if someone I was mourning someone at a funeral and Fred Phelps and his gang made an appearance I would shove those signs up their holy asses.

They were legally required to stand 1000 feet away, they contacted the police to make sure they weren't breaking any laws.

Freedom of speech should be protected as much as possible, and in my opinion it covers every aspect of hate speech. When you have governments deciding which views are "correct" and which views aren't, you find yourself on a slippery slope towards censorship. The same freedom that allows people to use hate speech is used by those who disagree to counter and argue back.

The UK government blocked the WBC from entering the UK last year, and I was appalled by it. We would be a better off nation if we could remove the shackles of "political correctness" and let people speak out.

[Shinylight]

Adrian is right, we should protect the right of Free Speech.

Without Free Speech, why even have an opinion. If we don't get more Libertarian in this country and in the US then we will lose something everyone should have the right to have..a voice.

Even if you are a racist, bigoted fool you should still be allowed to tell people what you think, offensive or not. I do feel sorry for that Father, they picked an extremely sensitive time for him.

We lose Free Speech, we lose our Humanity.

[Violet]

Adrian is right, we should protect the right of Free Speech.

Yes, he and you are 'right' on that note.

Without Free Speech, why even have an opinion. If we don't get more Libertarian in this country and in the US then we will lose something everyone should have the right to have..a voice.

Libertarianism is... this?:

an extreme laissez-faire political philosophy advocating only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens.

One hardly loses their voice because of some light government interference in their lives (such as attempting to keep its people alive and well by regulating some behaviors). I agree that some things shouldn't be regulated (such as speech, what people can look at, etc)... but I'm all for moderate regulation in the business lives of people.

Even if you are a racist, bigoted fool you should still be allowed to tell people what you think, offensive or not. I do feel sorry for that Father, they picked an extremely sensitive time for him.

I don't disagree... however here is another place where regulation served to be good (keeping them 1000 feet away and the like). Would you not call that a regulation on free speech?

We lose Free Speech, we lose our Humanity.

Human slaves aren't... human...? Humans have throughout history had areas lacking in the 'freeness' o their speech... are you telling me they weren't humans?

[Dotard]

I'm with CP on this one. With slight modification.

Allow the hate group to have their say. Then we shove the signs where the sun don't shine.