For all those who have a heart and operate according to logical thought, Westboro Baptist Church is a source of extreme hatred and negativity. Its members are radicals with a warped interpretation of the Bible as a whole. Never has one group been so disrespectful of another person's thought, feelings, and actions. Well, I suppose if you line up the KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church you would have a lot of overlaps...just a thought. Back to the issue at hand; the largest problem that people face when dealing with this group is their protesting of certain people's funerals but they certainly picket more than those events. Among the protested funerals are gay figure heads/supporters, war veterans, and celebrities. The last isn't necessarily due to a hate of that celebrity but to gain media attention. Westboro is a small organization with a big agenda: stamp out homosexuality and protesting everything under the sun.
Other than infuriating nearly every person in the United States, the Westboro Baptist Church exercises a fundamental right that all citizens of this country have: the right to freedom of speech. Fox journalist, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, covered the Supreme Court case that was under review just recently. On March 2nd he wrote: "Today’s 8-1 Supreme Court ruling defends free speech, not Westboro Baptist Church, its ideology or even its right to continue protesting at the funerals of fallen military personnel." This opinion article sheds some light on the way our nation operates and would like to continue to operate in the future. Even though Westboro Baptist Church's views are seldom shared by others the churches members MUST be allowed to contiue their picketing. Had this case gone the other way it would have set a precedent for future cases concerning freedom of speech. It is akin to the “All or nothing” phrase. Either we have the right to say as we will or we don't. Banning certain groups from exercising this right now will later bring down the intended concept of freedom of speech down the road.
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