Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Should Funeral Protesters Be Protected Under Free Speech Rights?

My local newspaper carried this article today on the front page. I'm speechless. This is wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to start.

If you don't have time to read the whole article (or, like me, you felt sick after reading the first two paragraphs and didn't want to continue), it's about how a church group is picketing funerals of solders, saying they were struck down by God because they were fighting for a country that "harbors homosexuals." Apparently they also picketed the funerals of the West Virginia miners, claiming God killed the miners for the same reason, carrying signs that read "Thank God For Dead Miners." A number of states are now considering passing laws that would limit when and where protesters can picket at funerals. This "church" (I use the term loosely) has threatened to sue if the laws are passed, claiming the government is trying to limit their right to free speech.

I'm not an advocate of more legislation, and I'm all for free speech. But what this group is doing is just plain wrong. How can anyone, no matter what religion, think this is how God wants us to behave? Isn't there some way we can stop them, without the need for more laws? We're all conditioned to do what's "politically correct." Maybe in some cases we should stop.

If I owned a business, and one of these picketers came into my store, I would kick them out. If I employed any of these people I would fire them. If companies can fire people for smoking, why not for spreading hate? Maybe if these "churchgoers" couldn't buy groceries or gas, and the people at the diner where they used to have breakfast refused to serve them, and the guy at the movie theater refused to sell them tickets, maybe they'd stop picketing funerals. Yeah, I know, they'd probably still be self-righteous assholes, but maybe fear of repercussion (not violent or illegal repercussion, just some old-fashioned "shunning") would make them think twice about spreading their hate.

Even as I type this I realize advocating shunning is a dangerous practice. I think funeral picketers are wrong. If someone else thinks homosexuals or women who have children out of wedlock are wrong, should they be allowed to shun them? Absolutely not. We certainly don't want to go back to those days. So what is the answer, then? Are more laws the way to go? What does everyone else out there think?

Posted by The Gradual Gardener :: 3:06 PM :: 10 Comments:

View Comments

---------------------------------------