God Hates Fags and Apparently Human Decency Too

I’m all for liberty and freedom of speech, but there’s this thing called tact that some people seem to lack. The Westboro Baptist Church proudly hates fags. They are www.godhatesfags.com and no, I’m not trying to be facetious, that is their website. We are in America so I respect their right to their opinions and they can put whatever hateful, cruel comments they want on their website and other forms of social media. They can have sermons so filled with hate that Hitler would shake in his boots. I’m actually okay with them doing that because they are entitled to their opinions.  However, I draw the line at them whoring themselves for publicity at the expense of grieving families. 

In case you haven’t heard, members of the Westboro Baptist Church are planning to picket the funerals of those 20 children who were killed in Newtown. I hope that they change their mind, but based on their track record, I think it’s safe to say that they will bring their disrespectful selves to at least one of the funerals or vigils. They will torment at least one of the families and make an already unbearable day even worse. They will do so in the name of God because they have been on a 25 year mission to help Americans repent their sins and save their souls. The church believes that God hates America for its liberal ways and shootings and natural disasters in America are God enacting his wrath. 

I find irony in the fact that it is America’s liberal laws that protect the church’s right to protest at funerals. The church has protested at the funerals of some soldiers for years. The first time I heard about them, they were protesting outside of a soldier’s funeral and they had signs that read “God hates fags” and “God hates America.” I found out this morning that despite the fact that they openly peddle hate, they are not considered a hate group. I guess the government is afraid of calling them a hate group and being accused of not respecting religious freedom since the group claims that it is God doing the hating, and not them.

I want to take a moment to send my condolences to all of the families that have been touched by the Newtown Massacre. What happened was inexcusable and indefensible and what the members of the Westboro Baptist Church are planning to do is even worse. How dare they seek to disrupt your time of mourning by invading your town and trying to use your tragedy as a means to spread their message. It would be nice if the media denied the group the attention that it so desperately wants. The media should ignore them and not take a single picture of the picketing.

I wish the congregants of Westboro Baptist Church would pack their bags and flee America just as Lot and his family fled Sodom and Gomorrah. The church members don’t have to wait for an angel to come and tell them that God is angered by the actions of Americans. The church members already know that God is angry and that Americans are the reason, so I think they should leave us to suffer the hell that we brought on ourselves. 

On a side note, I do have a few words about free speech. If I said that I wanted to kill the president, the Secret Service could come hunt me down. If I yelled, “fire” in a crowded theater, I could be arrested. If I lied under oath, I could be prosecuted for perjury. If my words tarnished someone or some company’s reputation and I didn’t have evidence to support my claims, I could be taken to civil court for slander. If I said or did something ignorant or malicious on the internet, I could potentially be fired from my job. Of course there are other examples as well, but my point is that free speech already has limits so why was the Supreme Court afraid to add another limit? I don’t think any group should be allowed to protest at funerals. I think it is tasteless and not worthy of being a “right” in this country. Families and friends should be allowed to mourn and grieve for their loved one in peace. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church shouldn’t be allowed to picket the funerals of the victims, just like angry parents and strangers shouldn’t be allowed to picket the funeral of the shooter if there is one. Funerals are not for the dead; funerals are for the living that the dead left behind.

I apologize for the length of this post but I was so upset when I read that anyone would dare to try to capitalize on such a tragic event. The Westboro Baptist Church needs to seek attention elsewhere because Newtown is neither the time nor the place. I implore the members of Westboro Baptist Church not to sink to the level of ambulance chasers: Give your message from a distance, but don’t set foot in that town. Let Newtown grieve in peace.