Westboro Baptist Church Ruling....Its built largely on a 1942 Supreme Court decision upholding the arrest of a Jehovahs Witness!
by koolaid-man 5 Replies latest jw friends
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Band on the Run
The decision fits squarely with the rest of American First American jurisprudence and the Witnesses deserve credit for shaping the law. Not every Witness thing is bad. Only 99.99999%.
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DanaBug
Lol@ 0.00001% You're an optimist aren't you, BOTR?
It was also a ruling for the Witnesses that helped overturn Prop 8 in CA.
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Gayle
How do their signs (of Westboro Baptist) not instill hatred when they use the words "HATE" and "KILL" in the signs?! Jehovah's Witnesses have gotten away with their hateful spirit for almost 70 years, hatred toward every other religion or all other governments, including U.S. that put up with their extremism,, involving 99%+ of mankind.
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Band on the Run
I don't believe the government is endorsing the hatred speech. It is revolting. Rather, the Court is holding that the government will not bar such speech. English history is littered with much bloodshed concerning religion. During the Tudor period, people were burned at the stake for such compelling and intriguing concerns such as whether to stand or kneel during communion. Regular people had no idea what to do. Depending on how a local battle went, they could wake up Catholics and by noon become Church of England. They had hiding places for any religious trinkets. Possession of rosary beads meant heavy prison time.
Ignoring the speech is the best way to eradicate it. This forum has proven to me that ignoring loaded speech is very difficult to do. These are a very small bunch of powerless idiots yet the Secretary of Defense must call imploring him not to burn Korans. No one would pay them any mind short of outrageous behavior.
I am almost sixty. In my experience, only the Nazis and the Klan have used such offensive means. If this were not a church, it would be politcal speech which is also protected by the First Amendment. Neutral time, manner and location restrictions could be applied if not targeting a particular group. The right wing, led by Fox news, hates Mulims and confuses the mainstream with a few Muslim extremists. Imagine what Muslims must feel as they see a "Christian" group using this language. The Taliban is the not the only disgusting group in the world. It boggles my mind how anyone could casually read Jesus' commandments in the New Testament, accept it as true and carry on like this. Talk about destructive cults. He is not alone.
I'm embarassed to be tagged a Christian, too. Nazis and Fascists were God-fearing religious men. The Klan used crosses after all. How chilling and revolting.
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Mad Sweeney
I don't think "freedom of speech" should mean you can say whatever you like WHEREVER and WHENEVER you like, or to people who DO NOT wish to hear it.
Freedom of speech shouldn't compel anyone to listen and by allowing the Westboro protestors to shout their cult baloney at people trying to have a peaceful ceremony, the court (IMO, of course) is granting them rights ABOVE and BEYOND the constitution.
