“Thank God for dead soldiers.” “Soldiers die, God laughs.” “You’re going to hell.” These are the signs, held by adults and children alike, of the Westboro Baptist Church picketers at military funerals, and they are accompanied by jeers, taunts and the stomping of American flags into the dirt.
This was the scene in 2006 in my hometown of Westminster. Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder was laid to rest after being killed in Iraq. What should have been a dignified and proud ceremony was desecrated by misdirected hatred and used as a weapon to catapult the church’s repugnant views into the national spotlight.
The Westboro Baptist Church, led by the infamous Fred Phelps and his family, states that the United States’ problems, from Sept. 11 to Hurricane Katrina to military deaths overseas, are God’s punishment for tolerating sins such as homosexuality, fornication and adultery. Its basic tenet: “Stop sinning and the soldiers will stop dying.”
Why soldiers? Because the uniform they wear represents a country that accepts gays. Why funerals? Because the people at them are vulnerable.
The group’s website — www.godhatesfags.com — keeps a tally of soldiers “killed by God” overseas and, next to pictures of dead soldiers, reports how many days they have been burning in hell. It explains why Jews are doomed for the murder of the Messiah and how “President Barack Obama the Antichrist” (pictured with ram horns and a fiery halo) is a “rising beast who is going to usher in the destruction of the world.”
But its most disgusting tactic is picketing military funerals. Some have taken a literal stand against it, such as the band of bikers called the Patriot Guard Riders that attends picketed funerals, forming a human and Harley shield between the protesters and the bereaved, blocking the view with American flags and drowning out the jeers with revved engines. Other counter-demonstrations have occurred, such as fraternity brothers turning up loud music and dancing, gay men and women openly embracing and a pink bus called the “Sodomobile” filled with gay people following the members around the country.
States have taken measures to curb the protests, passing laws to keep protesters further away from cemeteries. The United Kingdom blocked them from entering the country altogether.
After a decade of staunchly ignoring the issue, the Supreme Court has finally, reluctantly, entered the fray after the Snyder family sued the church and was awarded $11 million in damages, which was overturned by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This week, the Supreme Court hearing began.
The issue is not whether the church has the right to air its views — the First Amendment guarantees it that — but whether that right extends to funerals.
You can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater. You can’t maliciously defame someone. You can’t show pornography in public. And you shouldn’t be able to protest at funerals. There are established limits to the free speech guarantee; with Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court needs to add another.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of Snyder’s story was that across from the assembled signs of hatred, were several small, homemade signs that read, “Matthew Snyder is a Hero” and “God Bless the USA.”
You shouldn’t have to bring signs to your son’s funeral because that’s what it is — a funeral. It’s not a political convention, not a podium in front of Congress and not a pulpit from which to shout your views and shake your fists. It’s a sacred and private ceremony to say goodbye to loved ones. It should never be a political spectacle.
Make your point somewhere else.
Bethany Offutt is senior criminology and criminal justice and psychology major. She can be reached at offutt at umdbk dot com.
