Dear Ryan,
Your column in the UWP Exponent about our funeral picketing case before the Supreme Court is the epitome of your cursed generation. Lying preachers have taught you to suppose it’s all about your feeeeeeel-iiiiiiings!
So you spout a lot of words about how much you love the First Amendment, then twist-like-a-pretzel to close with a whopping fat lie and the notion that you really, REALLY- glitter-foot-stomping-fit-throwing-fer-rizzle-want the Supreme Court to punish words that hurt people’s feeeeeeel-iiiiiiings.
The whopping fat lie is that we disrupt funerals. You just finished reporting that we were a thousand feet away out of sight and sound. How-Prince-Can’t-Reason-could we disrupt a funeral that far away, especially since we leave before the funeral starts? If only the “education” system of this cursed land hadn’t been so busy teaching you young people that God is a liar, his standard obsolete, and it’s OK to be gay-they could have taught you to reason. Alas, now it’s too late.
Students are the last cursed generation of a nation whose doom is imminent. Your parents, teachers, and leaders have left you a legacy of despair, with God’s curses pouring out on you. You have been raised to fornicate and pursue any lust that darkens your dull brow. You have no jobs, no homes, no economy, no health care, and no hope.
And, young man, the reason you can’t offer a strong opinion on how you would like to see this case turn out is because you are incapable of swallowing the giant horse-pill of hypocrisy in front of you. You want the right to blaspheme God with every breath; but you don’t want us to have the right to tell you your sins are taking you to hell, and are the direct cause of the dead soldiers. Stop sinning-they’ll stop dying! If only you’d ever cracked a Bible, you’d be crystal clear on the fact that this is how God rolls, and he’s not your personal hook-up-pimp.
What you fail to factor into the equation is that GOD DOESN’T CARE WHAT YOU LIKE OR WANT. His servants are going to deliver a faithful report to this generation, so NONE OF YOU will stand before him on that Great and Terrible Day of Judgment pretending you didn’t know your duty to OBEY GOD!
But props to Ryan-the-Rebel-Columnist for quoting all of our signs! We are most grateful, but at the same time we know that you MUST honor the God of forces, because he forced you to do a thing that was in fact for his highest glory – the preaching of the Gospel. You did NOT do it out of a sincere desire to serve God or to help your fellow man! God gives the word from the mouth of (and by the signs of) his servants, the prophets, then according to his GREAT promises, our God will cause the company of rebels and unclean birds to publish, publish, publish. So off we go to the streets with the precious seed in our bags and then we whip it out, being at all times obedient to the laws of God and of man and with no plan and having no strategy to get the words in print. We trust implicitly on our God, for HE doeth all things well!
Just look at this amazing picture! We get to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven to the whole world, and now, we get to look into the face of the US Supreme Court, also known as the conscience of Doomed america, and remind them by our very presence that the wrath of God abides upon this land because of THEIR treason against the King of Glory! HE said THOU SHALT NOT KILL. They said – murder your babies freely as you like! Now the red on that filthy flag stands for the blood of the babies of rebellious and FILTHY Doomed american simple sluts that spread their legs for any/everything that comes at them, all the while talking about “my body, my needs, my feeeeeeeeeelings, my blah, blah, BARF!!” You fiends that run the media are personally to blame and God will require that blood AT YOUR HANDS! The words are too many, so let me get to the end of this matter: your crimes are worse and more and you are in a LOT of trouble!
The very land is going to vomit out the inhabitants hereof. This country is going to begin to shake, quake, sputter, spew and with great violence, vomit you out. Think projectile rebels!
The destruction of Doomed america is IMMINENT! Christ is soon returning in great power and great glory, back through those clouds and he will execute judgment upon this generation that knows not God and obeys not the gospel of Jesus Christ!
-WBC
Answering: http://www.uwpexponent.org/2010/03/25/column-court-will-decide-if-talk-is-cheap/
Column: Court will decide if talk is cheap
By Ryan Broege . March 25, 2010 . Category: Opinions
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment is my favorite amendment, and probably one of my favorite brief pieces of writing out of any. I hold it in high regard because of the kind of society it fosters. Freedom of expression is what gives us an almost limitless variety of music, art, literature, Web sites and conversation. There are times, however, when this type of society is not so easily defended. Because of the powers granted by the First Amendment, the Ku Klux Klan can assemble and spew ignorant vitriol through megaphones in a crowded downtown. Web sites can post videos that, although ostensibly pornographic and therefore an artistic form of expression, are likely to disgust, rather than turn on, most people. It even protects the more trivial abominations of our time, such as allowing Heidi Montag to give a “musical” performance on national television.
Although each of us have certain individuals or groups that we would like to exclude from the protective umbrella offered by the First Amendment, I think it is intuitive that if you relish the occasionally offensive satirical periodical The Onion, you are obligated to tolerate the existence of Pat Robertson’s crazy ass on “The 700 Club.” There is one group, however, that most everybody would like to silence.
That group is the Westboro Baptist Church. If I label Pat Robertson crazy, the adjective I would apply to Fred Phelps, the leader of this independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kan., is “not printable.” You might not immediately recognize the name of the group, but you are probably familiar with its tactics. The WBC made its way to national headlines for their protests outside of the funerals of fallen soldiers, where it attributes the deaths to God’s vengeance for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. Members of the WBC hold signs declaring “Semper Fi, Semper Fags,” and “God Hates Dead Soldiers.”
When the WBC protested outside of the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, they abided by Massachusetts state law and remained 1,000 feet from the service. One thousand feet was not enough for the slain Marine’s father, who sued the WBC. The York Daily Record reported that Snyder won the case and was awarded damages amounting to $10.9 million. That decision was overturned after the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Phelps’ protest was protected speech. Snyder then appealed to the Supreme Court, who has agreed to take on the case when it reconvenes for the fall session.
The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of unpopular speech before, as in Texas v. Johnson, where the Supreme Court overturned state laws prohibiting the desecration of the American flag. In Hustler Magazine v. Fallwell, Hustler magazine’s unflattering fictional tale featuring Fallwell and his mother was upheld as protected speech.
Although I would like to, I cannot offer a strong opinion on how I would like this case to be decided. The difficulty in weighing the competing interests – maintaining a robust freedom of speech and assembly, the right to privacy during memorial services, and deciding whether disruptive demonstrators can be held financially liable for their conduct – makes this case an appropriate undertaking for the nation’s highest court. I am leery of any dilution of the First Amendment; at the same time, I would not be fond of a legal system that prevents Snyder’s father and others like him from seeking financial retribution from despicable actors like Phelps. Complexities and intellectual hardships notwithstanding, this case will be one worth following.