Dear editor,
Jonathan Monfiletto is outraged by our funeral picketing and the courts following the law. He has no respect for the laws of God or man. Cry me a river. How outraged do you think you’ll be Johnny Boy when you land in hell?
This nation was blessed of God with great majesty. You gave yourselves the glory, trying to steal it from God. You scrambled down the ladder of depravity, institutionalizing fornication, adultery, divorce/remarriage, homosexuality, murder, greed and idolatry.
With lightning speed you dismantled everything God gave you. Now you’re cursed on every side. For your sin, God put a hook in your nose and dragged you into a war you will never win.
This nation has raised her young (you brats in college) on the twin lies, “God is a liar,” and “it’s OK to be gay.” You mock His standard and misuse his servants for faithfully warn you to stop sinning.
God sends your young soldiers home in tiny pieces in body bags. Selfish parents turn the funeral into a three-ring circus pep rally to ease your screaming conscience, with politicians slapping skin, media sensationalizing your faux-grief, and military/veterans flapping big mouths and impotent flags. Nothing sacred or quiet about these free-for-alls you call funerals.
We stand a thousand feet away and say, “Stop sinning, they’ll stop dying!” You scream and rage because you know it’s true. That faithless father knows he did that boy wrong! Shame on all of you for sacrificing them to your lust.
They are not fighting for our right to speak – that comes from God. They are fighting for your sin, same-sex marriage and a hypocritical bullying nation – being laid to an open shame before this whole world by our humble picketing ministry.
It’s too late for the dead soldier. It’ll soon be too late for this nation. Your doom is imminent. You should have obeyed God.
-Westboro Baptist Church
Answering:
There is No Free Speech at Funerals
Opinion
By: Jonathan Monfiletto
Posted: 4/9/10
"I ain’t nothing but a simple man. They call me a redneck. I reckon that I am, but there’s things going on [that] make me mad down to the core."
With those words, music legend Charlie Daniels began a rant about everything he saw wrong with the world. I’m singing those words this week because, like Daniels, "I’m madder than hell and I ain’t going to take it no more."
It is none other than the Westboro Baptist Church that has me steaming, along with the fact that the father of a Marine killed in Iraq, at whose funeral the church protested, may have to pay its legal fees after he sued the church and lost in court.
For those who don’t know, the Westboro Baptist Church has taken a liking to showing up at the funerals of deceased soldiers, holding signs that read "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and claiming U.S. military deaths are God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.
They did just that at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, 20, who died in Iraq in 2006. His father, Albert Snyder, sued the church for $5 million for emotional distress but lost the case based on the freedom of speech and has been ordered to pay $16,510 in legal fees as a result.
To me, that is a total outrage. Funerals are tough enough for grieving families, and funerals for soldiers are even tougher. To protest at the funeral of a U.S. soldier, or any funeral for that matter, is one of the most disgusting things a person can do.
Luckily for the Snyder family, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case and support has been pouring in from across the country. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly has pledged to help with legal fees, as have the American Legion and the VFW. A Web site, matthewsnyder.org, has been established to solicit donations as well.
The members of Westboro Baptist Church may think they have the freedom of speech to say such offensive things to the family of a deceased soldier, but in my opinion there must be limitations on this freedom in regards to funerals.
Furthermore, Westboro Baptist Church should remember why they have the freedom of speech in the first place. It came from the sacrifices of brave individuals like Matthew Snyder – the very people at whose funerals they exercise their right.
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