| by Dr. Jeffrey Lant We are in these United States, so it has often been said, a government of laws and not of men. It is important while reading this article, written to elucidate, not inflame, to remember this... for in considering the facts of this case, the actions taken, how and when performed and the people involved and what they did, it will be so very easy to let emotion take over and to find these laws sunk by altercation, the bitterest of language, the crudest of sentiments, the full panoply of ample human hate. Oh, yes, we need to remember now, that we are a government of laws... Consider the facts... for they are not in dispute. Pastor Fred Phelps is the founder of a tiny independent Kansas congregation of the Baptist persuasion. Its congregants are mostly members of the extended Phelps family. These people, fervid in their belief that they are rendering the pure distillation of God's will; (essential to all prophets and others engaging in heinous deeds abhorred by others) live in a frenzied Old Testament environment, outraged citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah who have been called upon -- personally, by God Himself -- to purge the people of their sins. You must believe in their profound sincerity, for it legitimizes -- in their eyes -- every abhorrent act. Theirs is a world reeking of sin, of unholy deeds, of God traduced and His Commandments flouted and always of sexual perversions luridly rendered. These people do not imagine these acts, they see them... and the Great Jehovah calls upon them to act, to act now, to save the sinning people. Pastor Phelps roils the people with the Word of God... the better to ensure they never forget, and that they act -- and act Now -- with every sinew of their God-serving being. Hearing of the Supreme's Court ruling in favor of the church, member Margie Phelps said, "We are trying to warn you to flee the wrath of God, flee the wrath of destruction. What would be more kind than that? I do very much appreciate that I get to be the mouth of God in this matter. We have not slowed down and we will not." Here is just some of what God has called on them to do... Item: In 1998, church members picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, who was butchered in a hate crime that outraged the nation. Church members made it clear to grieving members of Shepard's family, that he Got What He Deserved. Item: From 2005 church members began showing up and protesting at the funerals of America's fallen soldiers. Dressed in death masks and skeletal regalia their signs read "Thank God for dead soldiers," "Pray for more dead soldiers," and placards showing a soldier's face in the cross hairs of a rifle with the message "God's view." Congregants protested, too, at the 2011 funeral of Elizabeth Edwards, estranged wife of former U.S. Senator John Edwards and threatened to do the same at the recent funerals of the Tucson murder victims, including the littlest victim of all, Christina Green. They were bribed not to outrage a city's grief, and took time on national media instead. It was outrageous, disturbing, but it worked for the church members. It kept America's eye directly on their agenda, and they knew this is what God wanted. Why, America wondered, were already grieving family members, allowed to be subjected to these outrages". Why did no one act? At last someone did... Albert Snyder endured the hardest thing any parent could face, the death of his 20 year-old son Marine Lance Corporal Matthew, killed in a Humvee accident in Iraq. But the congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church, doing God's work, made certain to outrage the reverence of the family, their private grief, and need for quiet thought and reflection. Ordained by God, they turned the attention on themselves and on their mission, away from one of America's heroes, gone too soon, the lad who had served the nation... and died for us. A father's profound lamentation... was changed to outrage... and the law. And in due course, the Honorable the Justices of the Supreme Court gathered to do the task for which they were appointed: to prove again that we are still in the Great Republic, a government of laws, and not of men. As such, to the anger of many good citizens of the republic, they ruled 8-1 in favor of... the outrageous church, the appalling church, the church that affronts every notion of what is right and proper and what is owing to our dearest dead and departed... and the justices, in so ruling, were right, 100 percent right, and a credit to the hallowed traditions of the nation. This is a nation ruled by an idea: an idea that the people have the right to protest; that this right is the very essence of the nation and that it is essential to preserve, not limit it. The discussion hinged therefore on whether the actions and sentiments of the church members were a public or private matter. The court was clear: they concerned a matter of high public interest... and were therefore protected, no matter how despicable we found the church, its members, their actions... and we find them all despicable indeed. In his opinion for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts particularly noted that the ruling was narrow and limited to the specific facts of the Snyder case. He noted that in some situations, the location of protests can be regulated, such as requiring buffer zones between protesters and an abortion clinic. In this case, Roberts concluded, protestors "had the right to be where they were." Mr. Justice Alito's dissent. One justice, Samuel Alito, dissented from the majority's opinion; press reports made it seem like he disagreed with the majority's conclusions. In fact, he refined that majority opinion. As a result there is hope for future victims of Westboro Church's God-driven outrages. Alito made clear that should this church, or any such organization, misjudge and misapply the court's findings, victims of "vicious verbal assault" and injury retained the right to substantial damages. Church members, and you Pastor Phelps, should have a care. But will you? Even now you and your members, always available for God's work, flush with victory and self-congratulation, are planning new outrages, confident of God's strong arm and the nation's law. Have a care indeed, for one day, may it come soon, you will go too far and reap what you have sown... and what will your vengeful Jehovah do for you then, you who have caused so much pain to so many, who did nothing to deserve it? |
