AZWEAPONSITE.COM • View topic - Court to rule in military funeral protest case

SatCong · **Joined:** Sun May 18, 2008 3:39 pm **Posts:** 2466

Court to rule in military funeral protest case.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/ap_ ... l_protests

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court is getting involved in the legal fight over the anti-gay protesters who show up at military funerals with inflammatory messages like "Thank God for dead soldiers."

The court agreed Monday to consider whether the protesters' message, no matter how provocative and upsetting, is protected by the First Amendment. Members of a Kansas-based church have picketed military funerals to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The justices will hear an appeal from the father of a Marine killed in Iraq to reinstate a $5 million verdict against the protesters, after they picketed outside his son's funeral in Maryland.

A jury in Baltimore awarded Albert Snyder damages for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, but a federal appeals court threw out the verdict. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the signs contained "imaginative and hyperbolic rhetoric" protected by the First Amendment.

The funeral for Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Westminster, Md., was among many that have been picketed by members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. Westboro pastor Fred Phelps and other members have used the funeral protests to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. One of the signs at Snyder's funeral combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto with a slur against gay men.

Other signs carred by members of the Topeka, Kan.-based church said, "America is Doomed," "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," "Priests Rape Boys" and "Thank God for IEDs," a reference to the roadside bombs that have killed many U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The case will be argued in the fall.

The case is Snyder v. Phelps, 09-751.
:twisted:

efaz1 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:06 am

Well they got the right to say it but in the case of God bless IED's, Can't say I would convict if I were on a jury.

smooth · **Joined:** Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:23 pm **Posts:** 102

Ahhhhhh..Christianity at work.....spreading the gospel.

jrleen · **Posted:** Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:46 am

Had a whole lot more to say but figured best I just say...*$#@!

rpknaz · **Posted:** Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:59 am

Nothing would please me more then to see these "good Christians" get beaten and left on the sidewalks to bleed to death.

I know that isn't very nice but... :twisted:

oldslurrydog · **Joined:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:10 pm **Posts:** 1217

efaz1 wrote:

Well they got the right to say it , Can't say I would convict if I were on a jury.

gotta agree. don't like it but it is their right.

SatCong · **Joined:** Sun May 18, 2008 3:39 pm **Posts:** 2466

rpknaz wrote:

Nothing would please me more then to see these "good Christians" get beaten and left on the sidewalks to bleed to death.

I know that isn't very nice but... :twisted:

Where I come from the Good Christians would have got their ass beat by Better Christians! :twisted:

Phanatic · **Joined:** Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:22 pm **Posts:** 1216

smooth wrote:

Ahhhhhh..Christianity at work.....spreading the gospel.

These people may call themselves Christians but their worldview is so obviously skewed; why would you draw conclusions about Christianity from a clearly extremist faction? What they are doing clearly cannot be labeled as "spreading the gospel."

As for the original article - it's disgusting that these people exploit the death of soldiers fighting for our freedoms to express their disapproval of homosexuality. I suppose it's their right to do so, but it is sad and disgusting.

billdeserthills · **Posted:** Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:43 pm

Phanatic wrote:

smooth wrote:

Ahhhhhh..Christianity at work.....spreading the gospel.

These people may call themselves Christians but their worldview is so obviously skewed; why would you draw conclusions about Christianity from a clearly extremist faction? What they are doing clearly cannot be labeled as "spreading the gospel."

As for the original article - it's disgusting that these people exploit the death of soldiers fighting for our freedoms to express their disapproval of homosexuality. I suppose it's their right to do so, but it is sad and disgusting.

Too bad they can't just be shipped to Siberia,
these people have got way too much free time

efaz1 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:58 am

SatCong wrote:

rpknaz wrote:

Nothing would please me more then to see these "good Christians" get beaten and left on the sidewalks to bleed to death.

I know that isn't very nice but... :twisted:

Where I come from the Good Christians would have got their ass beat by Better Christians! :twisted:

Nice