Father: Funeral protest made him sick
BALTIMORE — The father of a Marine killed in Iraq took the stand in his invasion of privacy suit against a fundamentalist church that pickets soldiers’ funerals, saying protesters carrying signs at his son’s burial made him sick to his stomach. Albert Snyder said Wednesday he had hoped for a private funeral for his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder…. “They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family,” Snyder testified. “They wanted their message heard and they didn’t care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside.”…. Snyder is suing the Westboro Baptist church, whose members have picketed the funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, claiming the deaths are punishment for the country’s tolerance of homosexuality.
I don’t for a minute think that Albert Snyder’s lawsuit has a snowball’s chance in Hell of success. No doubt the lawyers for the knuckledragging troglodytes and inbreds at the Westboro Baptist Church (find your own damn link for these idiots) will paint this as a free speech issue. In that respect, they may have a point. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousands times- free speech is often offensive speech…and they don’t come any more offensive that Rev. Fred Phelps and his merry band of inbreds.
Of course, while I’m going to have to default to my usual spirited defense of free speech and expression, would it be too much to hope for some decency and self-editing? Would it be too much to expect (so-called) Christians to show shome Christian capacity and respect a family’s right to grieve their dead son with at least a modicum of dignity and respect? Must the WBC trolls expose themselves as assholes willing to use their intolerant uber-religiosity to justify their parodying the teachs of Jesus Christ? Clearly, these loons know about as much of the teaching of Christ as I do…and I’m not even a Christian.
If there is a Hell, and clearly the WBC trolls are enamored of the idea, it’s probably somewhere in downtown Pasadena, TX, next to a taqueria. Perhaps the WBC trolls could more effectively spend their time proselytizing around their home turf in Hell…because if there is a Hell, these troglodytes all have reserved parking spaces.
