Bill Would Limit Military Funeral Protests

By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill that would make it harder for protesters from a fringe Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, to protest outside military funerals.

The Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans Act, introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's 8-1 decision in March upholding the right of Westboro Baptist Church to picket military funerals.

The bill would increase the "quiet time" before and after services from one hour to two hours, and expand the protest buffer zone around a funeral from 150 feet to 300 feet. The buffer zone around access routes to and from the funeral would also grow from 300 feet to 500 feet.

Slain soldiers' families "have earned the right to bury their loved ones in peace," Snowe said in a statement. "The SERVE Act strikes a balance between the sanctity of a funeral service and the right to free speech."

Westboro protesters have demonstrated outside military funerals with signs that say "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," calling U.S. casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan divine punishment for tolerance of homosexuality.

The bill, which has seven Democratic co-sponsors and six Republicans, is also supported by military groups including AMVETS, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Attorney Margie J. Phelps, daughter of Westboro founder Fred Phelps, has said her small church stands ready to "quadruple" its number of funeral protests.

Comments

[freddsky]

05:48 PM on 05/01/2011

I watched a documentary on the Phelps cult and was not surprised to learn that they started picketing military funerals only after interest in their gay protests fizzled somewhat. Thank homophobia for that, not enough people apparently care about gays (but go after our uniformed heroes? and they're assured of far more press and far more attention.!)

This is not about winning the hearts of the masses but rather one sick man perpetuating his over-identification with the Old Testament God of Rage. When his whipping strap grew frayed and started to leave cuts on the opposite side of a body, he switched to an axe handle for his expressions of familial love (according to estranged Phelps children.)

If you believe in a traditional male deity and want to thank Him for anything, thank Him for not making any of these people "Brangelinas." That bat-guano-crazy-glazed messaging that earns so many salivating fans for Palin and Bachmann apparently is a lot less fetching when spewed forth from an ugly visage.

[jweider]

07:34 PM on 04/27/2011

It's too bad there isn't a God.
I would love to see all of the WBC members spontaneously combust during one of their protest. It would send a strong warning to all of these other bible thumpers to start behaving like civilized human beings.

[LMPE]

06:52 PM on 04/27/2011

A better way to go after the WBC is to have drag queens stand in front of their pickets.

[revamk]

11:13 AM on 04/27/2011

So how come only the families of vets deserve to lay their loved ones to rest in peace? I deeply appreciate the sacrifice of fallen service members. However, every mourner deserves the same respect for their loved one, no matter what the circumstances of their death, and no matter what their sexual orientation, race or creed. This is simple human decency.

[Daleri Rileda]

01:23 AM on 04/27/2011

These people think the result of homosexuality is dead soldiers.

What is the result of tormenting the families who have lost a family member?

Do you think that God is unjust?

God does not even allow us to be glad when our enemies fall.

"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

Or the LORD will see it and be displeased,
And turn His anger away from him."

What kind of love does that church have? It is not love for the truth.

[gregory57]

01:42 PM on 04/27/2011

It isn't about love. It's about ego. They have a message they want YOU to hear and they don't care how many mourning wives and children they have to insult to get it to you.

[Nate35]

12:07 AM on 04/27/2011

Legislation should not stoop to the level of the disgusting Phelps cult, particularly not when it places limits on the right to free expression. The proper reaction of civilized peoples to odious speech is not to silence it but to refute it with equally forceful argument.

[WSAY]

11:28 PM on 04/26/2011

"The Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans Act." Where do these people get this stuff?

Any such Act would be unconstitutional. This is congress wasting more time on things that are un-American.

[LintLass]

12:32 AM on 04/27/2011

The phrasing blows. Does it only apply to theists or those who believe 'rest' is eternal?

How about, the 'Give It A Rest, Eternally-Sanctimonous Loony Lawsuit-Provoking Vultures, People Are Trying To Have A Funeral Here, Already, Act.'

:)

[LintLass]

12:44 AM on 04/27/2011

Of course the law doesn't seem to apply to their *real* claim to fame: protesting at funerals of LGBT people and non-Christians. They've got hate speech for all, of course.

[trekie70]

08:59 PM on 04/26/2011

This bill is a great idea and should be bi-partisan. Westboro is a dispicable group of people and contrary to what someone said on this board, does not infringe on anyone's 1st Amendment rights. The bill numbers are HR 1591 and SB 815. Write your senators and reps and urge them to support this bill.

[WSAY]

11:29 PM on 04/26/2011

Totally unconstitutional. It is unbelievable that people can be so un-American. Principles only mean something when you stick to them when its inconvenient.

[Athletes Foot]

07:11 PM on 04/26/2011

I'd say that law has a responsibility to protect and uphold cultural morals that are universal to its society. More simply, pretty much everyone has reverence for their loved ones, dead or alive - even me, an atheist. So, I think it is fair to want to restrict people from abusing a right to deliberately inflict personal sorrow, grief, anger, etc. on others.

That said, this is a slippery slop. If we give the government the right to determine when cultural morals override our freedom of speech, then we are just asking for it.

I can't really think of a good solution to this.

[WSAY]

11:31 PM on 04/26/2011

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the process of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." - Justice Louis D. Brandeis

[Nate35]

12:11 AM on 04/27/2011

There is no higher moral value than free expression.

[alterego55]

05:27 PM on 04/26/2011

Too bad we don't have some kind of Batman signal light for Anonymous.

Anonymous, we need you. Take down the Wesboro Church websites!

[Shanon Smith]

05:25 PM on 04/26/2011

Now if we could just find a way to make them stop altogether, that would be even more awesome.

I know, I know. Freedom of speech, blah blah blah, even when its offensive and disgusting.

That doesn't stop my friends and I from counter-protesting any time they're scheduled to be in our area.

[WSAY]

11:32 PM on 04/26/2011

Yeah - blah blah blah. Sadly, people must lose what they have to appreciate it.

[Shanon Smith]

08:15 AM on 04/27/2011

The point of hte "blah blah blah I'm going to counter-protest anyway" was that I understand that under the constitution they have the "right" to do it, but there's nothing Right about it. They're using it against us, and there's also nothing right about it. However, thats the way it works. Even the KKK has the "right" to perform non violent demonstrations and protests if they want.

Westboro is a blight on the planet, but there's nothing we can do legally. However, we can intervene on behalf of the families and prevent them from getting close enough to harass the mourners. Without physically engaging them or allowing them the opportunity for a lawsuit.

As long as its legal for them to stand outside the funeral home or cemetary gates, its legal for my friends and I to stand in their way.

[marind]

04:55 PM on 04/26/2011

The Westboro Church has achieved the impossible: Bi-partisanship.

[gregory57]

04:54 PM on 04/26/2011

If more soldiers attended the funerals of their fallen brothers, you wouldn't have this kind of thing happening? VFW, other Veteran's groups, do you care? Doesn't look like it.

[TanzaniaTeacher]

05:23 PM on 04/26/2011

You believe that Westboro would leave off is more men/women in uniform attended these funerals? Why?

[gregory57]

05:32 PM on 04/26/2011

I don't think there should be room for them. I think that nobody would notice them if there were ten thousand other citizens in attendance.

[Shanon Smith]

05:28 PM on 04/26/2011

The funerals I've gone to counter-protest there were several veteral biker groups present, and a number of Veterans in the group of individuals who came out to join us in preventing Westboro from getting close enough to harass the families.

Look up the Patriot Guard Riders, they're just the most well known group. They're bikers who gather at a lot of the funerals and rev engines to drown out the noise of westboro's insults and shouts. They help organize other counter-protesters in peaceful, efficient ways to help physically shield families from contact. Its an amazing experience.

[wbthacker]

09:56 AM on 04/26/2011

I'm not sure if a law is really the correct response.

This isn't a widespread problem. There's only one group of people in the country doing this, and half of them are lawyers. Go ahead, spend six months passing a law... in a week they'll figure out a way around it. Meanwhile everyone else's rights shrink a tiny bit.

An idea just occurred to me, though. When a family is planning the burial service for a veteran, they have good reason to suspect they'll be harassed and subjected to mental trauma by the WBC crowd. There's ample proof of tat. So, why can't they go to court and get a temporary restraining order that prohibits WBC from coming within, say, five miles of them on that particular day? That's better protection than this new bill promises, and is tailored to the actual problem.

If that would work, the rest is simple. We set up a system to help every veteran's survivors get such a restraining order. The paperwork could be pretty standardized and if the military won't help with it, volunteers would be glad to help the families get it done.

[gregory57]

04:55 PM on 04/26/2011

More vets and soldiers need to show up at their fallen brother's funeral services.

[alterego55]

05:29 PM on 04/26/2011

I say send in the Hell's Angels and crack some Westboro heads.

[gregory57]

05:35 PM on 04/26/2011

No, I'm not talking about noisy, violent, scooter-trash with chips on their shoulders and something to prove. They're just as bad as the Westboro types.

I'm talking about thousands of respectful mourners.

[Hillbilly49]

09:51 AM on 04/26/2011

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."

— Thomas Jefferson

[paulsays]

10:28 AM on 04/26/2011

If you are referring to the Westbro Baptist Church then you are referring to a bigoted cult. Not the picture of Christianity that Jesus would have accepted.

[David Weidner]

12:49 PM on 04/26/2011

When referring to a bigoted cult, I think that describes christianity to a tee.

[WSAY]

11:35 PM on 04/26/2011

Sure thing. That is the great thing about Christianity. You can twist it and distort it like a pretzel. Don't kid yourself. The Westboro Baptist Church is Christianity in action. And you trying to re-characterize them is more of the same.

[KarasudaJay]

12:26 PM on 04/26/2011

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefLett.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=136&division=div1

Misquote, when you put in what should be removed by your mysteriously missing ellipsis it makes much more sense.

"Those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, -- the most sublime & benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man, -- endeavored"