philvalentine.com
Let me set the scene. Anxious parents hear the news they’ve dreaded ever since their son volunteered to leave our shores and fight in the war on terror. The U.S. government regrets to inform them their beloved son has bravely given his life in service to his country.
I’ve never been in their shoes, but I can only imagine that no more devastating news has ever been delivered.
Flash forward as the family, engulfed in grief, goes about the difficult task of planning a military funeral for a young man barely out of high school. His flag-draped coffin rests at the front of the church in which he grew up. Mourners pack the sanctuary. The distraught family sits in the back of the funeral home’s sedan as it slowly makes its way to the service.
As they near the church, they see a small band of cultists out their window. These crazed protesters have traveled to stand on a sidewalk and carry banners with slogans like, “God hates fags” and “Your son is burning in hell.”
This scene has been played out too many times across the country by a band of fanatical crazies from the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, led by a sociopath named Fred Phelps. In Phelps’ perverted mind, America is evil because it tolerates homosexuality. By association, anyone who fights for our country is fighting to protect gays and is therefore sentenced to eternal damnation. Their crusade has taken them across the country to protest outside the funerals of our fallen heroes.
One family, the Snyders, decided to fight back. They sued Fred Phelps and his family, who make up his congregation, for inflicting emotional distress and invasion of privacy. A jury awarded the Snyders nearly $11 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Like most who heard the news, I was delighted this band of vile human debris was finally getting what was coming to them.
However, it’s not that simple. The Phelps are appealing, and the verdict has a good chance of being overturned. And it probably should be. If you look at this case devoid of emotion?which, admittedly, is difficult to do?you can see a chilling effect this ruling would have on our freedom of speech and right to protest.
Imagine for a moment if this precedent were applied to those protesting at abortion clinics. It can be argued that those who stand on the sidewalk carrying signs telling young ladies they’re killing a human being are guilty of inflicting emotional distress and invading someone’s privacy. Abortion protesters feel in their hearts that what’s taking place behind the closed doors of an abortion clinic is murder and they are compelled to do everything within the law to stop it.
Ours is a country of freedoms. One of those is a freedom of expression, as reprehensible as the Westboro Baptist Church’s brand of expression might be. We do not, however, have the right not to be offended.
There’s a special hot seat in hell awaiting the Phelps family. I can only imagine the God I know and love takes a very dim view of their actions. Vengeance is His, and, I suspect, it ain’t gonna be pretty.
I grieve for the families of our fallen soldiers, especially those subjected to the likes of Fred Phelps. The irony is, their loved ones died to protect the very freedoms the Phelps cult is expressing.
Millions tune in to Phil Valentine’s radio talk show everyday. His show can be heard locally from 4 – 8 p.m. on 99.7 FM.
