In a word: No.
The news that Fred Phelps, perhaps one of the most hateful men walking the planet at this moment, intends to picket the funeral of Heath Ledger should come as no suprise to anyone. Mr. Phelps (he is no Reverand that I will recognize) has been taking his cues not from Leviticus, but from the Book Of Crazy for quite some time.
Each time that we hear about another one of his pickets, be it Matthew Sheppard's funeral, the funeral of a dead Iraqi soldier or one of the other 34,000 times (according to his website) that they have showed up in all of their "God Hates Fag" glory asshole-ish-ness (ok - maybe not a word, but it fits), we all roll our eyes and decry what a horrible person he is and how he should be stopped. I have stopped counting the number of times that I have read on a message board, blog or in an email someone praying for someone to murder him. (note: the actions of WBC won't stop when the 77-year old Fred Phelps dies....his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper seems to be taking his place as the HeadHonchoOfHate)
Silencing Phelps is tempting. Hell - it sounds like one of the best ideas I have heard in a long time. The federal government even came up with the Respect For America's Fallen Heros Act in a direct response to the pickets. On the surface, this sounds like great legislation. No matter if you agree with the war in Iraq or not, our soldiers deserve our respect, both in the field and in the ground.
But is stifling Free Speech ever a good idea? The ACLU, ever the bastion of conservatism, doesn't think so. In a case reminsicient of the Skokie, IL case they are defending Phelp's right to spew his hate, even at military funerals.
Is this a good thing? I believe it is. Not because I agree with Phelps and his 70 extremely disturbed followers, but because I believe in this statement from the ACLU, when asked how they could defend groups like the KKK and Neo-Nazis:
Because we believe that the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and press would be meaningless if the government could pick and choose the persons to whom they apply.
The speech may make your blood boil. I am sure that it has caused untold amounts of grief to already-grieving families. But I don't think that we can call ourselves "the land of the free" if we ban it.
The Phelps family is nothing but a bunch of publicity-whores. I don't even think that they hate gays/soldiers/Swedes/insertyourgrouphere that much. I think that the adults just want to hate and have raised their children to hate (well, a few managed to escape. check out this letter from Mark Phelps). They want news coverage. Without it, they are no different than the crazy lady down the street who talks to her garden gnomes. Unfortunately, with a 24-hour news cycle to fill, that is likely to never happen.
But until it does, Phelps can serve as a reminder of both what our country is (a place where even the most batshit crazy guy can speak his mind) and what we hope it never becomes (a place where he is taken seriously)
EDITED TO ADD: for a more clear look in to the world of the Phelps family, click here. It is a very long document, but this is one of the few websites that takes the document and breaks it down in to an "easy to bookmark and come back to" format
jenefur
Never heard of this guy til the Heath Ledger funeral came up. What an idiot.
Vampy
One article only states he is picketing in the U.S., but it doesn't say where. I'd love to see him bring his obnoxious self here to New York...New Yorker's tolerate a lot, but believe me, he may meet his match because there aren't too many who put up with arrogant a-holes who lack humanity. Maybe we can get him and Al Sharpton to meet up together; that would be a FINE match of "REVERENDS".
Andrew
Phelps should be shot, he is sooooooooooooooo going to burn in HELL
lisamm
What a jackass.
Mindi
Henefur - I think I first heard about him when Matthew Sheppard was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming. Since then, they have been "on my radar" and I have done some research on them....and it seems they pop up everywhere!
Vampy: They have been in NYC. Right after 9/11 they picketed the FDNY for having a gay chaplain. It must not have been played on the news that much in NYC because I can't believe that they made it out of there alive! They have been in my area (the Philadelphia area) many times...picketing funerals and showings of The Laramie Project. They revel in the shoutings from people who are against them. They think that it means they are doing the right thing!
Andrew: I won't advocate violence against the man. Ever. That would make me just as bad as him, IMO. The brainwashing seems to be complete for the 9 of 13 of his children that are still with him, but I pray that his grandchildren can be saved from the cycle of hate.
Lisamm: hammer.nail.head
oh - I added another link to the end of my original post. Check it out!
cokewidow
Check out this article… it is more information about how this guy spreads hate in the name of God. His life’s mission seems to be verbally abusing people and trying to provoke them into lawsuits. This is an abuse of our free speech rights... not just another person voicing his opinions.
This article is about how he has almost completely taken over the town where he lives, and the reluctance of some government officials to stop him. Please forward it on. Someone has to stop this guy and his “followers”.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=231
Scott
Fred Phelps' face needs to make an appointment with a tossed brick.
consciousmerican
I grew up in Topeka, Kansas, although not near Westborough. Every sunday, going to church, Mr. Phelps would stand at the corner waving his signs as the masses flocked in for prayer. Should we have been stronger and stood against Phelps? I don't know. Some have, but most had suits filed against them as the entire family has strong law backgrounds. Some even physically fought the group, but they stayed behind bars for some time. As much as I hated seeing them on the streets every morning, I hated even worse not being able to do anything about it. Now, I appreciate, not what they are doing, but the freedom that they are upholding. As you said Mindi, even if they are off their rockers, freedom is not a privilege but a right that all citizens possess.