Fighting Words

The United States Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that picketing funerals is free speech, protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Samuel Alito was the only justice to dissent from the ruling.  He opined that carrying a sign at a funeral that reads "GOD HATES FAGS" amounts to fighting words, which are not protected by the First Amendment.  Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas picketed the funeral of a soldier who was killed in Iraq.  They claim that God is punishing the United States because we have homosexuals enlisted in our armed forces.  The father of the dead Marine sued for damages, claiming that the picketers at his son's funeral inflicted emotional damage. 

It concerns me that only one justice out of nine on the highest court in our nation recognizes the word "fag" as a fighting word.  People who are openly gay and people who are anti-homosexual know that if you call someone a fag, you should be prepared to fight.  The fact that most of the justices on the Supreme Court do not know this makes me believe that they are out of touch with the rest of us.  We want our judges to be objective, but they should also know about fighting words.

Even if members of the Westboro Baptist Church did not have signs that included the word "fag," the very act of picketing a funeral amounts to fighting words.  If you do not think so, try this thought experiment:  Would the members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket the funeral of a gang member in Los Angeles who died in a shoot-out with another gang?  If they want to protest against immoral practices in our society, why not protest against selling dangerous and illegal drugs?  Picketing a funeral is abusive to the people who mourn the deceased.  They dropped plans to picket the funeral of a nine-year-old girl in exchange for radio air time.  I understand that they planned the protest against abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy.

If you disagree with my idea that picketing funerals is abusive, consider that the practice is reverse evangelism.  What I mean by that is that it will have the opposite effect of the intended effect.  The people who picket funerals want us to see that homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church are against the will of God.  They want us to turn away from sin and accept the will of God.  If they really want to convince us of this, they need to find another medium for their message.  I can imagine that a person who does not like gay people would think that anybody who dies for their country is entitled to not have their funeral disturbed, even if they were gay.  Such a person would be more likely to support the right of gay people to serve in the armed forces.  The sexual abuse of children by priests is an important issue, but thought about it goes out the window when I hear about the outrageousness of someone picketing at the funeral of a child.  Those who picket funerals are more likely to turn people away from Christianity than they are to win converts.  Judgment belongs to God.  Those who would evangelize must bear that in mind.