Is this Religion?

Question

GOOD MORNING 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. The York resident is seeking unspecified monetary damages in the case for invasion of privacy and intent to inflect emotional distress.

Answer 1

This has nothing to do with religion. The demonstrators, in this case an assembly of like-minded believers, are expressing free speech, a constitutionally protected right. Ironically, all military members have sworn to protect that same constitution. So this suit will go nowhere since constitutional law ALWAYS supersedes all other laws, including libel law.

Before you even think it, yes I served in the military (Marine Corps) and yes, I took the same oath, and yes, I think our constitution is the best in the world and is the foundation that makes America great. If Lance Corporal Snyder were alive, I'm sure he would agree with me too.

The best chance the father has is getting the folks that own the burial grounds to go after the church members for trespassing, assuming they did their demonstration on private property. If the burial ground owners won’t do this, then it sounds like that burial grounds was a bad choice for the father. Furthermore, if the father pursues his suit, he’s playing into the hands of the demonstrator, which is getting them a larger audience to express their opinion regarding homosexuality.

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Just do what I did when I heard about these knuckleheads a week ago. Ignore them. They'll go away if they have no audience. (Of course, my opinion would be substantially different if it were my son's funeral.)

Answer 2

I think that a funeral is no place to picket anything.
These people need to take a look at their Good Book
"Do unto others as ye would have them do unto You".
Would they like people to picket a baptist funeral with signs that Jesus was crucified as punishment for blasphemy against the Hebrews aka Jews?
I am not pro Gov, pro Military, pro Corporate business, nor am I for Blackwater and all of the other mercenary orgs.
I am however a Liberal, not really Democrat or Republican
I believe that our freedom is not so slowly being taken away from us.
I believe that Oil is power and thats what we want. I say get out of Iraq now. It is their country and therefore their Oil. Let them decide what to do with it.

Answer 3

Yes it is religion.

I am from Kansas, and if you visit these people's home, you see it is covered with Nazi symbols and everything else that represents their distorted view on things.

Every relegion has its fringe elements. This is just an example of it. They in no way represent Christians as a whole. They represent their view of Christianity that all but about 70 Christians in the world dissagree with them. And most of those 70 are his family.

They were doing this same thing to other funerals before the war. The soldier funerals just give them publicity. Once they protested a child's funeral because he got AIDS from a blood transfusion.

They can do this because the protest outside the cemetary a lot of times but position themselves near a gate or something that has to be passed.

Answer 4

To answer your question, yes it is a religion. They go to church, interpret the Bible and act on those beliefs.

Now, if the question was are they within their rights as Christians and Americans to do what they are doing? Hell no. I don't think Freedom of Speech includes disrupting a funeral service...no matter who it is. I think that is more disruptive then yelling "fire" in a crowded movie theater.

And as Christians, they are definitely not within their rights. Christianity is supposed to be about compassion. Remember the wrist band...What Would Jesus Do? In my reading of the Bible, I am pretty sure Jesus would never have picketted at a funeral. Jesus would have given the Dad a hug and told him that He loved him and his son was in Heaven.

On a side note...Jesus would hug the homosexuals too. It baffles me that people misinterpret the Bible...Jesus was a loving soul...he hung out on the wrong side of the tracks.

Answer 5

Wow. That breaks my heart that a Marine would be disrespected in such a horrible way. My prayers are with that poor family.

That is absolutely not religion, but fanaticism. No religion would support such a tactic. The primary message of the Bible is LOVE - and there was nothing loving in what they did. I can't imagine what was going through their minds when they decided a funeral would be a good place to 'advertise' their message. Totally heartless, and I can't imagine it would win anyone over to their side.

Answer 6

This will get me kicked off but> can I say this?
Them and code pink should be declared a free fire zone for anybody who has the time and energy to do anything they can to make these peoples lives miserable.

It is not religion. It is disrespect. Go to one of their funerals and have a bar b q. Play loud rap music and sing kumbi ya
Or a recording played outside their church service of Hillary pretending to be southern

Answer 7

Christianity at its most intolerant. The bible condemns homosexuality, and these fanatics are just following the bible. For any christians reading this answer, just say something like "they're not true christians" to separate yourself from them.

Almost forgot. For those that don't know, westburo baptist church pickets soldiers funerals, saying it's God's way of punishing the military for allowing homosexuals to serve and long as they don't disclose their sexual preference.

Answer 8

No. It isn't. I use the definition of a religion which is used in current German law. The legal test is whether the group carries out acts of charity and corporal mercy. If it doesn't it isn't a religious group. Westboro Baptist Church of Wichita Kansas carries out no acts of charity or corporal mercy. They are just haters masquerading behind the guise of a religion. There is no difference between them and Al Queda. Both are perversions of religions.

Answer 9

faith:- faith is a device of ideals and worships which contains a code of ethics and a philosophy of existence. there are a number of religions in the international immediately. a number of those religions are of recent beginning yet maximum of them are very old. in certainty all of us be conscious of from historic previous that guy has continuously had a faith. Even the primitive adult adult males dwelling in caves or jungles had some form of religion. The strategies and rituals in guy's faith have consistently stepped forward and grow to be greater rational and state-of-the-paintings as time went on. The primitive religions of the Cave guy and the Bush guy gave upward thrust to the well-known religions of the previous 3 thousand years. immediately, the important religions of the international comprise: international faith ----- Originated in Zoroastrianism ----- Iran Confucianism ----- China Hinduism ------ India Taoism ------ China Jainism ------ India Judaism ------ Neat East Christianity ------ close to East Islam ------ close to East Buddhism ------- India Shinto ------- Japan those are the great religions of the international that are actually not in basic terms in charge for all our accrued wealth of information, philosophy, ethics, and social and ethical codes, yet have inspired the existence-style, the language and the ethical attitudes of in basic terms approximately each guy or woman dwelling immediately. distinction between non secular and Non non secular Peoples. a million. The non secular human beings have confidence in some thing jointly as the others do no longer. 2. The non secular human beings carry out specific acts of worship jointly as the others do no longer. 3. The non secular human beings seem to stay with a undeniable code for their social and ethical behaviour jointly as the others do no longer. 4. The non secular human beings stumble on a objective of existence and function a diverse philosophy in direction of it, jointly as the others do no longer.

Answer 10

Just because a jackass brays real loud and waves a Bible does not make him a practicing Christian nor does it make him righteous in the sight of God. The gentleman should get the whole church's assets.

Edit Danial S is correct in all accounts but it still does not mean the trespassers were correct.