ACLU Backs Phelps
For the life of me, I cannot figure out the criteria the ACLU uses to decide which cases to take. The ACLU has chosen to back that wacky Fred Phelps and company. It is fighting to have newly made laws against picketing at funerals struck down.
While Phelps and his twisted little group of followers certainly have the right to believe and say what they wish, funerals are not the place to do it. Funerals are for communal good-byes to the deceased and shared grief over the loss of a loved one, not for protesting national policies. Common decency demands that proper decorum prevail at such longstanding human rituals.
None of the laws that I have seen have said Phelps and company couldn't express their warped views, just that they couldn't picket at or immediately about funerals. Why does the ACLU think that stance is unreasonable?
Furthermore, apparently the ACLU is doing this to defend religious freedom. This while they regularly fight to have displays of the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols abolished from the public square.
Why? Any theories?
My take: Funerals are usually deeply religious observances. The belief in an afterlife and the significance of sending a loved one off properly have roots in human history going all the way back to our beginnings as any archeological dig of a burial will show. So when the ACLU has the choice to back traditional religious belief or warped "religious" views that make a mockery of traditional religion which honors the dead, they choose mockery.
H/t: Right Wing News
posted by Anna Venger @ 8:43 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
It's easy. Anti-Bush.
Would they support religious protests at abortion clinics? Doubt it.
The ACLU is just another front for on ultra-liberal organization whose only function is to support the ideals of the Democratic Party, even if certain stances allow for hypocrisy. Such is the case here...they are fine with anti-gay speech in this case because their anti-Bush (anti-war, whichever you like) interests are more important in their minds. Plus, it's similar to the ability of Joe Biden to get passes with ethnic slurs. Since the ACLU will 9 times out of 10 support the homosexuals cause, they are given a pass when they have to support an anti-gay group. This is because the greater good (i.e. political capital against Republicans) is being served by allowing gay hate speech.
The cynic in me feels that the ACLU will support any action that undermines society, while opposing any that might strengthen it.
I beleive the ACLU has a hierarchy of rights that they pursue, of which the right to protest is the highest possible one. Under that is the right to say offensive things, and then the right to not have anything religious anywhere near you.
Ugh...so much false logic...so little time to combat it. In short, though the actions of Phelps' church may be disgusting, does his church NOT have the right to freedom of speech? That's the ACLU's point. NOT anti-Bush. NOT anti-religion. PRO-free speech. It's really quite simple. Fred Phelps and his goons have a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to protest at funerals. Your conspiracy theory re: ACLU trying to mock traditional religion is hilarious.
To be sure, a clear majority of liberals DESPISE Phelps and his group. Many of my friends have told me they're displeased the ACLU would defend them. However, the ACLU is right. Just like they were when they defended Rush Limbaugh from having his medical records searched. It's the principle...not the politics. Surely you can see that.
Just don't hold a prayer vigil at Town Hall.
The ACLU guy told Hannity today that if the Phelps were disturbing the "peace" or too close for comfort they would then be up for arrest and charges.....so even ACLU is given to limits of this miserable offense.
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