Our country cannot condone “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” signs 300 feet away from military funerals.

A fundamentalist and non-denominational family group has formed their own church named Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan.. They tour America in search of the latest war victim — to protest the fallen soldier’s death.

I had a one-hour conversation with 21-year-old Isaiah Phelps-Roper, college student and grandson of the pastor at Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps. I was hoping to gain a better perspective while trying to remain completely objective, asking why this family would want to protest during a dead soldier’s funeral.

Isaiah said he has attended many of these military funeral protests with his family.

The family finds the targets — unsuspecting, grieving families — from public announcements of the death of their loved ones in the newspaper and in the media.

Isaiah said they go to those cities and communities and protest 300 feet away from the funeral so their families can hear that their soldier was no hero.

“These aren’t heroes,” Isaiah said. “They fight for a sinful nation.”

What surprised me the most is Isaiah said it wasn’t the aspect of killing in war he disagreed with — it is that the soldiers are representing a “sinful nation” and should not be deemed as a hero.

Isaiah said he believes the Bible defines what sinful acts are and includes fornication and homosexuality. He also said President Obama was the
Antichrist and compared him to the beast in Revelations 13:5.

“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

I asked him if he ever expressed any other emotion other than anger when shouting “God hates your dead soldier” to a grieving family member, and he said no.

He said his mother sometimes cries when reading about a death of a soldier in the newspaper because she doesn’t understand why their parents would allow them to join the military and not follow the path of Jesus.

Isaiah said he believes Sept. 11, natural disasters and the deaths of soldiers are a direct result of God’s wrath punishing this “sinful nation.”

It took everything I could to not to lash out at any given moment during this conversation, but this is what he expected from me. He expects this behavior from a “sinful nation,” so I made sure not to oblige.

The Supreme Court will soon be tested on the boundaries of First Amendment rights in the United States Constitution.

The father of one of the soldiers, whose funeral was protested at by members of the Westboro Baptist Church, has taken his case for legal action. He felt his privacy was interrupted by the protestors, and that no grieving loved one should be subjected to this. The United States Constitution defines certain rights and freedoms as defined by the First Amendment which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The members of Westboro Baptist Church have a right to practice their own religion, state what they believe and state what they don’t believe publicly.

They have the right to protest a dead soldier’s funeral, but do they have a right to shout out “God hates your dead soldier” within earshot of the person’s family at the funeral?

The problem is the fine line between freedom of speech and providing privacy to grieving families.

This is not exercising free speech.

This is targeting people in a “sinful nation” and delivering hate speech by attacking them verbally while they are weak and distracted by grieving over a dead
soldier.

By LEAH TATE

Profiles Editor

lmtate@umail.iu.edu