Rev. Fred Phelps (Kansas) & Rev. Henry Kane (Poltergeist II)
- Twins Seperated At Birth –
Congress has passed the funeral protest ban. Demonstrators would be barred from disrupting military funerals at national cemeteries under legislation approved by Congress and sent to the White House.
The measure, passed by a voice vote in the House Wednesday hours after the Senate passed an amended version, specifically targets a Kansas church group led by Rev. Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. Phelps and his church, Westboro Baptist Church – based in Topeka, Kansas – has staged protests at military funerals around the country, claiming that the deaths were a sign of God's anger at U.S. tolerance of homosexuals.
For more on that story, see this post.
The act "will protect the sanctity of all 122 of our national cemeteries as shrines to their gallant dead," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said prior to the Senate vote.
"It's a sad but necessary measure to protect what should be recognized by all reasonable people as a solemn, private and deeply sacred occasion," he said.
Under the Senate bill, approved without objection by the House with no recorded vote, the "Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act" would bar protests within 300 feet of the entrance of a cemetery and within 150 feet of a road into the cemetery from 60 minutes before to 60 minutes after a funeral. Those violating the act would face up to a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
The sponsor of the House bill, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, said he took up the issue after attending a military funeral in his home state, where mourners were greeted by "chants and taunting and some of the most vile things I have ever heard."
"Families deserve the time to bury their American heroes with dignity and in peace," Rogers said Wednesday before the House vote.
One of God's children?
The demonstrators are led by the Rev. Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas, who has previously organized protests against those who died of AIDS and gay murder victim Matthew Shepard.
In an interview when the House bill passed, Phelps said Congress was "blatantly violating the First Amendment" rights to free speech in passing the bill. He said that if the bill becomes law he will continue to demonstrate but would abide by the restrictions.
My questions to Phelps are these: If your beliefs are so strong, doesn't it seem hypocritical for you to abide by these restrictions? If God is truly on your side of this issue, wouldn't He protect you from whatever martyrdom inflicted upon you? Isn't man's law superseded by those of your God?
Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican from Kansas, said the loved ones of those who die have already sacrificed for the nation and "we must allow them the right to mourn without being thrust into a political circus."
Very nice sentiments, Senator. We at The Tempest agree. Our fallen troops deserve nothing less than our most sincere respect and appreciation. At the same time, we believe that respect should be extended to everyone. No one burying a loved one should be subjected to such horrid treatment.
We have sent letters to Roberts, as well as all the others who voted in favor of this funeral protest ban, asking where this ban was during the Matthew Shepard funeral. Not to mention all those others – including infants who died of AIDS – whose families were, and still are, subjected to the most disgusting show of "God's Love" by Phelps at their funerals. When will Congress stop looking through the flag and the bible at every issue?
There has been, as of this posting, no response from any of them.
