A quarter million people petition for the Westboro Baptist Church to be reclassified as a hate group

[tzimize]

Looking at the Wikipedia entries for both "Hate Group" and "Hate Crime" (which are admittedly not the most reliable sources), there's nothing that Westboro Baptist Church has done to fit the criteria of hate group and I can't recall any actions they have done which would qualify as hate crimes.

Granted, I would love to see the WBC officially acknowledged as a group of terrible individuals (bumper stickers would do the trick), but the WBC has only voiced their opinion in a non-violent matter and has not advocated harming individuals. From what I'm reading, they can't be classified as a hate group, no matter how unlikeable they are.

Some kind of forced psychiatric treatment would be in order though. I find it crazy to believe in any dogma, but can understand the human need to either create order in their existence or explain the questions they cant answer with stuff that sounds nice.

However. To do the shit these people are doing you have to have a SEVERE lack of compassion, understanding and regular human decency. Its bad enough that they themselves act this way, but its even worse that some of them have kids. I'd actually go so far as to argue that any parent belonging and being active in WBC is actually abusing their child and should be punished and/or have their right of parentage (or whatever its called in english) taken away.

To methodically teach a child to hate in this way is abuse. Plain and simple.

Clarification:

I support free speech, and I support the WBCs right to have these opinions, but that does not mean that they should have the right to traumatize a family trying to bury a loved one and deal with their grief, or that they should have the right to press their hatred into the hearts of innocent children. Fucking lunatics.

 

[Pharsalus]

This does little, joining the patriot riders to secure the funerals of American soldiers against these f*cks does.

 

[Gilhelmi]

People should be allowed to voice their opinions, but what those people do...go out of there way to make people feel like shit. I would personally love to burn that fucking church down.

There is no love, faith or understanding in that place. It isn't a church, it is a sewer.

I agree, it is a hate group.

church is not about love or understanding, purely faith. blind faith is what WBC do and that is what makes them a church. not a very good one but still a church. if you want to ban them ban all churches, else where do we draw the line? how much hate is too much?

I agree with you.

As much as I despise those that actively oppose the Christian God (that is what the WBC does, 70% of what they do is actually called out as a sin in the Bible. Not Joking 70%). As much as I loath them, I do not like the Precedence it sets. It sets the stage to illegally outlaw all religions in the US. If you disagree with the majority, too bad you have no rights to complain about it, Go strait to Jail.

I take comfort in the fact that these petitions are practically useless. Still the thought scares me.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

They haven't committed any hate crimes, and aren't really that much of a problem that they need to be legally reclassified. I think ridicule them for the pathetic intolerant dickheads that they are, and where necessary charge them with inciting hatred or public nuisance or something (not sure if that applies in the US), but hate group is giving them too much credit.

 

[PhiMed]

I have heard of the WBC having picket rallies at memorial ceremonies for deceased American soldiers, harassing the attending family members and holding up signs that said the dead soldiers are now burning in hell.. as much as I'm against the american military agenda, this is a FUCKED UP thing to do.

I can't believe this wasn't already classified as a hate group the moment they started pulling that shit in America..

Is freedom of speech more important than the right to mourn in peace?

Yes, yes it is. There is no constitutionally protected right to mourn in peace. Speech, on the other hand, was the very first item in the Bill of Rights.

You cannot legislate common decency.

 

[Strazdas]

For the most part, yes. But that doesn't mean that near-by circumstances shouldn't also be considered.
Banning protests near funerals does not ban the act of protesting on the streets.

it does. baning protests on streets near funerals is baning protesting on streets. not all of them, but still.

Children aren't allowed in schools in the evening unless there is some kind of event.
Does that make the statement "Children are banned from schools!" true? No, it does not.
Equally, banning protests at specific times and for specific reasons, does not ban protesting.

a statement "children are banned from school at certain times" is correct.

You good sir....I was at a funeral for a suicide. My Cousin who I was very close to, And someone tried to come to the funeral and declare he was in hell. I felt my heart almost snap. right before I told him to backthe fuck off and get out.

Same concept applies. At a funeral your already raw to the world. and when someone comes along to make a POINT of YOUR family Members Death. I doubt you will stand by and go, "he has a right to say that." Would you.

I would give you a more verbal tounglashing but I would get banned.

1. you did the mistake of allowing your emotions take over your logic. it is YOUR problem.
2. putting yourself into situation, getting emotional response that does not survive after logic is applied is not a way to make your point. if it were, WBC would be right because their emotional response is strnger.

 

[Zeema]

WBC, are just assholes straight up. destroying that place and everyone in it would be the smartest thing America has done in a long time

 

[disgruntledgamer]

People should be allowed to voice their opinions, but what those people do...go out of there way to make people feel like shit. I would personally love to burn that fucking church down.

There is no love, faith or understanding in that place. It isn't a church, it is a sewer.

I agree, it is a hate group.

church is not about love or understanding, purely faith. blind faith is what WBC do and that is what makes them a church. not a very good one but still a church. if you want to ban them ban all churches, else where do we draw the line? how much hate is too much?

I wouldn't even call it blind faith and this is coming from someone who thinks religion poisons everything.

What they do isn't religious or faith based, it's the same thing when 2 year does something he knows he's not supposed to do, but does it anyway to get attention. Just their way of saying look at me, they just want attention but don't know how to get it. They wouldn't even be able to do there little protests in Canada because it's considered hate speech and they'd get thrown in jail.

IMO They should be labeled as a hate group, not because it would teach them anything or bother them or even because they would loose tax exempt. I'm just a firm believer on calling things what they are and they are a hate group, no different than the KKK or Antisemitism.

I have a question for people why do you not think the WBC is a hate group? In fact now that I think about it it's probably a scam, how many law suits has the WBC had against people? They're probably no different than a guy walking up to a stranger in a bar spiting in his face and than trying to sue him when he floors him. That's not free speech and nether is the WBC, they're just taking advantage of free speech laws.

 

[disgruntledgamer]

.
if a person in a duck costume walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and hates like a duck, does not mean you should shoot him like a duck.

Depends is this person in a swamp, in a designated hunting area at duck hunting season? Because if he is........

Just saying if you dress like a deer and run around the woods at deer hunting season expect to get shot.

 

[David VanDusen]

Much like the mass shooters, I'm pretty convinced that if the Media and public paid less attention to them, they'd probably just go away.

 

[Luna]

Well... Good. Not sure what the problem is, which the 6 page thread of debating implies.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

In my experience there are only two things that the Westboro Baptist Church successfully incites, and those are hatred of and pity for the Westboro Baptist Church and it's adherents. I have no problem with governments acknowledging that a spade is a spade and labeling the WBC as a hate group. Calling for their dissolution however will ultimately prove short-sighted in much the same way as taking down a weather vane will not change the speed, or the direction the wind is blowing towards.

 

[mgirl]

It's very interesting to watch just how different american culture is, in the reactions that people have. The fact that 'freedom of speech' is championed over stopping people who actively spread hate, baffles me to be honest. In the UK, it's interesting to note, the WBC, or certain members, have been barred from entering the UK, because we do not accept hate speech. Even internet 'trolls' who post horrible messages to people and harrass them have been arrested and convicted in this country. And I completely support it. Freedom of speech should not be used as an excuse by the ignorant to get away with saying vile things and spouting hate speech. Hate speech is illegal in this country, something for which I am very thankful for. So yes, I do think it would be a good idea, and a step forward to classify the WBC as a hate group, because that's exactly what they are.

 

[Strazdas]

.
if a person in a duck costume walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and hates like a duck, does not mean you should shoot him like a duck.

Depends is this person in a swamp, in a designated hunting area at duck hunting season? Because if he is........

Just saying if you dress like a deer and run around the woods at deer hunting season expect to get shot.

s its ok to shoot people who look like deers because you go out hunting at that time in that place?
as if we needed more arguments against hunting, but were getting offtopic here.

 

[Crazycat690]

I don't know about you guys, but if I go to a funeral, at my age lets say it's my brother, and these bastards were there calling him a f*g, and saying how he's going to hell? It's easy to say that they are pathetic, ignorant trolls here but what if that actually happened? Would you just turn away, or would you want something done? I can tell you honestly that if I didn't actually go and rip their heads off myself I would do everything in my power to have them locked away or the very least silenced.

There is right and there is wrong, and this is very wrong... I can't believe there are those of you who actually try to defend them, why? You may as well be defending Nazis who do everything BUT beat the shit out of the people they hate. It doesn't matter if what they do meets the exact qualifications for hate crimes, what they're doing isn't right, to not agree that something has to be done except "ignoring them", you're just a part of the problem. That is exactly the problem today, people stumble upon something poisonous and their reaction is just to sit by, being passive, hoping that the problem will go away or fix itself.

I for one find that attitude disgusting.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

As much as I am for this, and have already signed my name down, I doubt it'll do much good in getting rid of these nutjobs. Pitty.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I'd say they class as a hate group and are harmful to society. Picketing children's funerals is too far. To me they seem as bad as the KKK or Nazi's.

 

[xdiesp]

Remember that if you believe in reincarnation and karma, the theory tells you that those who died in the holocaust were supposed to deserve it. How hateful is that? And it applies to literally all injustice and pain in the world, in history.

 

[NemotheElvenPanda]

Remember that if you believe in reincarnation and karma, the theory tells you that those who died in the holocaust were supposed to deserve it. How hateful is that? And it applies to literally all injustice and pain in the world, in history.

What does that have to do with anything? We're talking about a group that has harassed and threatened other people under the aegis as a religious group. I do not see Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, or any other religious group that traditionally believe in karma or reincarnation going out demanding the death of homosexuals or protesting funerals of children or the honored dead.

Belief, as horrid it maybe at times, is just an idea. It's when those ideas take action, especially when they harm do they need to put under the public eye.