The Limits of Freedom of Speech in Snyder v. Phelps In Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court of the United States addressed the issue of "whether the First Amendment shields the [Westboro Baptist Church] members from tort liability for their speech." In Snyder, the plaintiff, the father of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, sought to recover damages on the grounds of intentional infliction of emotional distress, a claim known as IIED, resulting from picketing at his son's funeral. The members of Westboro Baptist Church ("Westboro"), led by Fred Phelps, picketed near the funeral to demonstrate their view that "the United States is overly tolerant of sin and that God kills American soldiers as punishment." In court, the defendant, Phelps, attempted to prove that the signs were meant to express a public concern, rather than target the Snyder burial itself, and that his group was exercising its First Amendment right of free speech and expression. The Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the defendant was one that could possibly set the tone for future inflammatory protests and pickets, and how these types of factions might exercise the First Amendment in the future.
The unintentional reference to the Middle Age’s Crusades George W. Bush made in his response to the 9/11 attacks was justly criticized as it connected the problem at hand to the violence of religious warfare, inflicted anxiety upon a vast amount of the world’s population, and holds a fearsome truth. Whether he meant to or not, George W. Bush’s use of the word “crusade” in his 9/11 response speech portrayed the soon-to-be war as a religious one. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, America’s Best-Selling Dictionary, defines the word crusade as “any of the military expeditions undertaken by Christian powers in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to win the Holy Land from the Muslims.” However, The Crusades were not the only violent and gruesome religious wars. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Protestant Reformation led to a brutal war between Protestants and Catholics. Part of World War II was the fight against Adolf Hitler and The Nazi Party for their genocide, known as The Holocaust, which was (mainly) against those of the Jewish religion.
A few of the bad sides of religion include the way that different religions get stereotyped into the most terrible side of extremists. Another example of the past negativity the church has had in the past is the many crusades the church went on in order to force their outlook on the masses of Europe. There has also been many counts of corruption stemming from the Vatican all the way back to the beginning of the biblical era. Lastly the church has the ability to bring out the vilest sides of some people that turn into extreme groups that castigate and have even killed the people that didn’t follow their norms. The church we are talking about in this context is more the organized institution of church and not the sanctuaries some people confide in or, the community that the Sunday sermon can bring to people.
As previously discussed, the lawsuit was filed because several members of the Phelps family and members of the Westboro Baptist Church stood in protest outside the funeral of an Iraq war soldier, a United States Marine Lance Corporal named Matthew Snyder, holding signs with inflammatory phrases on them. The father of the soldier, Albert Snyder, filed a lawsuit against the Phelps’ saying that the picketing caused an “intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of privacy, and conspiracy” (Cohen, 2012). The constitutional question is if the protection of free speech should be limited when the ideas expressed can be tied to severe emotional distress. The theory behind Snyder’s argument is based on limiting free speech when it causes “intentional emotional distress, and violations of individual privacy”. The Westboro Baptist Church, more specifically, the Phelps’ Family argument is based on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
Sentences such as this one made the people scared and angry at the Muslims and may have change their opinions of the Muslims. Consequently making them want to kill them because of all the ordeals. Urban also used the technique of causing people to change themselves through integrity. This is shown in the sentence when he says ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me’. People wanted to have others honor them which caused many to join the crusade.
Iraq Prison Scandal In the year 2003 The Bush administration justified and led the American people into war with Iraq. The White house reported claims that Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, had weapons of mass destruction and that the people of Iraq were living under brutal dictatorship from their leader. Ostensibly the war was to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and eviscerate and remnants of Alqaeda and its affiliates. The war mongers of both sides (democrats and republicans), wanted someone or something to blame for 9/11. After selling their lies and plans for the war to the America people, congress had given President Bush carte blanche to bring justice to those who caused pain and destruction on American soil.
Iraq took away our innocence!” Interview with Spc. Douglas Barber- OIF Vet suffering from PTSD 12/03/05 Interview conducted by Jay Shaft, Editor and Lead Investigative Reporter for Coalition For Free Thought In Media INTRODUCTION: When we left America we were so much, uh, we were innocent, you know? I would say Iraq took away our innocence as far as what we seen, what we went through. What we had to do and the things that we were prepared to have to do in order to maintain our security and our level of protection, uh, force protection with our unit. I would like to introduce
These are the questions I hope to answer. I could simply answer these questions by saying that some people are just ignorant. But I believe that nearly all Christians who dislike gays believe that they have a very strong basis for feeling the way they do. One of the first reasons that these people will give is that the Bible says homosexuality is a sin. The Bible gets the blame for a lot of things but especially for outright rejection of homosexuals.
When the sins of the Catholic Church are recited (as they so often are) the Inquisition figures prominently. People with no interest in European history know full well that it was led by brutal and fanatical churchmen who tortured, maimed, and killed those who dared question the authority of the Church. The Medieval Inquisition was the institution of the Roman Catholic Church for combating or suppressing heresy. After the Roman Church had consolidated its power in the early Middle Ages, heretics came to be regarded as enemies of society. The crime of heresy is defined as an opinion, disbelief or deliberate denial of an article of truth of the Catholic faith.
I will also be discussing the expelling, torture and killing of non-believer and heretics of religions. Issue #1-Religious inspired violence throughout history is inexcusable. There is no reason for such acts of violence, no matter what “scriptures” say. To execute or torture another because their religious views are not as yours is immoral. It is said in many scriptures in all religions that God will punish non-believers and heretics so why would people take matters into their own hands.