Free Speech and Funerals

The Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments today over a lawsuit which pits free speech rights against the normal privacy and expected dignity of funerals. It offers a good case lesson on the true value of both.

In a nutshell, a fundamentalist group out of Kansas has been protesting openly at the funerals of soldiers and citizens alike, proclaiming that God hates the United States (a highly unusual position for supposed fundamentalists) because of its supposed embrace of sin. It has been sued by at least one parent of a soldier at whose funeral they voiced their opinion. The group has been sued for invasion of privacy, international infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.

Several things need to be addressed here, not all of them of a legal nature. That's sad, because it indicates how far apart our legal and moral mindsets have become in recent times.

First of all, and perhaps most importantly of all, anyone who protests at a funeral is simply acting in a diabolical, reprehensible manner, no matter how right they may be (or think they may be). A certain respect ought to be expected at such sad events, not the least reason for which is in the very nature of last rites. Someone has died: one would think that any religion genuinely concerned with the salvation of souls would come to pray for the deceased and their families rather than attempt to spread what is essentially a message suited for the arena of public debate rather than the realm of private grieving. Protesting at funerals is simply a moral affront, something no decent human being would do.

The more legal matter involves the right of protest. Let us be perfectly clear on the following, no matter what the legal eagles might say: no one has the right to protest on private property. You may be able say what you want, but not in my house. I control the speech that happens there, as an essential private property right.

The same goes for Churches and cemeteries, if they are private held. Perhaps a band of vocal protesters can't be kept off the streets, but they surely, morally, ought to be kept off of private land or from inside private buildings. The courts may not be able to prevent them shouting on the street outside, except possibly on a violating the peace issue. It is an area which ought to be looked at more closely.

That last point may be something which cannot be usefully enforced, for a variety of reasons. At that point we, sadly, simply have to rely on the good judgments of individuals. Which means that some mean spirited folks may show up and hoot and holler. And that by itself tells us all we need to know about them.