Article: EVEN HATE GROUP DESERVES FREE SPEECH THE HATE-FILLED PROTESTS OF THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH ARE DISGUSTING, BUT A LAW RESTRICTING PROTESTERS' RIGHTS IS NOT THE ANSWER.(OPINION)(Editorial)

It's ironic that a group calling itself a church would spew hate at a funeral, where people gather to express their love and mourn.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church did just that when they protested at the Oct. 5 funeral of Spc. Michael Wendling in Theresa, the visitation for Sgt. Andrew P. Wallace in Ripon on the same day, and the Nov. 10 funeral of Spc. Benjamin A. Smith in Hudson.

In Ripon, the Kansas-based group carried placards that read: "Thank God for dead soldiers."

Those words refer to the group's bizarre and outrageous belief that U.S. military deaths are God's punishment for a country that accepts homosexuality.

The ...

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