Westboro Baptist Church

My first reaction to the Westboro Baptist Church is absolute horror. I cannot imagine any human being thinking that it is acceptable to picket a funeral and shout obscene things to the mourning family. However, even though I am repulsed by their actions, I support their right to protest. I think that we must protect the Westboro Baptist Church member's right to protest because even though they shout awful things, they never physically hurt anyone. I think that we must protect their right to protest because if we censor them, we no longer have a clear definition of what is censor-worthy and what is acceptable public speech. If we say that the protest of the church members is too offensive and unconstitutional, we run the risk of people claiming that all types of protest are too offensive to be allowed. Everyone's viewpoint offends at least one person, and if we censor one group, then it is possible that every protest group will eventually be banned. I personally think that the beliefs of the Westboro Baptist Church are awful, but I think that the right to protest is far to important to sacrifice simply to shut them up.