How should groups like the WBC be dealt with?

In recent months, the group known as the Westboro Baptist Church has become one of the, if not the most, controversial groups in the United States. Openly protesting their strong beliefs on the Bible and their extreme hate toward homosexuals at military funerals (among other places), the WBC has drawn fierce criticism from many people. These people claim that the Westboro Baptist Church has abused their right of free speech and should therefore be banned from further protests. The WBC claims that they are simply spreading information that they believe to be true, as they say on their website: “Perceiving the modern militant homosexual movement to pose a clear and present danger to the survival of America, exposing our nation to the wrath of God as in 1898 B.C. at Sodom and Gomorrah, WBC has conducted 46,792 such demonstrations since June, 1991, at homosexual parades and other events, including funerals of impenitent sodomites (like Matthew Shepard) and over 400 military funerals of troops whom God has killed in Iraq/Afghanistan in righteous judgment against an evil nation.” Obviously this topic has been debated heavily, and I can honestly say that I am still undecided on the proper actions that should be taken against the WBC. In my mind, there are two possible ways to deal with the church:

On one side, a possible course of action is to do nothing and allow the protests to continue uncontested. The Supreme Court of the United States has already decided the fate of the Westboro Baptist Church. After the family of Matthew Snyder, a marine killed in Iraq sued the WBC, the Supreme Court decided that the church could continue it’s protests, to ensure “that we do not stifle public debate." Although the Westboro Baptist Church is doing nothing more than attempting to spread their hateful views, what can we really do? Taking away their right of free speech, a right guaranteed under our Constitution, is no better than what the church is doing with their protests.

On the other side, a possible course of action would be to attempt to completely reform how free speech is analyzed. This would involve reforming the First Amendment itself. Deliberately spreading hate about certain groups of people based on race, sexual orientation, etc., the Westboro Baptist Church (and any other similar group for that matter) should have all rights of free speech/expression taken away (as far as protesting is concerned). This would stop groups like the WBC from spreading useless messages of hate, at least in public where they are most dangerous. This scenario is extremely unlikely, but if it were to work, could have many positive outcomes.

After looking at the issues from both sides, I believe that the Westboro Baptist Church should be able to continue on with their protests. As much as I disagree with the beliefs/actions of the church and as much as I want to see this group stopped, I cannot bring myself to go against the rights outlined in the Constitution, even if WBC is doing nothing but spreading hate. Taking rights from specific groups would only cause more of an uproar than the one created already by the WBC I do, however, think that this group can still be stopped even with them retaining their rights. The key to stopping groups like these is to simply ignore them. They feed on people’s attention and as long as we deny them this attention, they cannot continue to spread their hateful views. Thanks for reading and feel free to post your views on this issue.