Arizona Legislators Ban Picketing at Funerals

Arizona lawmakers have curtailed some of the planned activity of the hateful Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. The Arizona legislators passed emergency legislation Tuesday to make it illegal for anyone to picket within 300 feet of a funeral or burial after members of the "church" announced plans to picket at a service for Christina Taylor Green, the 9-year-old little girl who was killed in the shooting spree that injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

AP reported, "Dozens of lawmakers co-sponsored the bill, and legislative action was completed within 90 minutes. The Senate's committee hearing took just three minutes." 

I'm glad lawmakers took swift action. The so-called "church" that planned to picket this funeral should lose its tax exempt status as a religious establishment. I know of no religion on earth that is as hateful and ill-spirited as the one that the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka apparently follow.

AP reported that Shirley Phelps-Roper, a spokesperson for the church, said they will not picket Green's funeral in exchange for airtime on morning talk show KXXT-AM in Phoenix, Ariz., on Saturday.

However, they're still planning to picket the funeral of U.S. District Judge John Roll and to hold a protest at the intersection where Congresswoman Giffords and others were shot.

Give me a break. Political speech is protected by the Constitution and freedom of religion is protected by the Constitution. But calling yourself a church and claiming tax exempt status while participating in purely political rhetoric is not religion. It sickens me that my tax dollars go to support this sham of a church.