The Westboro Baptist Church, which brought its distinctive interpretation of Christianity to the Whitman community in a 2009 protest, has caught the attention of the Supreme Court for protesting at a soldier’s funeral. A decision is pending for the case of Snyder v. Phelps. The Bethesda community vividly recalls the church’s appearance at Whitman and their malicious hatred of homosexuals, as well as all African Americans, Jews and other minority groups. But, despite the hateful nature of their beliefs, the members of the church are entitled to free speech.

The Westboro Baptist Church is far from a standard church. The Kansas-based congregation has fewer than 100 members, all of whom belong to the Phelps family. The members of the church, including young children, travel the country in protest, carrying posters with statements like “God hates fags” and “You’re going to hell.” The church also protests the funerals of many soldiers to convey their belief that God killed them due to the United States’ tolerance of homosexuals in the military.

Though these beliefs are cruel and hateful, the church members are allowed to advocate their messages as long as doing so doesn’t violate privacy, disobey time, place and manner restrictions, or inflict emotional distress. The church is very careful about its protests and always complies with the law.

In the case of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder’s recent funeral, the subject of the recent Supreme Court case, Westboro Baptist Church members didn’t violate the attendants’ privacy because the Snyder family published an obituary in the newspaper publicizing the event. If the family hadn’t published the obituary, the church wouldn’t have protested, said Westboro Baptist Church lawyer Margie Phelps to the jury, according to the case transcript.

The protesters obeyed all state restrictions: they stood about 1,000 feet away from the funeral and left once the service commenced. Snyder’s father, Albert, saw no more than the tops of signs in the distance and wasn’t affected by their messages until later when he viewed news coverage of the event. And members of the church didn’t harass him or force him into watching it.

It seems fair that the court limits the church’s rights to protest at funerals in which family mourns the tragic loss of their beloved war hero. However, restricting the ability to protest is unconstitutional and risky. Limiting the church members’ rights to free speech would set a precedent for the Supreme Court to restrict free speech in more harmful ways in the future. Courts would be forced to decide on subjective matters like whether someone’s feelings were hurt badly enough to constitute a violation of their rights, or whether an argument was aimed strictly at a specific person or group.

It hurts to watch the Westboro Baptist Church continue protesting so maliciously and offensively. But it would hurt our nation even further to start limiting the freedom of speech which we value so highly.