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Searsport Student Takes On Kansas Church Protests Of Soldier's Funerals


A Searsport High School student is trying to put a stop to actions of a controversial church group from Kansas. The group's drawn national attention for protesting outside the funerals of soldiers killed in action.

These types of protests have outraged many including Zach Parker, a senior at Searsport High School. "I was infuriated yeah. I was infuriated about what they were doing," he says.

When Parker's class was asked by a teacher to find a political or social issue and act on it he didn't have to look far. Parker proposed a bill that would make these types of protests illegal, saying they violate, among other things, disorderly conduct laws. Now he wants to hear what you think. "So the bill proposal is sitting on my desk and it's waiting for public opinion and we'll go ahead with a seminar I planned on January 5th," he says. "People can go ahead and comment on it and I will take all of those comments and I'll revise the bill one more time. Then I'll go ahead and send it to Senator Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe's office as well as Mike Michaud."

Word of Parker's work has reached all the way to Kansas. Parker received an email from a representative of the Westboro Baptist Church condemning his actions. The email reads in part:

"You must be living in a painful Spiderman movie if you think that you can change or stop god from killing soldiers, or stop his people from standing on a public right of way to help you connect the dots from that wrath of god...your parents utterly failed in their duty to you and god says that is for the simple fact that they hate you....we don't care what you deliver to rebels, until our testimony is complete, you will never stop us from putting the plain standards of god right in your face..."

Parker says the email also said members of the church plan to be at Searsport high school the night of his public forum to protest. So what would he say to them? "I'd be civil," he says. "I'd ask why do you do this and what do you think you're trying to get across? Is this really showing God's love? Because this really isn't showing god's love in my book."

For the record Parker's teacher gave him a perfect score, a 4.5, on his project.

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Comments

10 comments so far. Add Yours!
Way to go Zack, Hard to believe the soldiers put themselves in harms way for our freedoms including theirs. Guess they forget we're all equal in God eyes. My symphonies go out to the families. Keep pushing
Greg Monk Greg Monk 12/29/2010 07:34 pm
What a wonderful thing for you to do. When young people like you look for solutions to bad situations like the protests, it gives us all hope for the future. Your parents are doing a good job in rasing you. Best of wishes to you in your presentation.
Dixie Meyer Dixie Meyer 12/29/2010 11:43 pm
I agree with you that protesting at funerals is not the thing to do and it's very disheartening to those who have lost loved ones and no it is not showing God's love. At the same time, this is exactly what our military is dying for and fighting to protect, our freedom of speech. If you propose legislation that takes this freedom away, what will be next and what will these men have died for? Possibly your freedom to believe in God the way you see fit would be taken away. I hope you, Zach, are able to read these comments, because I don't live near and am not able to attend your public forum.

--from a Military wife--
Becky Becky 12/30/2010 01:14 pm
My brother SPC Kyle A. Little died at just the age of 20 protecting the very people ignorant enough to use gods name is such a distasteful way. My heart goes out to them they clearly need guidance from above. i cant tell you how outraged I was when I first heard this story. kyle never got to meet his daughter, he never got to live his life so that we could keep our freedom. Its hard to to believe we have people so ungrateful for a sacrifice so large.
kayla kayla 12/30/2010 03:01 pm
Good for you Zack. I would invite them to come stay with my at the base I am working at in Iraq and watch them as the rockets and mortars come in. We do what we can to honor and protect the soldiers and these so called 'people of god' try to cheapen and dimish the sacrafice a fallen soldier makes. You are aces in my book Zack.
David David 12/31/2010 08:52 am
Don't expect to be able to reason with them. They're irrational, unreasonable people. Little to nothing they say will make logical sense, and trying to engage in conversation will be a waste of time on your part and will probably just be frustrating. Best to deal with it the way you already are, by taking your story to the media and to the lawmakers.

Good for you for doing this.
Megan Megan 01/03/2011 09:26 am
Zack, I applaud what you are doing. I've served in the military and it tears my heart when they protest at funerals. But please know that the WBC doesn't believe that God is love, except that God loves them (aka "The Elect"), so it would be a moot point to ask them if they think their actions equate to God's love.
01/05/2011 03:42 pm
As much as most Americans find these protests to be appalling and misguided, unfortunately it will be difficult to take away their rights to free speech. If we truly support the first amendment we must be consistent across the board by allowing the bad along with the good. I applaud this student’s efforts however.
Clay Boggess Clay Boggess 01/06/2011 08:19 am
I don't believe in protesting at funerals of fallen soldiers either. God wants us to be praying for these soldiers and our leaders whether we agree with them or not. These soldiers are serving their country and protecting all of us. People may have the freedom of speech but should choose where and how they use it. It is in no way God's will for people to intrude on a family's time of grief. Nobody want to take a persons right to protest or to express their opinions away just find a more suitable place to do it.
Allyson Chadwick Allyson Chadwick 01/10/2011 10:24 am
You cant possibly be serious. Please go back to history class and read up on the constitution and what those rights mean to all of us. Sure, these people are hateful, sad, disgusting, and outrageous.. but it is their god given right to be so. Thats what all our soldiers died for, if you take it from one, you take it from all. America is falling apart enough as it is, do not carry on the attack against our freedom and way of life.

If you want to counter them, there are far better ways of doing so. Probably the best of all is to just ignore them and let them stand in the rain and continue waving their ignorant, hateful signs.
ian ian 01/10/2011 06:40 pm

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