What Is Matthew Snyder's Funeral Argumentative Essay

Amberley Snyder is the first example of courageous person who battles an injury and learns to ride again through determination, passion, and self-confidence. Amberley Snyder was a professional barrel racer who was in a serious accident. On January 10, 2010 Snyder was driving her truck and trailer on her way to the Denver stock show when she faded over a lane, when she saw this she tried to fix it but over-corrected her truck and wrecked. She hit a fence post and her back was immediately broken. She reached down and pinched her leg, but quickly realized she could not feel anything. Her doctor told her that because she was paralyzed from the waist down that she would never walk again, he also told her she would have no chance of ever being able to rodeo again. Despite what the doctor had told her Amberley Snyder was determined to ride again. Snyder says “ She made her mom promise that she would be able to rodeo again

“Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Death of Ivan Ilych” both portray a character who is dealing with a serious terminal illness and advance knowledge of their deaths. One story is based on the realistic life of an American professor with the story’s characteristics tone from the 1990’s while the other is set during nineteenth century Russia. Even though Morrie Schwartz and Ivan Ilych both suffered from the illness, their dissimilar lifestyles and beliefs led to different perspective on facing death. One views the knowledge as a blessing and an opportunity to share his life experiences before making his final good-byes, the other agonizes in pain and begs for an

You've sat in your hospital bed for at least three months now, and the pain and boredom is starting to become even more torturous than you could have imagined. The pain that you are experiencing on a day-to-day basis is excruciating; a normal, everyday procedure like using the restroom or getting something to eat is a long, drawn out, and painful ordeal. All of the doctors that you've talked to agree that you are going to die soon from the disease that has infested your body, but even six months sounds like an excruciatingly long amount of time, especially when all you have to occupy your time is lie in a bed painfully, waiting it out. Your family and friends are already distraught by the news; they already know that you are on the brink

Not affiliated with any southern baptist or general baptist churches, the thirty-nine member (The Journal) Westboro Baptist Church is primarily known for its continued protest against the LGBT community, the Catholic Church, and the military (Wikipedia). The westboro Baptist Church’s first public service was held on November 27, 1955(Wikipedia). This was the first time the church publicly condemned the world. Most recently the Westboro Baptist Church have agreed with the shooting at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida stating that God sent Omar Mateen to kill the gays because “God hates fags.” While other churches preach about loving one another as god has loved them, the westboro

The Westboro Baptist Church is a group that has been in the spotlight for the last two decades because of their unusual tactic of picketing at soldier’s funerals. The act is motivated by the notion that America’s moral are being corrupted by their acceptance of homosexuality. The act of picketing of soldier’s funerals according to the group is motivated by the fact that it is a time when mourners are emotionally vulnerable and they think of their mortality. They believe that by picketing in soldier’s funerals their message is stronger. However, this tactic has caused much consternation from both the public and the government. In the interest of the public, state legislatures have enacted laws against the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church. The landmark case of Snyder v. Phelps would have been the deciding factor against the group, but the Supreme Court held in favor of the group because their actions were protected by the First Amendment. This then would present the notion that the First Amendment trumped public interest in the decision. However, that is not the case because the case was an IIED case among others, it was a personal one. As long as the group coordinates with public authorities and does not break laws, then their acts are nothing more than nuisances that should not get in the way of celebrating the life of the dead.

Funeral protests have been an issue for years. During this most recent war, as soldiers were coming home to be laid to rest, Westboro Baptist Church made headlines by protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. During the services, members of the church would gather outside of many of the military funerals waving signs that had offensive messages on them such as, “God Hates You”, and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”. The members of this church believe that the death of the soldiers is God’s punishment for the tolerance of homosexuality in the United States. Last year the U.S, Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects these groups and any others who

Albert Snyder’s son, Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, was killed in a Humvee accident on March 3, 2006. Phelps heard about Matthew Snyder’s funeral and decided to head to Maryland with six other followers to picket. The Westboro Baptist Church picketed Lance Corporal Snyder’s funeral with signs that displayed sayings such as: “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” “Thank God for IEDs,” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” Before the members of the church arrived, they contacted local authorities to let them know about their protest. They staged themselves on public land that was parallel to a street, all the while agreeing and obeying that police officer’s orders. They showed their signs for about thirty minutes before the beginning of the funeral. Members of the church also sang songs and recited verses from the Bible. The picketers never stepped foot (they were about 1,000 feet away) on the church’s property (where the funeral was held) nor did they use profanity or

The Westboro Baptist Church was founded in 1955, by Fred Phelps, in Topeka, Kansas (Westboro Baptist Church, 2015). Before the Church was established, Fred Phelps was an associate pastor at the Eastside Baptist Church and eventually became the leader of the second Eastside church in Westboro, Kansas (Spies, 2014). Phelps’ teachings began to deviate from those of the Eastside Baptist Church and many followers left the Westboro Church, leaving mostly his family as members. Throughout his services, “Fred introduced his “hateful God” theory and showed himself to be harsh, mean-spirited and possibly unhinged” (Spies, 2014). These messages led to the formation of the Westboro Church that exists today. This also shows how many members of the group are related and how this came to be. Some major features of the Westboro Baptist Church is the actual building where services take place and the board of the Church that consists of eight elders. One of the main aspects of this co-culture is the place where the members meet to hold prayer services. The building where the members usually congregate on the 3700 block of S.W. 12th is undergoing construction at the moment (Bush, 2015). However, the basement of Shirley

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision in favor of Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church upholding the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; stating that the funeral was undisturbed by the protestors. The protestors were about 1,000 feet away on public land and the Snyder family could not see more than just the top of the protestors’ signs. There was no indication that the protest interfered with the funeral service itself. Phelps and the Westboro

According to Ullmann-Margalit (51) while dealing with the subject the agony of doubt deliberates that it is among the most confusing issues to deal with. Most people do not want to die, at least not now, and the debate of holding on to the inevitable and that of letting go heats up. Questions arise concerning the social, religious and ethical factors that have to be taken into play while considering end-of-life or right-to-die and thus bringing complexity to an otherwise easy decision. But the most crucial question to ask is: are those in support of the right-to-die justified in their movement? This will be the question that will be addressed in this argumentative essay.

In the case of Snyder vs Phelps The family of a departed Marine named Lance Cpl, Matthew Snyder put forth legal action against parties of the Westboro Baptist Church for picketing at his funeral. According to the family the church was responsible for defamation, invasion of privacy and the deliberate punishment of emotional suffering, The members of the church held signs that read "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Fag troops" at Snyder's funeral. U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett granted the Snyder family $5 million in damages. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the decision violated the First Amendment's protections of religious expression. Does the First Amendment defend protesters who deliberately cause emotional

The most common effect of death in a family is known as grief. When we understand it better, it makes the process a little less daunting. We have to realize as humans, we are not alone. Everyone has lost someone they loved and it's a natural thing to deal with. There is no normal way of dealing with death. It doesn't have patterns or a set way of dealing with it.

Brittany Maynard brought up a good argument when she said, “I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death with dignity. My question is: Who has the right to tell me that I don’t deserve this choice?” (Slotnik). Brittany Maynard was a young woman who found out she had a terminal brain cancer and ended up becoming the public face for the right to die act. Many people believe that this act should not be in place, but in taking this act away people lose their right to choose when they want to die. People may argue the fact that doctors have access the drug with assisted suicide is very unsettling; however, the doctors are professionals who are trusted with this drug. This act is important because it gives the terminally ill one last independent decision before they lose themselves. Taking away the act means taking their free will away from them.

The Phelps family belongs to a church, called Westboro, which is known to frequently picket funerals, and has done

Physician assisted suicide is requested by the terminally ill, typically when the pain from the illness is too much to handle and is not manageable through treatments or other medications. Assisted suicide is more of a broad term for helping someone die a good death, physician assisted suicide is where a medical doctor provides information and medication and the patient then administers the medications themselves. Euthanasia is also another term that is commonly heard, this refers to a medical doctor that voluntarily administers the lethal dose of medication to the patient when the patient requests it, due to not physically being able to do it themselves (Humphry, 2006). There pros and cons with this topic throughout the world, but is one of the biggest debated things here in the United States of America and to this day there are only five states that have legalized physician-assisted suicide (ProCon.org, 2015). The government should allow patients that are terminally ill the right to choose physician assisted suicide, why should they have to suffer when there is a way out.