Free Speech and Manners of Life and Death

This will be the first, and I sincerely hope the only, time I mention the Westboro Baptist Church on this blog. They are a despicable "church" group that travels around the Country protesting funerals of Armed Service Members who have been killed in the line of duty. Their message, as far as I understand it, is that these brave men and women have died because God is punishing our country for our tolerance of homosexual lifestyles. The logical, moral, and tactful gap in their argument is so enormously wide that I will not even bother to go into further discussion in regards to their 'message'. These folks, to me, are the scum of the earth. My primal reaction, if I would encounter these folks at the funeral of someone close to me, would be to take a ballbat to their knees and kick them a few more times for good measure. This emotional response is exactly why an impartial Judiciary is such a crucial part of our free country.
The Supreme Court today upheld the Free Speech rights of this extremely unpopular minority view. Did it hurt to see those bastards 'win' a victory in the Highest Court in the Land? Of course it did. As I mulled it over however, I came to a recognition that it was the right decision. The Courts are not there to protect popular people saying popular things, they don't need the help. The Courts are there to protect the rights of unpopular people who do not violate any laws. As much as I despise their point of view, the church protestors have been very careful not to violate any established laws while making their obnoxious and rancid statement at the worst possible time and place. The right to free speech supersedes good taste.
The importance of this point was really driven home by another event half way around the world in Pakistan, where Shabaz Bhatti, the Government Minister for Religious Minorities, and the only Christian in the Government was brazenly gunned down and murdered for his vocal opposition to the countries harsh blasphemy laws. Here was someone who willingly forfeited his life over a manner of speech. It is obvious from what happened to him that his message made him extremely unpopular with some in his homeland. But he was willing to take a stand and die for his deeply held convictions in the power of free speech. That we all could be so bold.