tonight on "nightline," the haters. we go on the road with members of one of america's most wildly despised churches. ♪ you're going kragt to hell on your crazy train ♪ >> made infamous by picketing the funerals of u.s. troops. we're there as they take care case to the supreme court. plus, do not try this at home. or this. or this, either. as johnny knoxville and his "jackass" crew prepare for their

new crazy antics. we go behind the scenes with the leader in extremely painful entertainment. and palin's plan. does a leaked e-mail from her husband suggest she may well run for president? >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," october 6th, 2010. >> good evening. we begin tonight with religion and free speech and the explosive intersection of the two. the westboro baptist church is known for picketing the funerals of u.s. soldiers and marines in protest over what the church sees as the ills of american society. gays, in particular. today, their free speech case ended up before the supreme court, but we wanted to know more about who they are and what terry moran boarded the westboro

van for our series, "faith matters." >> reporter: they're shocking. ♪ god showed his wrath to thee >> reporter: they're cruel and outrageous, and for most americans, simply beyond the pale. >> thank god for dead soldiers. >> reporter: should they be against the law? what the members of this church in kansas do at the funerals of fallen soldiers and marines seems to have violated an almost universal sense of basic human decency. and they know it. and they're proud of it. you seem to have crossed a line for just about everyone. >> you know what, how good that is for you to say that? >> reporter: that's good? >> yes, because this nation has crossed every line of god's standards. >> reporter: for five years now, the few dozen zell lots that belong to the church, most of them are from one family, the phelps clan. they've been spewing a grim and dark message, a message they argue it's their first amendment

right to spread, and they, they brought that to the supreme court. >> when you have a public funeral and you broadcast to the nation that that dead soldier is a hero and that god is blessing america, we will be there and tell you, god is cursing america. >> reporter: that's margie phelps, whose father fred founded the church. she's their lead attorney. and that's one side of her. yet, this is her yesterday. that's her wearing the american flag around her waist. you hear that old saying about the -- about the lawyer who represents herself as a fool for a client? >> sure, i've heard that. if i wasn't professional and i didn't understand proper decor rum, i've been representing this church for 20 years and picketing for 20 years and i win them all. >> reporter: for the past four days, church members and their kids have been making their way to washington for their big day in court. traveling from topeka, along

i-70. >> all of these flags are going to have to go home and to the laundry. >> reporter: every couple of hours they stop and picket or protest somewhere. out come the hateful signs and upstarts the hateful singing. this little church, as they like to call themselves, always attracts a loud crowd on the other side. we rode along with the church members as they headed to arlington national cemetery to protest there. everyone i talk to about this case has the same reaction. >> yeah. >> reporter: and it's not friendly towards you. >> they'd like to shut us up. is that the reaction they have? >> reporter: is there no other way, no other place? a funeral when they're mourning their babies? >> wait a minute, hold up. >> reporter: is there no other place? can't you be more decent than that? >> let's let the ladies sing it for him. ♪ crying about your feelings ♪ for your sin no shame

♪ you're going straight to hell on your crazy train ♪ that's what we're telling you. you have reduced this entire nation to a bunch of squally girls. >> reporter: back on the road, there's a little praying. >> praise your holy name. >> reporter: a little singing. ♪ and we'll be >> reporter: and a lot of attention. a lot, to their media coverage. >> this tweet says, we need a media blackout for the westboro church. >> they had a story of a dead soldier out of fredrik. >> reporter: do you like doing this. >> oh, i love it. we just drove for four days in this van with nine people including two little boys. and we stopped along the way -- it was our i-70 god smack tour. >> reporter: yeah, they seem to enjoy what they do. they don't seem to care, at all, about the pain they cause, the pain you can still hear in the voice of albert synder today, outside the supreme court.

>> it is something no family should have to live through. >> reporter: albert synder's son, matthew synder, was killed serving his country in iraq in 2006. he was 20 years old. the westboro church picketed his funeral. >> i'm sorry that they raised their son for the devil in hell. i'm sorry that they let him have anything to do with the [ bleep ] army and got himself killed over there, defending [ bleep ] country. >> reporter: that's fred phelps, margie's father, and the pastor of westboro. after his son's funeral, albert synder sued phelps and the church. >> all we wanted to do was bury matt with dignity and respect. >> reporter: yesterday, church members rolled into washington and headed to what they think is the center of everything that's wrong in the world. the white house. ♪ you got more perversion to display ♪ ♪ there's no part of you >> reporter: among the protesters on this chilly october afternoon, another counter protesters.

>> do i agree with their message, absolutely not. but do i agree that they should have the right to come spread their filth, unfortunately for all of us, yes, i do. >> reporter: then, arlington. just as soon as the bus loads started singing, a group of veterans on motor cycles showed up to try to drown them out. but westboro, not only are they used to these counter demonstrations, they laugh at what their opponents do. >> louder, ladies! louder! >> reporter: mocking the motorcycle revving as their flag dancing music as they desecrate the flag matthew synder and so many others buried here have died for. but they don't buy that idea. >> and we're not afraid. we're not afraid of any of these brutes out here. >> reporter: one of the reasons you're not afraid is because people like matthew synder died for your freedom. >> oh -- >> reporter: they are so proud, so defiant.

♪ and your army goes marching to hell ♪ >> reporter: aren't you ashamed of yourselves? >> why would we be ashamed of ourselves for upholding the standard of god? >> reporter: these protesters are professionals at this, and margie phelps knows the law. >> the commitment in this nation is wide open, robust, public debate up to and including the most outrageous talk and if all you've got as the plaintiff is an adverse emotional impact, that's the words of the court, let me put that in some street talk. you hurt my feelings. the first amendment says, you don't get $11 million. >> reporter: and at the end of the day, it seems the westboro protesters know all they've really accomplisheded is to make themselves despised. >> by the way, you're getting all your bowing down. we're not stopping your bowing down. who have we persuaded? who have we changed? >> reporter: nobody. >> what funeral have we stopped?

>> reporter: none. >> what taps have we silenced. >> reporter: not a one. >> then get over yourself. >> reporter: until country changes its ways to suit them, or the supreme court finds against them, this show will go on. and on. for "nightline," i'm terry moran. >> we will, of course, follow the court's decision closely. when we come back, we take a sharp turn to the world of full contact comedy. johnny knoxville on his life of ♪ let's take a look at the stats. mini has more than double the fiber and whole grain... making him a great contender in this bout... against mid-morning hunger. honey nut cheerios is coming in a little short. you've got more whole grain in your little finger! let's get ready for breakfaaaaaaaaaast! ( ding, cheering, ringing ) keeping you full and focused with more than double the fiber and whole grain...

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we go to entertainment. the name says it all. they're reckless, disaster-prone and proud of it. and ever since their television show premiered on mtv in 2000, the "jackass" crew has raised the bar for come immediatic stunts taken to the edge of recognizable sanity, and then went right over it. bill weir sits down with the leader, johnny knoxville, for our series, "seriously funny." >> reporter: some artists express themselves in water colors. or folk dance. but johnny knoxville, he works in gravity and pain. alligators and port-a-potties.

their muse? a sensibility of a 13-year-old sadist in his underpants. and while tossing a beehive into a limo full of friends, or saming a fire hose rodeo -- >> four score and seven years ago. >> reporter: or reciting the getties burg address in a beard of leaeches may not get them on "american masters," they've earned money doing it. and "jackass" 3d could be worth $100 million more. i was watching the movie, and either you and your cronies are a post-ironic group of savants that underrep till yan triggers in your audiences developing brains or you're complete morons who got lucky. >> man, that's -- that's a long walk in a cold rain.

you know? we just try to think of stuff that's funny. when you film with both hands on the camera light that, you really leave yourself up for a nut shot. >> reporter: hang out with him for an afternoon, and you see there's no act in knox vim's act. mayhem isn't constant. in fact, he's pleasantly subdued and polite for a guy who likes to bring air horns to the golf course. it was that sort of zest for life that took hold of a young phillip john clap and convinced him to get the hell out of his native knoxville. were you making dirt bike ramps and going off the garage? >> not really, man. when i was little, i was really sick a lot with asthma and i grew up in front of the tv, mostly. >> reporter: it makes sense that "tom and jerry" and "the three stooges" helped shape him. but he says it was his dad that taught him the definition of funny.

>> he owned a tire company and he would make his workers ex-lax milk shakes, they'd get letters from the vd clinic. rubber stamped on a thing and their wives would receive it. >> reporter: after high school, he came to hollywood with the vague notion of becoming an actor and stumbled into the idea that would change his life. >> my then-wife, we were having a child and i'd been knocking around hollywood for a number of years. when you have a daughter on the way, i need to do something. i started writing for magazines. >> reporter: the magazine was devoted to skateboarding and its proudly vulgar sub culture. when he pitched a story on testing self-defense products on himself, his editor upped the ante. >> we'll video it, too. >> reporter: their videos became such a hit, they were getting calls from the likes of

"saturday night live." but they passed to retain control of their ideas and stay loy loyal. in 2000 "jackass" premiered on mtv. to the delight of stunted adolescents everywhere and the horror of offended grownups. >> hello, i'm johnny knoxville. >> reporter: their protests intense fiped after a 13-year-old burned himself afternoon imitating one of their stunts. >> that was rough. we always took every opportunity to try and stress, don't try this at home, it was on every -- so many warnings. i felt bad when the kid's got hurt. you just don't like those series period. >> reporter: did it give you second thoughts about what you were doing for a living? >> no, because i thought we had taken all the steps we could to prevent that type of thing. and at some point, i think it goes back to the parents and

their relationship with the kids. >> this is all flour for our friend bam. and in the movie, this is where the high five happens. >> what's up? >> not much. how you been? high five! >> reporter: the seat of the empire sits in an office park in burbank where gags are hatch and later edited. it looks like any other office, but with a lot of dangerous props. >> this is the motorcycle that they used to snake river redemption. >> reporter: and a disturbing number of naked male murals. what's up with all the naked men in your office? >> things are funnier when you're naked, we think. you get naked, funny. >> reporter: what's the -- what's the worst anybody's gotten hurt? >> well, we had a lot of

injuries. but -- nothing forever bad, you know? >> reporter: there's a scene in the movie with the bull where you nearly snapped your neck. >> well, yeah, the only thing that broke my fall was the back of my neck. but i'm real limber, you know? i'm real limber. so, that's -- >> reporter: that's impressive. >> yeah, i learned that at county. >> reporter: what he did not learn at county is how to play pool. since there is a twist in everything he does, johnny create as rule that we have to make eye contact on the final shot. loser does 20 pushups. it's not exactly loser snorts wasabi, but the satisfaction is still as sweet when knoxville squashes on the eight-ball. yes! yes, another day -- >> hello, my name's johnny knoxville. welcome to "nightline." >> reporter: another amusing

dose of physical humiliation. >> we're at 12. 13. >> no, we are not! >> three, four -- >> no, this is 16. [ bleep ] you, i mean -- f-you. >> reporter: i'm bill weir for "nightline" in burbank, california. >> good game. "jackass" opens in theaters october 15th. zblen when we come back, carlos santana, the rock guitarist, items us about the sounds and the tunes that have influenced him most. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? did the little piggy cry wee wee wee all the way home? piggy: weeeeeee, weeeeeee, "weeeeeee, weeeee weeeeeeee. mom: max. ...maxwell!

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>> announcer >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with cynthia mcfadden. >> well, he's an icon whose signature electric guitar sounds win him new fans every day. carlos santana grew up watching his father play violin in their native mexico. then he moved to san francisco and started his own band, santana, and the rest of us, women, the rest of it, as they say, is history. carlos santana is tonight's play list. ♪ >> my first musical memory is my father playing. people literally adored my dad. when i looked at their eyes looking at my dad, i said, that's what i want. ♪ there's a song called "vereda

tropical." when my dad and mom would get into a fight, he would stand in front of a window and sing. we knew it was going to be all right. "rock me baby" all night long. that was -- because i come from the streets of tijuana, i like ghetto music. so, that song has a real, you know, cut and shoot, the real deal, you know? for me, hearing the electric guitar for the first time was the equivalent of seeing a whale for the first time or a flying saucer. ♪ the ultimate song would be "a love supreme." when you hear that, it's the song that inspires humans to aspire. san francisco became a university, all of a sudden, i was exposed to miles and coltrane and that opened up everything for me. ♪

woodstock for me was like, you wake up from this dream that you're washing dishes and the next minute you're at this incredible stage with the people like that and it's really overwhelming. ♪ do you remember ♪ how we used to talk >> do you remember. ♪ do you remember >> quincy jones is a supreme genius, to create those grooves. i don't see anyone close to michael jackson. not even close. 50 years 5shgs 00 years from now, you're going to be still be dancing to michael jackson. ♪ i would definitely say miles dav davis, sketches of spain.

it's a very, very evolved, mature, lover kind of thing. when you listen to that, there's splendor. i wouldn't want to be on this planet without it. ♪ i see trees of green ♪ red roses, too >> "what a wonderful world." certain songs that eliminate the illusion of a person being more important than another person. it brings the people that serve the food, park the cars, along with the donald trumps and, you know, all of a sudden, it brings equality and justice for everybody. i literally live in the treatments with a hat on the floor. i'm still the same guy, but the hat got really big, you know? ♪ yzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyzyz

>> jimmy >> jimmy: tonight, the cast of "modern family." music from band of horses and "dancing with the star

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