Westboro Baptist Church

The Westboro Baptist Church as been the hype of the media for over a decade now. This corrupt hate group has hurt so many innocent families at the extent of their nonsensical beliefs. The churches most preferred target is homosexuals. Most Americans don’t even know to what extent this church has done to disrespect our country, and as to why our government has not put a stop to it. Not only does this hate group give a bad name to baptists, but also to other christians as well.
Fred Phelps is the Pastor of Westboro and members are primarily part of his large family. In 2011 the church reported it had about 40 members. The church is located in a suburban neighborhood on the west side of Topeka, Kansas. Its first public service was held November 27, 1955. Westboro is not associated with any other baptist organization, such as the two largest, The Southern Baptist Convention and The Baptist World Alliance. Both organizations have released statements disapproving the churches beliefs. Westboro describes itself as following Primitive Baptists and Calvinism (branch of western christianity that follows the theological tradition and forms of christian practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians) principals. The Westboro Baptist Church originated as a branch of the East Side Baptist Church in Topeka in 1931. In 1954 East Side hired Phelps as an associate pastor, then promoted him to pastor of their new church, Westboro Baptist, in 1956. Soon after Westboro was established Phelps cut all ties with East side Baptist. When Phelps took over the church he began to alter the beliefs of the church. Westboro now considers membership in most religious groups, such as Roman Catholic and Islam, analogous to devil worship. Westboro also states that other churches are “ satanic frauds preaching barbaric lies” . All non-christian groups, non-protestant christian churches, and all protestant christian churches that don’t strongly deprecate homosexuality, or coordinate their beliefs exactly that of Westboro are said to be sending their members to Hell.
Westboro Baptist Church has been actively bashing homosexuality since 1991, when the church tried to stop homosexual acts from happening in Gage Park. The park is located  6 blocks northwest of the church. The church also pickets anti gay protest at military funerals, and have also been reported to protest at some celebrity funerals to try and gain media attention. Westboro also protest against Jews, and have been known to stomp on the American flag. Phelps and his family picket at approximately 6 locations everyday. On sundays you can find Westboro members picketing at up to almost 50 different churches. By their own count Westboro have picketed in all 50 states. Westboro carries out daily picketing in Topeka as well as traveling.  The church pickets at funerals of homosexuals, people who have died due to complications from Aids, or other events related to homosexuality. They have also done protest at the Kansas City Chiefs football games and live pop concerts. As of march 2009 the church claims to  have picketed over 41,000 protest in over 650 cities since 1991. One of the Westboro members estimated that the church spends over $250,000 a year on picketing.
On January 15, 2006 Westboro members protested at a memorial for the Sago Mine disaster. They claimed that the mining accident was God’s revenge against America for its benevolence of homosexuality. The group came into national spotlight in 1998. Westboro was featured on CNN for picketing at the funeral of Matthew Shepard. Matthew was a young man from Wyoming. He was beaten to death by 2 men due to his homosexuality. Since then Westboro have attracted more attention for planned funeral pickets.
Matthew Snyder was a United States Marine, who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq. Westboro decided to picket his funeral holding signs that said “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God For Dead Soldiers”. Phelps released a statement saying “ Our attitude toward what’s happening with the war is simply the Lord is punishing the evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime.” Albert Snyder, Matthew’s father, filed a lawsuit against Westboro for protesting at his son’s funeral. The United States Supreme Court disgracefully ruled 8-1 saying that Westboro’s actions were compliant to free speech. In 2009 Westboro protested at Michael Jackson’s funeral. Members of the church also recorded a song  titled “God Hates The World” a variation to Jackson’s song for charity “ We Are The World” .  In January 2011 Westboro released an announcement stating they would be picketing the funeral of Christina Green, a 9yr old victim of the 2011 Tucson, Arizona shooting. In response the Arizona Legislature passed an emergency bill to ban protest within 300 feet of a funeral service. After Arizona residents heard about Westboro’s intentions they made plans to shield the funeral from protesters. On January 26, 2008 Maria Lauterbach, a U.S. Marine that was murdered, was laid to rest. Five women of the Westboro cult was there holding signs that said “ 1.2.3.4. God Hates the Marine Corps”. A group of over 40 counter-protestors and one spat in Shirley-Phelps-Roper’s face.  Another counter-protest was held across town where over 150 people arrived to shut down the cruel acts of Westboro Baptist Church. Margie Phelps made a statement to the media in reference to the book of Revelation saying that all the nations of the world soon will march onto Israel. They would be led by President Barack Obama, whom she called the Antichrist. On May 14, 2008 2 days after the massive Sichuan Earthquake, Westboro issued a press release thanking God for the extensive amount of death in China, and prayed for many more earthquakes to kill more “contemptuous and ungrateful” chinese.
There is a group of people whose main purpose is to follow these Westboro protesters to funerals and try to block them. They are known as the Patriot Guard Riders. They are a motorcyclist group mainly composed of veterans. They attend funerals of people in the U.S. Armed Forces at the invitation of the deceased’s family. The group was formed to shelter and protect the funerals from protesters of the Westboro Baptist Church.
These pickets and several others have resulted in lawsuits. Phelps Sr. was convicted of assault and disorderly conduct after spitting in someone’s face. In June 2007 Shirley-Phelps-Roper was arrested ,and charged in Nebraska. She was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The arrest resulted from her allowing her 8yr old son to stomp on the American flag during a picket, which is illegal under Nebraska law. The defense stated the child’s actions were protected speech, and the state law was unconstitutional. The prosecutors later dropped all charges.
The Westboro Baptist church well exceeds $200,000 a year in picketing expenses. This hate group is not federally funded, but is a non-profit organization therefore is not required to pay taxes.