Editing Westboro Baptist Church (section)

===Criticism===
A number of Phelps' critics have suggested that the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church are merely a ploy to receive attention and publicity above all else, though the Phelpses themselves deny this claim. Counter-protesting against the group, they suggest, gives them attention and incentive that they do not deserve; and a more effective response against Phelps would be to ignore his family and congregation completely. WBC, through the closely related Phelps Chartered law firm, has collected fees under the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Attorney%27s_Fees_Award_Act_of_1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976] when their protests have been unlawfully disrupted.

A frequent critic of the WBC is political commentator [[Bill O'Reilly]], who regularly calls the church "evil and despicable". Documentary filmmaker [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moore Michael Moore] has also criticized the church.

The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Defamation_League Anti-Defamation League] (ADL) describes the Westboro Baptist Church as "virulently homophobic", whose anti-homosexual rhetoric they say is often a cover for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Semitism anti-Semitism], [[Americophobia|anti-Americanism]], racism, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism anti-Catholicism].The nonprofit civil rights organization [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Poverty_Law_Center Southern Poverty Law Center] (SPLC) has added the Westboro Baptist Church to its list of hate groups. [[Jerry Falwell]] referred to Phelps as "a first-class nut".<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>WBC picketed Falwell's funeral service on May 22, 2007.

In May 2011, representatives of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] distanced themselves from the church, denouncing them as "hatemongers".<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/battle-hate-groups/351238/ Battle of the Hate Groups: KKK Takes on Westboro], ''The Atlantic''</ref>

In response to WBC's announcement that they would picket the vigil for victims of the December 14, 2012 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting], several petitions to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House White House] (using the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_the_People_%28petitioning_system%29 We the People] system) have been submitted, calling on the President to legally recognize WBC as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_group hate group], revoke its [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_exemption_for_religious_organizations tax exemption for religious organizations], and to ban protests at funerals and memorial services. One petition, backed by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacktivist hacktivist] group [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29 Anonymous], was submitted the day of the shootings, and reached more than 75,000 signatures within two days.

Rapper [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Lethal Mac Lethal] uploaded a video titled "Beatbox + iPhone + Guitar + Fast Rap = Win By Mac Lethal" on December 18, 2012 that took inspiration from the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church and the media after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Some of the lyrics include:
:And I might suck at guitar
:but at least I've never protested a dead soldier's funeral,
:and I might be losing my hair, but at least I've never judged a woman for thinking another woman is beautiful,
:and sometimes, I mean sometimes,
:I might even text message while I drive,
:but I've never thanked God when a precious 5 year old child was shot, and died....
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Drain Lauren Drain], a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church, released an autobiography titled ''Banished'' in March 2013. She characterizes children, like herself, as being [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_control brainwashed] into their belief system and describes consequences of questioning their belief system, such as her banishment.