Westboro Baptist Church: Difference between revisions

[[Xenophobia]]<br>}}

{{Quote|GOD HATES FAGS!|The WBC's infamous slogan.}}

The '''Westboro Baptist Church''' ('''WBC''') are self-proclaimed "Christians" unaffiliated Baptist church known for its extreme ideologies, particularly its [[homophobia]]. The church is widely described as a [[Hate Groups|hate group]] and is monitored as such by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center. Founded by since-excommunicated pastor [[Fred Phelps]], the church consists primarily of members of his large family; in 2011, the church stated that it had about 40 members. The church is headquartered in a residential neighborhood on the west side of Topeka about three miles (5 km) west of the Kansas State Capitol. Its first public service was held on the afternoon of November 27, 1955.

The Westboro Baptist Church originated as a branch of the East Side Baptist Church in Topeka, established in 1931. In 1954, East Side hired Phelps as an associate pastor, and then promoted him to be the pastor of their new church, Westboro Baptist, which opened in 1956. Soon after Westboro was established, Phelps broke all ties with East Side Baptist.

==Protest activities==

The group carries out daily picketing in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topeka,_Kansas Topeka] and travels nationally to picket the funerals of gay victims of murder, gay-bashing or people who have died from complications relating to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS AIDS]; other events related or peripherally related to homosexuality; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Chiefs Kansas City Chiefs] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football football] games; and live pop concerts. As of March 2009 the church claims to have participated in over 41,000 protests in over 650 cities since 1991. One of Westboro's followers estimated that the church spends $250,000 a year on picketing.

The pickets have resulted in several lawsuits. In 1995, Phelps Sr.'s eldest grandson, Benjamin Phelps, was convicted of assault and disorderly conduct after spitting upon the face of a passerby during a picket. In the 1990s the church won a series of lawsuits against the City of Topeka and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawnee_County Shawnee County] for efforts taken to prevent or hinder WBC picketing, and was awarded approximately $200,000 in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney%27s_fee attorney's fees] and costs associated with the litigation. In 2004, Margie Phelps and her son Jacob were arrested for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespassing trespassing], disorderly conduct and failure to obey after disregarding a police officer's order during an attempted protest. In response to pickets at funerals, Kansas passed a law prohibiting picketing at such events. In the autumn of 2007, the father of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Marines Marine] whose funeral was picketed by the WBC was awarded $5 million in damages. The award was later overturned on appeal by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Fourth_Circuit Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals] in a decision upheld by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States Supreme Court] in ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_v._Phelps Snyder v. Phelps]''. In June 2007 [[Shirley Phelps-Roper]] was arrested in Nebraska and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The arrest resulted from her allowing her eight-year-old son to step on the American flag during the demonstration, which is illegal under Nebraska law. The defense contends that the child's actions were protected speech, and that the state law is unconstitutional. The prosecution claimed the demonstration was not intended as political speech, but as an incitement to violence, and that Phelps-Roper's conduct might also constitute [[Child Abuse|child abuse]]. Prosecutors later dropped charges against Phelps-Roper.

===Anti-gay picketing===

While being filmed by documentary film-maker [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux Louis Theroux], they picketed a local appliance store because it sold Swedish vacuum cleaners, which the church viewed as supportive of gay people because of Swedish prosecution of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85ke_Green Åke Green], a pastor critical of homosexuality.

Whatever righteous cause the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism Jewish] victims of the 1930s–40s [[Nazi Party|Nazi]] [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] had (probably minuscule, compared to the Jewish Holocausts against [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Passage Middle Passage] Blacks, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans African Americans] and Christians—including the bloody persecution of Westboro Baptist Church by Topeka Jews in the 1990s), has been drowned in sodomite semen. American taxpayers are financing this unholy monument to Jewish mendacity and greed and to filthy fag lust. Homosexuals and Jews dominated [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany Nazi Germany] ... The Jews now wander the earth despised, smitten with moral and spiritual blindness by a divine judicial stroke ... And God has smitten Jews with a certain unique madness ... Jews, thus perverted, out of all proportion to their numbers energize the militant sodomite agenda... Jews are the real Nazis. WBC was present at a 2002 Holocaust memorial dedication in Topeka, proclaiming "God Hates [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Judaism Reform Judaism]".

In an interview, Margie Phelps said that her church was targeting the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Jews American Jewish community] because church members had "testified" to Gentiles for 19 years that "America is doomed" and that "Now it's too late. We're done with them." She also claimed that Jews were "one of the loudest voices" in favor of homosexuality and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion abortion], and that "[Jews] claim to be God's chosen people. Do you think that God is going to wink at that forever?" Phelps concluded by stating, in an apparent reference to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation Book of Revelation], that all the nations of the world would soon march on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel Israel], and that they would be led by President [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama Barack Obama], whom she called the "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist Antichrist]".