Westboro+Baptist+Church

Located in Topeka, Kansas, the Westboro Baptist Church was founded in 1967 by Fred Phelps. With no affiliation to other Baptist organizations, the church is comprised mostly of the children and grandchildren of the Phelps’ family. Now best known for their picketing of military funerals, before beginning to picket the funerals of soldiers (particularly gay soldiers), the Westboro Baptist Church picketed a funeral in 1998 of a murdered gay man named Matthew Shepard, which garnered their first taste of wide-spread national attention (Anti-Defamation League, 2011). The Westboro Baptist Church is isolated from support by other groups, does not accept donations from outside people or organizations, and is slammed and rejected by both sides of the political aisle. Their stirring actions do not stop only at military funerals, however. They have picketed the site of Ground Zero, the funerals of soldiers who have died in Iraq, as well as many funerals of high-profile deaths, such as former president of the Church of Latter Day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley and Elizabeth Edwards. Apart from actual protesting, the church also announces plans to protest, often in exchange for media time or simply to stir outrage, as was demonstrated with the plans to protest the funeral of nine-year-old Christina Green, who was killed in the Tucson shooting of January 2011 or their announcement to protest Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral because of her adulterous life and AIDS activism. Their message, regardless of the venue for protest, is consistently communicated: God hates the world for accepting immoral ways of life, and punishes its people through catastrophe and death (Wood, 2008).
 * History and Message **

**Anti-Gay Agenda and Means of Communication ** Many individuals and groups in the United States criticize gay marriage in different ways and through different means of indoctrination. Ironically, the gay rights movement has polarized the United States and the US is criticized for law and beliefs often seen as archaic in comparison to other Western countries—however, the Westboro Baptist Church strongly criticizes the United States’ “acceptance” and “enabling” of homosexuality. Their means of communication come from signs, videos, radio airtime, and postings on their website. Perhaps the message of the Westboro Baptist Church would be less pervasive if not for the internet, where interviews, photographs of signs, and footage of protests can be seen by internet users easily (Haggerty, 2011). The Westboro Baptist Church uses a combination of inflammatory language and pop culture references to communicate their anti-gay sentiments. They use pop culture references, such as song parodies, to get across their message during protests. “God Hates the World”, a remake of Michael Jackson’s hit “We Are the World”, is one example of a song parody that is often chanted during protests. In a video entitled “USA Equals Fag Nation”, the organization attacks the film “Brokeback Mountain”, beginning with the following: “It is the cutting edge film of American culture. The entertainment industry used to market ‘O Romeo, Romeo where for art thou Romeo.’ Now it markets ‘Romeo, Romeo, where is your feces Romeo.’” This shocking language does not stop at attacking the media, but even extends to the government later in the video: “George Bush, in order to kiss fag ass, installs in his administration out of closet, practicing homosexuals. The National Education Association’s prime directive is to sodomize America’s youth. You walk into any classroom from Harvard University to main street elementary school-- the lesson they learn every day is that it’s okay to be gay and anyone who says otherwise must be eliminated.” Their communication about their distaste for homosexual practices and lifestyle is sweeping and general, extending criticism to all non-members (Mesaros-Winckles, 2009).

**Attempted Censorship ** The Westboro Baptist Church has faced many attempts to censor their communication about what they consider to be acceptable sexual practices. In February 2011, computer hackers allegedly sent out a threat to shut down the website of the Westboro Baptist Church. During a live interview later that month, Shirley Phelps told the hacker organization known as “Anonymous” that they would be unable to stop them from spreading “the word of God.” During the same interview, after Phelps’ taunting of “Anonymous”, the group launched an attack on the Westboro Baptist Church’s website and sent a message “waging war” until the group ceases to publicly protest funerals, on air Anonymous slammed their intolerance and hate for homosexuals. Because of this shut down of the website, it is now difficult to find or access the Westboro Baptist Church’s press releases or online videos (Dwyer, 2011). The Westboro Baptist Church has so far been protected by law by their right to free speech. A case was brought to the Supreme Court by the family of a Marine who died in combat, claiming that the right to privacy should protect grieving families during a funeral ceremony. In March 2011, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church, upholding the church’s right to protest military funerals and thus protected them from having to pay damages to the distressed family. After the ruling, the Westboro Baptist Church vowed to “quadruple” their protests of gay soldier’s funerals (Dwyer, 2011). Although not directly related to their criticism of sexual behavior, their right to protest was directly cut in Arizona following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords in Tucson. Shortly after the shooting, the Westboro Baptist Church announced their intention to picket the funeral of nine-year-old Christina Green, who was murdered while attending the public appearance of Congresswoman Giffords. The Westboro Baptist Church was met with much backlash, and initiatives to stifle their protests were organized by the community. The Hell’s Angel’s Motorcycle Club of Phoenix organized a rally to peacefully prevent protesters from getting close to the funeral, as had been done before in other Hell’s Angels chapters for previous events. Additionally, students at the University of Arizona planned to wear 8 by 10 foot angel wings to stop protesters from being seen by funeral attendees, part of an “angel action” counter-protest initiative started in the 1990’s (King, 2011). Before the funeral, however, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed emergency legislation that barred protests within 300 feet of a funeral and within an hour from its beginning or end, making the Westboro Baptist Church’s usual protesting a misdemeanor in the state of Arizona, thereby also restricting funeral protests after Christina Green’s (CNN, 2011).

**Children of the Westboro Baptist Church ** Although a widely controversial organization overall, The Westboro Baptist’s Church has undergone much criticism particularly for its integration of children in protest, often holding signs with hateful words such as “God Hates Fags”. Children who are a part of the Westboro Baptist Church are often filmed repeating anti-gay retorts and flagrantly using the word “fag” to describe a member of the LGBT community, often reiterating that people who are not members of the church are going to hell. Children face the same dangers as adults during protest, and are sometimes the victims of crime and attacks. Children who are a part of the church community cannot both disagree with the church’s message and stay a part of the Phelps family. If the children question the teachings of the church’s stance on same-sex relationships--or any other stance-- the children are disowned, as seen in the case of Lauren Drain, a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church and the daughter of a family currently a part of the church. Drain is estranged from her family, and has since spoken out about the church’s controversial way it raises children to hate gays and gay “enablers”. Not only cut off from her parents and her church, her younger siblings are also not allowed to have contact with her. Drain expresses the desire to talk to her siblings about God’s message of love and mercy, but also expresses frustration that children are not allowed to be exposed to other doctrines or ideas. From childhood, parent-child communication about sex and sexual orientation comes from a fanatical, fundamentalist point of view and questioning or rejection of these beliefs is punishable by family excommunication. (Ruppel, 2010) **References ** Anti-Defamation League. (2011). //Westboro Baptist Church//. Retrieved from [] CNN. (2011, January 11). //Arizona exacts funeral protest legislation//. Retrieved from <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[] <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dwyer, Devin,. (2011, March 2). //Westboro baptist church to 'quadruple' funeral protests after ruling//. Retrieved from <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Haggerty, Barbara. (Producer). (2011, March 2). A peek inside the westboro baptist church [Audio Podcast]. //All Things Considered//. Retrieved from <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">King, James. (2011, January 11). //Westboro baptist church to protest funeral of 9-year-old girl murdered in tucson shooting; hells angels to the rescue?//. Retrieved from <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Mesaros-Winckles, C. (2009). God Hates Fags: The religious rhetoric of Westboro Baptist. //Conference Papers -- National Communication Association//, 1. Retrieved from EBSCO//host//.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ruppel, Glenn,. (2010, June 4). //Raised to hate: kids of the westboro baptist church//. Retrieved from <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[]

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Wood, Greame. (2008, June 18). The family that protests together. //The Atlantic//, Retrieved from <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[]