Sometimes, running a church out of a town is not a bad thing.

For those who may not know, the Westboro Baptist Church was founded by Pastor Fred Phelps, who convinced his congregation to protest at soldiers funerals against gay rights.

In other words, grandstanding, doing something controversial to attract attention to themselves so people will notice their cause.

Westboro’s latest attempt to protest and attract attention to them was in Moore Oklahoma, when they received permission to protest in front of the town’s academic building. The town could not deny the church their rights to freedom of speech, and the church planned on protesting against gay rights, linking their protest to the people who had been killed by a tornado in that town a year before. The church promoted the idea that they believed the natural disaster was a result of “God’s wrath” and hatred towards the town by passing out fliers.

The city had given the Westboro Baptist Church a permit to protest a total of 30 minutes in front of the town’s Central Junior High School.

Not surprisingly, the town’s people of Moore did not appreciate Westboro Church’s goals. They were disgusted and hundreds of people gathered, intimidating the protesters into leaving within eight minutes of the beginning of their protest.

The two groups were separated by a line of policemen, and the church came with signs promoting their ideas. Some of the town’s people came prepared with their own picket-signs, criticizing Westboro Church, and shouting across the line at the protesters. According to Moore Police, no arrest or injuries were reported.

Moore’s showcase of disgust towards Westboro church proved to be a long overdue wake up call to the congregation.

For Moore to take a stand against these attention-seeking hogs is about time. Why no one else has ever worked to remove these protesters from across the street of funerals is the real problem.

According to MSNBC, the church has staged nearly 52,500 anti-gay protests and pickets at military funerals since the Kansas organization was founded in 1955. And despite their numerous controversial protest, this is the only time it has been reported they left a protest early.

Westboro church can preach its beliefs all it wants, but when it begins to drag in the lost lives of loved ones, especially kids or military members, it has crossed a boundary in society. The respect that is held towards a person who dies for their country or the silent sorrow felt for a family that has lost its child is lost when picketers line the street to compromise their memory with unrelated issues.
The truly ironic note was when Westboro Baptist Church Pastor Phelps passed away and they released the statement criticizing the media for “gleefully anticipating” his death. How would they phrase their protest? “A showcase of God’s love coincidently at the same place and time of a family’s funeral and mourning?” Would that not categorize them as insensitive and cold as well?