Westboro Baptist Church.

The so called pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kansas isn’t really a pastor, but  a disbarred lawyer.  (I’m sure there is an irony there somewhere.)  According to the first amendment each of us has the right to speak our mind.  Most of us choose to use that right (in my opinion) beneficially, others don't. Fred Phelps and every member of his group uses the protection of the constitution to speak out about the only thing that protects them.

The members of the Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas are a small virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group that regularly stages protests around the country, often several times a week. The group pickets institutions and individuals they think support homosexuality or otherwise subvert what they believe is God’s law.

The Westboro Baptist Church was incorporated in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization. "WBC" considers itself an “Old School (or Primitive)” Baptist Church. The “WBC’s” leader is Fred Phelps and several of his children and dozens of his grandchildren appear to constitute the majority of the group’s members. It is no surprise that “WBC” has no official affiliation with any mainstream Baptist organizations. (no surprise here).

While “WBC” members have protested at Jewish institutions over the years, such institutions were not a major focus for the group until April 2009. Since then, “WBC” has targeted dozens of Jewish institutions around the country, from Israeli consulates to synagogues to Jewish community centers, distributing anti-Semitic fliers to announce planned protests at these sites. “WBC” has also been sending volumes (in some cases dozens over the course of a week) of faxes and emails with anti-Semitic and anti-gay messages to various Jewish institutions and individuals

IN April 2010, the group began mailing a virulently anti-Semitic DVD to Jewish organizations and leaders. The DVD also attacks President Obama, describing him as the anti-Christ, and is filled with anti-gay and anti-Catholic vitriol

Other “WBC” targets include schools the group deems to be accepting of homosexuality; Catholic, Lutheran, and other Christian denominations that “WBC” feels are heretical; and funerals for people murdered or killed in accidents like plane crashes and for American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, a tactic the group started in 2005. Though the group's specific focus may shift over time, they believe that nearly all Americans and American institutions are “sinful,” so nearly any individual or organization can be targeted.

In fact, “WBC” members say that “God’s hatred is one of His holy attributes” and that their picketing is a form of preaching to a “doomed” country unable to hear their message in any other way.