About
Westboro Baptist Church is an American church founded by pastor Fred Phelps known for promoting anti-gay and anti-semitic views. The church often organizes protests in which members hold signs reading “God Hates Fags” and praising various tragedies and disasters.
Online History
The domain for the website GodHatesFags[2] was registered on January 22nd, 1997, which features various information related to the Westboro Baptist Church, including a schedule of picketing activities, press releases, media, blog posts and open letters. The church has launched several sister sites as well, including GodHatesAmerica[4] (registered May 20th, 1999), GodHatesTheWorld[3] (registered January 18th, 2005), AmericaIsDoomed[5] (registered July 31st, 2005, now defunct), PriestsRapeBoys[6] (registered July 31st, 2005), BeastObama[7] (registered December 21st, 2008) SignMovies[8] (registered April 5th, 2009), JewsKilledJesus[9] (registered April 23rd, 2009), GodHatesIslam[10] (registered September 22nd, 2010) and GodHatesTheMedia[11] (registered November 9th, 2010). As of December 17th, 2012, the @GodHatesFagsWBC Twitter[1] account has accumulated over 2,400 followers.
Connecticut School Massacre
Following the Connecticut School Massacre on December 14th, 2012, Westboro Baptist Church leader Margie Phelps tweeted at United States President Barack Obama that gay marriage was to blame for the shooting.
President Beast @barackobama! Stop the phony tears!You brought this mayhem! STOPMARRYINGFAGS! God is not joking! You’ve brought His wrath.
— MargiePhelps (@MargieJPhelps) December 14, 2012
The same day, church representative Shirley Phelps-Roper announced via Twitter that the church planned to picket the Sandy Hook Elementary School to praise God for the shooting. Also on December 14th, a petition was created on the White House “We the People”[13] website calling for the Westboro Baptist Church to be recognized by the government as a hate group, amassing over 155,000 signatures within three days. On December 16th, Phelps-Roper’s Twitter was hacked by someone claiming to be Twitter user @CosmoTheGod.
This account is now being ran by @cosmothegod#UGNazi#oops
— Cosmo (@DearShirley) December 17, 2012
The same day, a Pastebin[12] was created containing the personally identifiable information of several church members. On December 17th, Gawker[17] published an article reporting that Anonymous had launched #OpWestboro to attack the Westboro Baptist Church and its members. The article noted that several church members credit card numbers had been leaked and that Cosmo the God had violated his parole in order to take over Phelps-Roper’s Twitter account.
Reputation
The church has been widely criticized for its outspoken views and high profile picketing stunts. According to the non-profit news blog NonProfit Quarterly,[14] political commentator Bill O’Reilly has called the church “evil” and “despicable.” The Anti-Defamation League[15] has labelled the church “virulently homophobic” and accused its members of being anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, anti-American and racist. The church has been labelled as a “hate group” by the nonprofit civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center.[16]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Twitter – @GodHatesFagsWBC
[2]GodHatesFags – Westboro Baptist Church Home Page
[3]GodHatestheWorld – God Hates the World
[4]GodHatesAmerica – God Hates the World
[5]AmericaisDomed – America is Doomed
[6]PriestsRapeBoys – Priests Rape Boys
[7]BeastObama – Antichrist Beast Obama
[8]SignMovies – Westboro Baptist Church Movies
[9]JewsKilledJesus – Jews Killed Jesus
[10]GodHatesIslam – God Hates Islam
[11]GodHatesTheMedia – God Hates The Media
[12]Pastebin – Leaked WBC Personal Contact Information
[13]We the People – Legally Recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a Hate Group
[14]NonProfit Quarterly – Students Support Targets to Oppose Westboro Baptists
[15]Anti-Defamation League – Westboro Baptist Church
[16]Southern Poverty Law Center – Westboro Baptist Church
[17]Gawker – Westboro Baptist Church Plants to Picket Sandy Hook