What is the purpose of the "westboro baptist church"?

Question

I live in Australia and I was watching pay tv and this American show came on and an English guy was interviewing this woman and her two daughters and they were from "the westboro baptist church" or something and they seemed to really hate g**s and everyone knew who they were ( they actually seemed kinda infamous) what's up with them? Why are they so "popular"? I googled them and their was heaps but I still don't get it. I am only 16 so don't pay me out for being to naive.

Answer 1

The other three answers said it better than I possibly could.  Bravo!

I must add something though:

For a group of people who seem to claim a strong Christian background and whatnot, they sure do as little as possible to actually follow the teachings.  Passing judgment and hating are two of the things that are actually looked DOWN upon according to the bible.

I don't care what those people have to say.  They would use their spiteful-bigotted-idiotic words to "condemn me to h**l" because I'm g*y, an atheist, and I read fiction and play Final Fantasy games.

I'm not sure if they are the types of people who are against fiction involving magic, fictitious creatures, and the like (some religious groups are) but it wouldn't surprise me.

Answer 2

LOL :D

i just asked this question :)

i hate that silly family

Answer 3

They're "n***s"... They preach hate and intolerance and they say "Thank God for everything, Thank God for Katrina, Thank God for 911, kill f**s etc. etc."

Basically they are ******* twats that should be raped to death.

Answer 4

Actually there are only about 70 members of the WBC. They are actually a hateful group of people whose idea of a fun church gathering is to go to the funeral of a dead soldier and form a picket line protesting about how God hates the world and everyone is going to h**l.

They have also protested at Heath Ledger's funeral sporting signs saying that he rots in h**l. They also went to Al Gore's father's funeral because he supported some g*y rights.

The leader is Fred Phelps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps

These people are incredibly horrible. This is what Phelps had to say when they were protesting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.:

Whatever righteous cause the Jewish victims of the 1930s-40s n**i Holocaust had... has been drowned in sodomite s***n. American taxpayers are financing this unholy monument to Jewish mendacity and greed and to filthy f*g lust. Homosexuals and Jews dominated n**i 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 n***s.

Answer 5

Hate, ignorance and intolerance.

Answer 6

Ahhh the WBC.

They say they are God's messengers and are here to tell us all that we are all going to h**l. Not just g**s, but those who enable g**s. Heck, even people with nothing to do with being g*y....

Most people say they are just out to spread hate.

I say they're a bunch of pocket sized clowns who will be nothing more than a memory in 20 years.

Their "popularity" stems from their shock value of picketing funerals.  

Answer 7

The handle of their website says it all (godhatesfags.com). Their leader (Phelps) is convinced - and has built an entire cult/sect - that all the "ills" in this world like hunger, unemployment, wars, etc. are the direct result of the USA, and any other country, that tolerates homosexuality.

They are vociferous in their attacks, that's why they are "news", and generate much publicity. They have stood outside burial rites of American soldiers who died while holding placards that say "Your son/daughter died because USA tolerates homosexuality" - and which is also the reason why even the conservatives are ashamed of the WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) and consider them extremists in their ranks.