09 March 2006

Church in Kansas sinks to new low


It is difficult to put into words what could possibly motivate a person to use someone’s funeral as a means of protest. However, that is exactly what a small-minded group of individuals are doing in the name of Christianity in Kansas. The Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church has outraged mourning communities by standing outside soldier’s funerals with vile signs that read "God Hates Fags". The group’s message is that soldiers are being struck down by God because they’re fighting for a nation that tolerates homosexuality. Around 60 of the group’s 75 members travel the country to picket military funerals preaching their message of hate at the most inappropriate of times. Recent moves by four states to introduce new laws limiting such protests have been welcomed by the group for bringing attention to their cause. The group plan to challenge the laws as being in opposition to the First Amendment. By sinking so low as to use the death and bereavement of others as a means to preach their message they will instead lose any support they may have received from conservative America and further marginalise the Christian right-wing movement.

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