Westboro Baptist Church

Madeleine Engle ## What is Westboro Baptist Church? What is Westboro Baptist Church? Why do they picket funerals and other churches? These are two of the common questions people have about Westboro Baptist Church.

 

 Is Westboro Really Christian or Baptist or even a “Church”? Westboro Baptist Church would say that they are Christians; in fact, they would say they are some of the very few "true Christians" in the world today. Members of the church say this because they associate aggreessive protests in opposition to homosexuality and the United States military, for two examples, with the Christian religion. Many of Westboro's critics would queestion whether members of the church are Christians because they admittedly spread God's hate, as opposed to God's love.
{1} Furthermore, Westboro doesn't align themselves organizationally or theologically with any other orthodox Christian group. Instead, Westboro pickets other Baptist churches as well as churches of other Christian denominations, including, but not limited to, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and Pentecostals.

So why is Westboro called “Baptist”? Westboro Baptist Church was established by East Side Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas in 1931, which at the time was a traditionally orthodox mainline Protestant church. Fred Phillips, the leader of Westboro Baptist, become the head pastor of the church plant in 1956 and immediately broke fellowship with the church that established them as well as their doctrine. The World Baptist Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention have both condemned Westboro Baptist Church.

Who does the church Protest? Westboro Baptist Church protests liberals and conservatives, Christians and non-Christians, homosexuals and straight people, as well as Jews and Gentiles. The group has picketed funerals of soldiers who died in battle, funerals of people who have died of AIDS, sporting events, and concerts. Westboro Baptist Church teaches that all non-Christians, and even all Christians, who don’t condemn behaviors such as homosexuality the same way they do, are going to hell.

{2} ## What does the church think about President Obama? They believe he is the Antichrist who has teamed up with Pope Benedict XVI and Satan to form an unholy Trinity. {3} ## Sources 1. Theroux, Louis (2007).