Members of the White House’s petition website “We the People” are taking their fight against the infamous Westboro Baptist Church to a new level. The church, led by Fred Phelps and consisting mostly of his family, has picketed events such as the funerals of military members killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq and funerals of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre bearing signs reading “GOD HATES FAGS.” Phelps claims that these deaths are punishment from God for the country’s failure to condemn homosexuality forcefully enough. Westboro Baptist is now apparently the most popular cause on the “We the People” website.
Four previous petitions demanding the government remove Westboro Baptist’s tax-exempt status accumulated a total of 200,000 signatures. Now a single petition asking the White House to label Westboro Baptist a hate group has garnered more than 260,000 signatures. With this label from the government, Westboro Baptist church would have its activities monitored by the FBI.
“This group has been recognized as a hate group by organizations, such as The Southern Poverty Law Center, and has repeatedly displayed the actions typical of hate groups,” the petition reads. “Their actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians. They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation.”
