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Westboro Baptist is going to picket my church!


ktgrok
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Our denomination had a conference at a large convention hall. On the other half of the convention hall was some kind of concert (Lady Gaga? I think) Westboro was there picketing the Lady Gaga concert. I'm proud to say that my church people took sides with the Gaga folks. The only time in history that that may have happened since we're a fairly conservative denomination.

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They did that here. They made a huge ruckus, got themselves all over the news (why does the news give them attention?!?) and then maybe 3 people showed up? There were more people protesting them!

 

My advice—ignore them and yell at any media outlet that gives them attention.

 

ETA-the media people that they sent before they came knew what they were doing. They walked ALL OVER the local interviewers. It was embarrassing.

Edited by Moxie
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I wouldn't take young children into a scene like that.

 

:grouphug:

 

 

No if I went I'd go without the kids. Well, maybe the baby, strapped to my body. I'd take the kids to a later Mass. They are picketing it seems from 7:30-8:00am. We normally go to the 10:30 mass. 

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They came to my son's university a few weeks ago, and "protested" his (historically Jewish) fraternity.

 

The university has deep Scottish roots and therefore, naturally, has a bagpipe marching group.  Who wear -- I kid you not -- KILTS.

 

Who assembled on both of WBC's flanks, and blew them all away.

 

#Priceless

 

 

 

 

 

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They came to my son's university a few weeks ago, and "protested" his (historically Jewish) fraternity.

 

The university has deep Scottish roots and therefore, naturally, has a bagpipe marching group. Who wear -- I kid you not -- KILTS.

 

Who assembled on both of WBC's flanks, and blew them all away.

 

#Priceless

Please tell me there is video of this somewhere. I'd love to see that!

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Pam, that sounds similar to DragonCon.

 

My sis, dd, & friends were there this year & said a few WBC folks were there protesting with megaphones.

 

Almost as soon as the WBC people showed up, about four guys dressed like Jesus chased them down the street. A motorcycle police officer was there observing, flipped on his sirens half-heartedly in response to the Jesus guys chasing them, but then flipped his sirens off, said something along the lines of 'you can't do that', then rolled his eyes & left the area. The next day, all kinds of random bagpipers (tons come to DragonCon, including Storm Trooper bagpipers) stood there playing for hours to drown them out. There's also a street musician who plays trombone (often Star Wars music like the Imperial Death March) & stood there playing to drown them out. Plenty of other people protested too. I think there are so many people at DragonCon that the WBC people were barely a blip on the radar. Lots of people dressed like demons from various video games also posed with them for photos & selfies. :lol:

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Stacia, tell me more about DragonCon?  What?  Where?  When?

 

http://dragoncon.org/

 

We are the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction & fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!

 

 

Held over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta.

 

ETA:

 

Randomly found this on Youtube:

 

 

 

(Dd said there were protesters in various locations around DragonCon.)

Edited by Stacia
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Also, from their (DragonCon's) FB page:

 

Dragon Con is a 4-day event comprising approximately 3500 hours of panels, seminars, demonstrations, and workshops, with over 30 specialized programming tracks that include writing, alternate history, art, anime, gaming, science fiction and fantasy literature, comic books, costuming, space science, online media, independent film, podcasting, Asian cinema and culture, robotics, filk, scientific skepticism, dark fantasy, Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, X-Files, Joss Whedon creations, apocalyptic themes, Anne McCaffrey's Pern, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, British and American SF television, the Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival, and general programming which specific Guests of Honor attend.

 

 

Sorry, not trying to hijack your thread! I will now take this offline w/ Pam.

Edited by Stacia
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They once picketed a church I visited with friends who lived in Topeka. There were only a few people holding signs and it was pretty uneventful. Nobody paid any attention to them, and it was kind of pathetic. They were much more vocal when they protested at my university, but there was media coverage and lots of people kept trying to start arguments with them.

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So I didn't know what Bolt meant by Christianity telling you what to do about enemies (obviously I was raised as a pagan, hah) and found this: 

 

Luke 6:27-30
Love for Enemies
27 â€œBut to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 
29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

 

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Can you imagine if they put all this energy in to helping people rather than protesting people?

 

where's the profit in that?  My understanding is they WANT to provoke a reaction, so they can sue. it's how they make their living, and why so many are lawyers.

 

are the motorcycle thunder, whatever their names are, coming too?  they like to drown them out.

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I have seen them a lot when we lived in Kansas.

 

The children look bored and cold a lot of the time -- that is what I always notice.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2013/03/21/rainbow-house-fights-westboro-baptist-with-love/?utm_term=.b54c90ae012b

 

This is the first link that came up, I didn't read it, but there is a house next to them that is painted in rainbow colors, I would see things about it when they were protesting locally.

 

I don't know if you will have a counter-protest or not -- even groups not affiliated with your church might want to counter-protest. Sometimes they will only have a couple of people to protest -- they just announce they are going to show up; but sometimes they don't have many people at all on their side (I have seen 10ish and I have seen when it is more kids than adults.... I have also seen them have more but never a LOT). Usually there are more counter-protesters if they have announced ahead of time.

Edited by Lecka
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Maybe this is just from being in Kansas and them being around a lot -- but I would expect you to know ahead of time where they will be. You might not have to walk past them to get into church. They might be in front and you might be able to use a different entrance easily. Or it might be disruptive to churchgoers. It could be either way.

 

And then you will probably know ahead of time if there will be counter-protesters, and what space they will be in.

 

I think you will be able to make a good decision when you hear what is expected this way.

 

Sometimes they put out a list and it is kind-of to go "ha ha you're on the list" but they barely do anything.

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They protested ours back in FL... for half an hour, duly permitted, on the sidewalk which was a long way from the building.  They were extremely law-abiding about the whole thing, and had pulled permits a long time in advance for about 10 churches in the region.  They stuck to the permit times and location.  The local papers mentioned it, and then pretty much everyone ignored them.  

 

I wonder if getting the permits, and the resulting media attention, is part of their attention-getting plan.

 

Did you hear the TED talk on how one young woman left WBC because of social media?  It was really good!  People treated her like a human, and she realized they were, too, after a while.  Reminds of the verse on loving your enemies.   https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_phelps_roper_i_grew_up_in_the_westboro_baptist_church_here_s_why_i_left 

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They came to my son's university a few weeks ago, and "protested" his (historically Jewish) fraternity.

 

The university has deep Scottish roots and therefore, naturally, has a bagpipe marching group. Who wear -- I kid you not -- KILTS.

 

Who assembled on both of WBC's flanks, and blew them all away.

 

#Priceless

You might like this

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/22/bagpiper-drowns-out-hate-preacher-in-fife-scotland/amp/

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Not sure if you are aware -- but they protest soldier funerals because the military allows gay/lesbian soldiers. So they picked funerals with crude anti-gay words on posters.

 

At a little place it is very hard to get past them without seeing or hearing them, so it is (my understanding) pretty bad at small churches or funeral homes.

 

At a larger place it is easy to just avoid them.

 

But I don't care to pay enough attention to them to know their specific thoughts wrt this church.

 

Bc if their thought process is to show up at soldier's funerals with crass signs then why ever they are protesting this church will be just as nonsensical.

 

In Kansas it seemed like a lot of people were pretty committed to counter-protesting them or blocking them, and they are around enough it is probably almost automatically organized. Also probably not as much is going on compared to in some places ;) I bet in bigger cities there is more to do and it doesn't seem like they are speaking for your local area in some way. I lived an hour from Topeka and frankly we might be more upset about it bc it is part of an image people have of the area I think.

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:lol:

 

Bagpipes are VERY LOUD.

 

And it's well established, as well, that kilts are VERY DISORIENTING.  (Here, at least.)

 

So I'm thinking that CMU has hit on the magic counter protest.

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One of the hardest. 

 

Being a Christian, for real, is HARD. If it doesn't seem hard, the person isn't doing it right. 

I had an epiphany about this after a certain election when I remembered that we pray for our political leaders each week at Mass, and a large part of me did NOT want to. Which of course made me realize how important it was that I did. Sigh. Yeah, it's hard. 

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So are they just protesting because you are Catholic and for no other reason?

 

No idea, but it seems they will also be protesting a Presbyterian Church and a local high school....no idea what their thought process is. Their website says it is because these are false churches or something? I think the truth is that all the places they picked are conveniently near each other or something. 

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I had the Mass times wrong....I never go that early, and they changed it recently. Mass is at 7:30, so they will be picketing during Mass. Honestly, if they get there at 7:30 most people will already be inside. And if they leave at 8:am per their flyer they will be gone before people come out. Seems kind of silly. 

 

The building is pretty far from the sidewalk, so shouldn't be a huge issue....plus the actual church is under renovations so we are all in the parish hall for services. Wonder if they will figure that out or protest the wrong building?

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I cannot "Like" your thread, because from what I remember of the Westboro Baptist people, 2 or 3 years ago, they are heinous people.  I remember things having to do with the funerals of military personnel who were killed in action.

 

Whether or not you should go and attend your Mass to support your Church I think you should decide based on whether or not you think the scene might become violent or not. If it is peaceful, no problem, but if it turns violent, very dangerous.  

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We only saw them during the Rose Parade.  Our friends lived on the route so we went every year when we lived in Pasadena.  They would walk the parade route before the parade started, with their signs of "God hates F----s"  I don't know why they would protest the Rose Parade, but whatever.

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AS gardenmom said, it isn't a religion or a religious view= they hold these protests as a way to make money.  They make money off of lawsuits towards people who do strike out at them and also against municipalities that denied them permits, shut down a protest, etc.  They got a lot of  notice in the late 2000's when there was a Supreme Court decision regarding them. 

 

I think I might have seen one once when they were protesting at George Mason University and I was driving my son to college then.  Why I can't be certain is that there was long lines of protestors lining the sidewalks and I don't think there was more than a handful of them.  THat same time period, they protested in front of a military funeral of a soldier killed in action.  

 

As a Christian, I know we aren't supposed to judge who is going to heaven or hell but the verses about you will know them by their fruits comes to mind.  Their evil fruits do not seem to indicate that Christ is, in fact, their saviour.

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They come here I plan to casually walk by, notice them, shake my head "You poor things" and start laughing at them as I walk away, removing my attention.   Wearing a rainbow shirt if I can find one ;-)    But treating them like  toddlers throwing a tantrum  and removing my attention.

 

 

Edited by JFSinIL
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