8 January 2013
NEWTOWN: In the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, threat of more pain for the community lay in Westboro Baptist Church’s planned picketing—that is, until Anonymous came in.
By Isabel De La Garza, Senior Writer
On December 14, Adam Lanza entered the grounds of Sandy Hook Elementary with three firearms and killed a total of 28 people including himself, his mother (before arrival on school grounds), six adult school staff members and 20 children. Since then, the news has spread to several different countries outside the United States, where people have expressed their sympathy. The community of Newtown, however, has been affected most heavily by this despicable affair. The first of many funerals was set to begin the week before Winter Break. Westboro Baptist Church decided to picket the funerals, claiming that the town of Connecticut should not mourn what Westboro Baptist Church sees as just punishment.
In 2008, Connecticut became the third state to legalize gay marriage. Today, Westboro Baptist Church believes that “God sent the shooter” as punishment for legalizing gay marriage against his command and wishes. The church believes the deaths are punishment for sin and therefore should not be lamented, saying: “Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.”
The group can technically protest the funerals on legal grounds as long as they are 100 feet away from the vigils and funerals. Nonetheless, this atrocious, intolerant act is cruel and is being carried out way too soon. Newtown has not even had a proper mourning period yet. Not only is it too soon to use the shooting for one’s own political agenda, but it is also a horrible blow to the vulnerable community. Westboro Baptist Church may be within its constitutional rights, but its moral rights have a long way to go.
It wants the attention. It wants to have its rights breached so that it can look like a martyr. It has done so from the start. It hasn’t worked. Its pickets have only been met with counter-protests that generally get much more news coverage than Westboro Baptist Church. The issues it protests have only been helped by its insipid and inane protest “rhetoric.” There is a White House petition with 150,000 signatures in favor of listing the church as a hate group. Its actions, however, have not been largely publicized since the church only consists of about 40 people.
This event, however, will get it much attention. After the deaths of 20 children and six staff members, moments of silence all over the nation and a speech by President Obama, Westboro Baptist Church still contends that “God hates fags” and “fag-enablers,” and therefore America, and that these events were warranted. In fact, it even criticized President Obama saying that he should have listed the names of all the babies he “killed” due to his pro-choice stance, instead of the hallowed “sacrifices” at Newtown.
The nation is in a very emotionally charged state. This protest cannot be stopped with explanations of the church’s wrongdoing. Other churches, such as Crosspoint Community Church, have tried to do this in the past and it has not worked. Ignoring it will not hurt Westboro, but it will not help the mourners either. Taking it to court has only benefitted the church as the courts ruled in favor of Westboro’s First Amendment right to assembly. Counter-protest seems to be the only viable option. Although Westboro does not get discouraged by counter-protesters because it can always go to court and win damage compensation, counter-protests often help and support the issue that Westboro is protesting in the first place. Its protest of military funerals due to homosexuals’ rights to serve in the military has drawn counter-protest from diverse groups such as liberals, Jews, atheists, military personnel, conservatives, other Christians and even the Ku Klux Klan.
Now, it has added hackers to the list. These “hacktivists,” who call themselves Anonymous, have obtained the social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, hotel and room numbers of the Westboro Baptist Church members and shut down its site godhatesfags.com. Additionally, a Twitter hacker by the username of @cosmothegod took control of Westboro Baptist Church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper’s Twitter and changed her background to the ‘Pray for Newtown’ banner and posted her phone bill, email address and a link to the petition to get Westboro listed as a hate group. The Twitter account has since been seized and suspended by Twitter. Anonymous, on the other hand, is still going strong and has released the hotel information of the Westboro Baptist Church members who have already arrived in Newtown. Anonymous stated in a video to Westboro that they will not allow the church “to corrupt the minds of America with [its] seeds of hatred” and that it will “render [it] obsolete. We will destroy [it]. We are coming.”
Westboro has already tweeted its future course of actions as continuing on with its plans beginning with the funeral of the principal, Dawn Hochsprung. Anonymous is urging Americans to form a “wall of love” composed of linked-armed people to block the protest from the mourners sight as well as drown out their cries of “God hates fags” in some manner.
Whether or not Westboro will continue on with its protests is yet to be determined. Needless to say, this protest will not be adding any new members to Westboro Baptist Church. Possibly (and hopefully), this may be the last time we hear about anything regarding Westboro Baptist Church. Looks like God does love America after all.